IB-Phantom Award Availability?
 

I am looking to book an IB award with IB Avios for next January. The flight date is currently outside the 11 month window to book awards on Iberia.com, but inside the longer window that phone reps can see and use.

BA.com and Expert Flyer both show availability for the day I want to fly but two calls two Iberia resulted in "no availability".

I seem to be missing a piece of the puzzle. Does anyone have an idea on what is going on?

Thanks.

These data points are not very reliable.
Both sides quoted me tons of availability for certain JL-flights.
On the phone, these flights never had any availability at all.

It seemed to me that the seats BA showed as available as awards on IB metal were in fact available for BA Aviios. Does BA have seats available as awards on IB flights that IB does not?

Using BA Avios the window opens at 354.
Using IB Avios the window opens at 330.

Yes, I know. But over the phone, IB CSRs can access dates beyond the T-330. For example, when I called, IB rep offered award flight 8 days after the date I wanted, but not on the date I wanted which BA.com showed had availability.

Does anyone know if BA availability for IB awards holds up through booking? If so, lack of same availabilty on IB would suggest IB blocking its own flights in favor of BA awards with fat fees. If not, then normally reliable BA award search engine may be broken.

I had the same issue recently:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iberi...ilability.html

Would have preferred to use Avios, but ticketed just fine on AA. Seems like partner availability (U bucket) is different than what they offer internally.

So you saw availability on IB.com, tried to book it there and it failed?

No. The availability was not on IB.com, but it was available on BA.com, EF and over the phone with AA.

My case is somewhat different, at least in facts, as I wrote upthread.

I think the same root cause is the issue, though: the inventory available directly through IB is different than inventory IB makes available to partners. IB released partner inventory at T-355, but they have not released any internal inventory since it is not yet T-330. Also, once the T-330 threshold is hit, there isn't necessarily a guarantee that IB will open their own space for IB+ Avios redemption.

It doesn't seem the same to me since the conflict is in what shows as available on IB.com and what IB phone reps can book. No partners or partner websites involved. Web says available, phone reps say it is not.

Ah, I assumed that since it was outside of the booking window, that it wouldn't be available to check on the website at all; I've never tried looking at it myself that far out.

To clarify, the dates of travel are at T-340 (now) which is viewable online at IB.com but not bookable online. According to CSR, IB CSRs can book at T-355 with phone fee but for dates of my travel (and many others), CSR can not see availability which I can see on their website. Expert Flyer just mimics what is seen online and adds nothing to process.

All of which leads back to thread title of Phantom Award Availability.

And in light of devaluations this week by BA and IB, one has to ask why should anyone even bother dealing with these conditions?

My IB redemptions:
At 330 I can use IB Avios and AA. More than 330 it's BA Avios.

The OPs position is correct.

This issue-availability for IB award booking but not for partner award booking-is no longer just a matter of when the awards open for advance booking. Rather, IB is clearly blocking awards to partner programs which it has available for booking with IB Avios.

I have been tracking flights for next spring-well within all programs' opening dates-that are availble for booking on IB.com using IB Avios. These flights are not available via BA.com, Qantas or Expert Flyer. Also, phone call to AA results in 'no availabilty' response'.

This is, unfortunately, a trend I see more and more with European carriers such as AF and LH. To be clear, there is no status involved either way; this is just naked blocking of awards to alliance partners.