mvoight

I don't see why the Olympics, starting July 25, would affect award seats 2 months earlier.

Edwardvan

I am kicking myself. I had flights on hold that I did not book because there was so much available. Now I can not find a single international ticket for June. I am an idiot.

spellbound2

We just ticketed 2 biz BA SFO-LAX-LHR-VIE for May 22nd with 2 biz seats on ATN returning June 16th CDG-LAX-SFO and the ATN agent said we got the last 2 seats! I was really shocked, but grateful. We'd actually prefer not to fly on BA since the taxes are so high, but with all that's going on with availability, we're happy to have seats at all.

aceflyer2

Even a while back (before this recent event) when I booked my F and J award tickets, availability to Europe was extremely scarce.

JDiver

Yep, I know that - but I think RM has put a block until they figure it out; it's easier for them to block now and release closer in if sales do not materialize. It's just my opinion, but I do not believe it's an IT glitch, nor do I believe all the seats have been snatched up - I think this is deliberate and I believe it involves Revenue Management.

If I am wrong, then, I am wrong.

Carolinian

That would be great if they did so, as HEL is a much nicer connecting airport than LHR.

mmjaysee

Has anybody been able to find any saaver seats in Business or Coach for next summer yet? I keep calling and there is nothing after June 22nd on any airline (except Air Tahiti Nui from LAX to CDG). I'm trying to get two tix for my honeymoon for last week of June or later, and having absolutely no luck... even in Coach. This is pretty frustrating, especially that it's a year beforehand.

sk3

If your aim is to fly LAX-CDG then doing so on TN in J should be wonderful (at least that's what I've read over the years). If they have seats currently available I'd grab them. My 2 cents.

scotlass

Yesterday I booked 2 award seats on BA for 4 July 2012 using 50k miles for both. I had planned on using AA but, as everyone knows now, it won't happen at 60k miles needed for one way. Anyway, the BA taxes/fees are exorbitant! When I book the return in a couple of weeks, the total in fees will be over $1,000. So much for 'free' tickets! I hate paying that much, but I don't have enough miles otherwise. Very frustrating!

GUWonder

FWIW or not, the kind of change covered by this thread motivated me to expedite booking a fair amount of long-haul (Europe, South America, Asia) award travel for "off-peak season dates" while the mileage discount remains as substantial as is still the case compared to the ordinary mileage price for travel that that is not within "Economy off-peak season dates".

I'd rather risk dealing with date change problems under the current rules than end up having to get tickets issued later under a regime with higher mileage prices and/or more complex award chart arrangement(s). [Moving up my travel plans is probably better anyway since it reduces exposure to devaluation not only of my large AA mileage balance but also of my hotel point balance.] Just my reaction to the situation.

siankaan1

So I've been thinking about three weeks in France in September 2012. Normally I'd just wait until 330 days prior and book a SAAver outbound, wait three more weeks and book a return. Is this a suggestion that there is a good way to hedge that by booking something now and changing it later?

julesrules_79

What I find amazing is that there is no biz class availability at all September 2011 to January 2012. So we're talking off-peak times. This is for CDG-SFO

I had to downgrade to an economy class ticket for my return to the states on September 14 (previously booked a biz class return on Aug 17 back in January 2011).

RM is definitely being very very stingy.

mmjaysee

Trying to go to Istanbul and/or Athens. I think it's ridiculous though that nothing is available on any oneworld carrier one year out (except a stray seat or two on Finnair or Air Tahiti). I checked on United.com and found tons of seats including on United, Lufthansa (even the a380!), etc. But I'm hesitant to use my united miles since I have no status there anymore and the change/rerouting policies are strict.

Gardyloo

Guess I'm missing something here - Looking at July 2012 (as far out as 330 days) I can see seats from NYC to ATH and/or IST - both coach and business - using Iberia and/or Royal Jordanian, pretty much every day. (Use the Qantas availability engine.) Maybe you're just not seeing anything with easy/through connections from the west coast instead? But if you could get to the east coast, it looks fairly open.

flyfaraway

Yikes! I'm not planning on Europe travel next summer, but am stockpiling miles for summer 2013. I hope this is just an Olympics thing and not the norm! I was counting on 125K RT in F.

Does this normally happen every summer? Or just a fluke?