In a hurry, so just a quick partial reply for now. I had a very quick search and also couldn't see any UA availability for the dates and routes I checked. But that needn't be a problem... There are several alternative options that most people here would choose over UA business class. You mention AC, which would be an excellent choice IMO, and if you're prepared to connect in mainland Europe then LX and LH usually have plenty of availability. CO is nice as well but availability is usually poor.

This is par for the course for UA transatlantic, where business award availability always has been very sparse compared with both economy and first. They do occasionally pop up, but not that often.

The if you're not prepared to pony up the extra miles (2.5x instead of 1.5x) to go in F (and if you do you'll get any UA connecting flights in the USA in F too), then you may well have to look for other carriers and routes.

Hello,

Having checked the ANA booking tool, I can see the availability in business for BHX-IST (return via FRA) and IST-AKL (return via BKK).

Would it be considered as a valid connection by the ICC for zone 1 to zone 9?

Many many thanks!

Are you trying to do a stopover in IST? In which case this isn't ok as there are no 24hr+ stopovers in zone 1+2 for diamond club and IST is in zone 2 (as is FRA for that matter).

Not quite sure of your exact plan, but if its something like: BHX-IST-BKK-AKL-BKK-IST-FRA-BHX then it should be fine. If booking as a return flight you would be allowed one stopover, if as two singles you could have two stopovers (for example 1 stop in BKK and 1 stop in HKG could work well if you like that kind of thing). Going to somewhere like NZ BD tends to be reasonable with the connections as its so far away and availability means you need to be creative with routings!

hi littlevoices,
Thanks for this!

Since there is no availability for direct flights on LHR-IST + no availability on LHR to AKL on/around the date we need (it's more convenient for us to travel from BHX anyway), it would be: BHX-FRA-IST-BKK-AKL-BKK-IST-FRA-BHX with no stopovers (annual leave etc).

Using the ANA tool I can only see the availability by sectors (BHX-FRA-IST-FRA-BHX + IST-BKK-AKL-BKK-IST) so my concern is how the ICC would respond to this!

Convoluted but especially since you aren't stopping over I don't see a problem - apart from your taxes bill! Just tell the ICC to book segment by segment as your opening gambit, something like "I'm going to do a route from the UK to New Zealand and I'd like to specify it segment by segment" then launch into it. This could take them a while to work out the taxes though . Most likely after going through all these parts the agent will just want you off the phone so I don't think there would be a problem... you might have to ring back.

One other thing for you: Have you looked for Swiss availability for your dates - they also fly into/out of BHX & LHR, onto IST/BKK and tend to have good availability - if you want me to check on expertflyer just let me know your dates in a pm, or post here and I'm sure someone else on the board can help - it might make your return journey a BKK-ZRH-BHX for example. I also really like Swiss flights

can someone please check the following for a business class redemption for 2 seats


26 sep
man - zrh with lx

11 oct

bkk-zrh-man with lx

many thanks in advance

9+ seats in business on all 3 flights that day.


9+ seats in business on whole route

is that for redemptions/mileage awards??

Yes

thanks for checking but are u sure your looking at the right class, 9 seats on a flight from bangkok to zurich in redemption is a little unusual but i will check with the icc tommorrow

Yep, Swiss is really good at releasing award seats. Not sure if its actually possible to pick up all 9 but they do show them as available. Can anyone confirm if you can actually book all 9?

I'm looking for award flights for two of us LHR/LCY-CPT next February in J or F, exact dates variable. As expected, only Y seats are available at this stage on SA, LH and LX. I'm too old to book Y. J seats are available with TK (even though ICC says no, but I know I have to try again for a different answer).

My question: should I book TK now, or is there much prospect that SA/LH/LX awards in J or F may become available? I'm not after a forecast, but rather others' experience. Thanks for your advice.

Good to see LX availability via the ANA tool. Looking at September dates, I see I could book F ZRH-CPT.

A bird in the hand etc... I would book what is available and keep looking out for an alternative.

LHR-CPT is virtually impossible to find seats on. FRA-CPT is seasonal and seemingly just as difficult. TK's IST-JNB-CPT seemingly has the greatest availability.

The various LHR-xxx-JNB-CPT options are usually more plentiful.

Personal experience:

1. Flew SAA LHR-CPT // CPT-JNB-LHR in February 2008. Seats booked in August 2007. In both cases, it was two seats randomly available with nothing either side for days on end.

2. Found seats for some friends who flew this March. LHR-ZRH-JNB-DUR // CPT-JNB-ZRH-LHR. Booked in July 2009 when there was lots of availability in F and C on the ZRH-JNB and vv legs.

Looking at Expertflyer, it appears that LX haven't released seats for next March on the ZRH-JNB and vv sectors.

I would book TK now and then swap to LX F when available.

I have always had difficulties finding seats at that time of year to CPT on LH/SA as it is high season there (not quite as bad as the couple of weeks around Xmas/New Year but still...). Eventually found something most times but you could count on the fingers of one hand the days that had availability for 2 pax on the same flight. I was primarily looking for J, though, rather than F. If it were me, I would probably book the TK flights as insurance policy and change the booking if availability on LH/SA/LX opens up. At �20 pp., it is relatively cheap insurance.