joequimby

Hi flyertalk,

I'm looking for reward availability on LHR-DME which is not available in all classes (Z, U, X and gold only V).

There's three daily flights that look quite busy.
F6 A6 J7 C7 D7 R6 I3 W5 E5 T0 Y9 B7 H1 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0
J0 C0 D0 R0 I0 Y9 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0
J9 C9 D9 R9 I6 Y9 B9 H9 K6 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

There's a few months until departure so I'm hoping reward availability opens up, particularly on the last flight which is the least busy.
What factors influence reward availability being available and how likely is this to happen closer to departure?
Or should I suck it up and leverage a double avios priority reward?

Cash fare is 570 GBP for WT which is out of the question.

Thanks!

mikeyfly

When are you looking for? There's multiple other airlines selling Y for around £150 (although one stops...)

joequimby

Thanks for the reply. It's June/July during the World Cup so I doubt availability would open due to someone cancelling.
Best I'm seeing is 193 with a overnight in FRA or MUC. If the ~150 doesn't involve an overnight then I'd be very keen!

corporate-wage-slave

A Gold Priority Reward for double Avios, unlike normal redemptions, gets a full refund if cancelled, so what I would do, within the confines of the question, is book it, and then if conventional availability shows up then book that as well (so you'll need enough Avios for this) and then cancel the GPR, so long as that is done 24 hours before departure. You may need to remind the agent about the free cancellation of GPRs. GPRs have to be booked 30 days out, and for obvious reasons, if this was a return trip it may be better to book as singles provided this doesn't have a bad effect on the cash component.

Redemption availability does come up at the last moment. I've been tracking BOS flights tomorrow and today a CW seat became available on 1 May which wasn't there yesterday. 3 or 4 days out seems a good time for this.

windowontheAside

Based on zero facts or data, I'd be surprised if last minute seats are released during the World Cup period. I suspect the lack of seats now in the low cost buckets are due to BA expecting to sell out at the higher fares.

Tiger_lily

bhbloke

Don't forget you need a Visa to enter Russia, which will stop most people travelling last minute if England progress.

The Visa waiver during the tournament only applies to those that have match tickets which means you won't get the usual hordes turning up on spec hoping to find a match ticket locally.

Tiger_lily

Ahh forgot about that. Obvs it was easier to get an ETA for Australia back then.