notquiteaff

Summer 2023

cpworld

Wow - congratulations. Jealous!

TheDudeAbides

[Music playing] "Born to fly"

aakash

Reviving an old thread - this still seems to be an issue, and specifically when the destination is SEA.
I was able to book a different FRA - XXX without any trouble on alaskaair.com

kutzsche

I see the same problem. I think the biz class availability that shows up at T-331 days is phantom. It appears and then disappears the same day. I tried many times to book, always errors out saying it can't confirm partner availability. It seems that for next year, Condor has released zero biz class seats to Alaska on miles. It is impossible that every single day, 4 seats are available at midnight and then disappear in the next 24 hours. I haven't tried calling in yet but its clear what they would say: You can't book beyond the 330 day window. And within the 330 day window, there is no biz class seats available.
I would be fine with Premium eco except the Condor premium eco is a huge scam, nothing more than extra legroom. They want 45k miles for standard economy with a few inches legroom - that's outrageous.

kutzsche

Also note the T-331 day availability always shows 25k for eco, 45k for premium and 55k for biz. Then at T-330 the actual price/availability shows, ie economy suddenly priced at 40k in high season. So T-331 is not real. We can jump up and down, it simply isn't there.

eponymous_coward

Funny, I have a FRA-YVR J booking made last week that says you're wrong. FRA-SEA errored out, FRA-YVR on the same date did not.

kutzsche

That's interesting and that was at T-331? It could be that whatever shows up at T-331 is a placeholder at Alaska - the real inventory is not shown but if real inventory is indeed available (and would stay available at T-330) then you can book it.
I tried booking FRA-SFO multiple times, always errors out, also tried FRA-SEA, FRA-LAS, none worked. All disappeared at T-330.

kutzsche

That's interesting and that was at T-331? It could be that whatever shows up at T-331 is a placeholder at Alaska - the real inventory is not shown but if real inventory is indeed available (and would stay available at T-330) then you can book it.
I tried booking FRA-SFO multiple times, always errors out, also tried FRA-SEA, FRA-LAS, none worked. All disappeared at T-330.

nobuyjuly

I am 99% certain that Condor simply hasn't released their award space for summer 2024 yet. FWIW, I booked my August 2023 PMI - FRA - SFO J seat literally sometime in July 2023!! (It was NOT T-14)

I had been stalking the AS websites consistently since April for these summer Condor flights, and back in April/May, the summer 2023 award space for Condor was still wide open. Condor usually releases their flight schedules super late (i.e. a lot of continental Europe flights for summer 2024 are not out yet), and they probably won't release the J space for summer 2024 between FRA - USA until either winter 2023, or spring 2024.

I know we are all anxious here not being able to snag these flights at T-330 but let's take a breather or at least that's what I tell myself!

AKLifetimeFlyer

I booked my Condor J award fare in April 2023 for an August flight (completed today). The in flight service was great, and the hard product on the A330-900neo is superb for the price. It was miles better than the 767.

kutzsche

I hear you - but I see a different pattern:

- whatever shows at T-331 is not what the real system has.
- Condor schedule for summer 2024 is definitely open, you can book economy with Alaska, but no biz seats on most routes. You can buy Condor tickets for next summer for $$ on the condor website
- They simply aren't releasing J yet - with some exceptions. I think that's inventory control. They may release it later and even as late as next spring, it all depends.
- Some routes DO have X and J bookable at T-330. For example, I was able to book FRA-LAS in business for next July at exactly T-330. SFO, SEA, PDX routes never show any J (except the fake availability shown at T-331).

So yes, I would expect Condor to open up more J award, we may just have to wait. Meanwhile, I snagged the FRA-LAS seat and then will just take Southwest to SFO or nearby

cmorgen

Just this morning I was able to make a J booking YVR-FRA. SE - FRA errored out. This is for T-331 days.

AKLifetimeFlyer

Is it on the A330-900neo or 767?

cmorgen

A330-900neo