Fully booked flights
 

I was scheduled to fly from Milano Malpensa to Port Elizabeth, South Africa on the 9th of July with Emirates. I have an exam in Italy on the 10th, so I was looking to move my flight to the 11th of July as I need to get back home as soon as possible to start work on the 14th. Emirates says the only next available flight is the 23rd of July and all waiting lists up to that point are full!!!! I can't see how this is possible as there is always a seat or two empty on that flight which i do 4 times a year! Are they holding seats back for some reason? I'm desperate to get an earlier flight and I have been calling them for two weeks but no one can help.

Welcome to FT!

Early July is a very busy travel period so I wouldn't be surprised if the flights are indeed full. Usually a small number of people fail to show up for their flights. EK takes this into account when opening seats for sale but if EK miscalculates it is possible that a flight that was 'fully booked' could go out with empty seats.

On 11th July I can't see a single economy seat for sale (via DXB and JNB) I do see seats on the 10th night though, leaving at 2215 from MXP if that would work.

During the maintenance period of the runway at DXB, there are only 2 flights DXB-JNB-DXB (1 May to 20 July 2014).

This may be a reason for the very fully booked flights.