light(er) loads on London inbound flights?
 

Hey'all, I'm planning to get 2 redemption tiks for my parents. Dad's green and mum's AM themselves. They've got the outbound flights on 253 but BA PE for now on return. I'm wondering if there are one or two lighter load flights that's easier to get the return tickets on J...(Like 253 and 257 compared with 251 and and 255)
I Suppose its the 256 as there're 60 instead of 30 on A343, and most people prefer B744s?

Not sure what you meant in your last sentence but I find the easiest flights to clear are 252 (dep LHR at around lunch time) and 250 (dep LHR at ~1800) which are both operated by B744. The 747s have more J seats than the 340s unless it's a 340-600.

Your chances should go like this (highest) 252, 250, 256, 254 (lowest). Not many people like the lunchtime departure since as you would lose a day. Many travellers including prefer the evening departures so they are almost always full. 256 and 254 are perfect for connections so they can be quite packed in J.

I'll be on 254 operated by a 346 tonight so I'll add more later. :D

Sorry as I've confused a good few, because of lacking research (there is no specific flights on which aircraft to use an airbus...)
Anyway, I should conclude that the earlier flights are more likely to clear than the later ones regardless to some planes has more J seat than the others?

Correct. ^

I was on CX256 yesterday, and J and F were at most half full.

But possibly a special case since the holidays this week mean fewer business travellers coming to HK.

I was originally on 254 but got to T3 early and asked if I could be put on 256. CSO made a phone call and said no problem. Got my BP issued and went to queue up for security control which took 45 minutes.

Onboard the plane I had a whole row of seats to myself. I have not had such an empty cabin on the LHR route for a long long time! :eek: F was half full. J was completely full. Y was half full and almost everyone had empty seats beside them. I would say that J is very often full due to the huge amount of business travellers so the J cabin is likely to fill up regardless of the amount of seats.

The loading very much depends on the month and day of the week. In your case, kaka, when (and on what day of the week) are your parents planning on travelling? :-:

Basically its for my graduation on Wed in late Oct... I was thinking of first flight out between Friday and sunday..... Although I think its easier to leave on thursday.
Also requires WL from paris... o/wise its a good way to get away from LHR...

Your chances are better on Thursday. If you don't have your seats now, then it is more likely than you are gonna get it from 2 weeks to 48 hours prior to departure since CX releases more U and Z seats by then.

The CDG flight is going to have better overall serice because of the HKG-based crew onboard (LHR 744 flights are operated by LHR-based crew). Also you won't have to pay the GBP 80 service tax per person for premium cabins ex-LHR.

I;ve just realized the trap of 74A. I know my folks would well prefer the present J to the new J. so I guess I'm quite stuck against 252 in October.... Good luck for me with 250 i guess? or Paris... however, would it be harder to redeem Paris tickets as it's less frequent?

Well it looks like that you'll have to WL your parents on 250 then. If you're gonna WL on Friday's flights as well, don't put your hopes high since it is always full from the front to the back of the plane.

I don't go through CDG frequently, but given the number of successes of getting U and Z seats reported here I would assume you have good chance. :)

Thanks for the note.. fingers crossed. worst case would be the I ticket starting from TPE. and I'd suppose one has to join the never ending queue for companion awards as well? How does it really work esp when you can redeem with a J,C,D or I ticket....

I'm not quite familiar with companion tickets too...

Are companion tickets for people
1) who are not MPO members, but is travelling with an MPO member;
2) are MPO members, but are travelling with MPO members with higher priority;
3) may be an MPO member, but is travelling with a person with a revenue ticket; or
4) none of the above, what is it then? :confused:

i think, if they have to queue as well, its for ppl with high priority travelling with JCDI companions. cuz diamonds are really likely to get cleared. btw, i think its "cheaper" than full redemption tickets. 85000 vs 100000 for HKG/LHR rtn.