Strange availability problem using Avios
 

I was looking to redeem some Avios to book a flight from HKG to Europe.

On my preferred date I saw that HKG-HEL-FCO has 2 seat available in Y, however when I look at just the long-haul segment HKG-HEL (on the same date and same flight number) there is no availability in Y.

I would prefer buying the HKG-HEL since is just 25K+38€ in taxes versus 35K + 108€ and a paid flight HEL-Italy is just a few euros more than the tax difference (and I'd save the 10K Avios difference).

Any explanation?
:confused:

Yes, BA regards HKG-HEL-FCO and HKG-HEL as separate markets so can have different availability on each. The fact that they share the same flight for part of the journey is irrelevant.

If you share the dates, others might be able to add more info.

ba.com often has problems with showing availability for the short haul flight as also being available on the long haul flight, when in fact there is no availability on the long haul. That may be what is happening here.
For example, see:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...s-anomaly.html

That bug normally shows availability for the first flight as available for the entire itinerary. In the OP's case, this isn't the first flight.

It has shown up on both ends but we can't be sure if something else is going on. The OP can always call if he likes or try to confirm availability (or lack thereof) through another method.

Does this hold for redemptions? I know it applies to revenue tickets but I'd always assumed that redemptions were available to all equally.