Lufthansa First Award seats availability [for *A and other partner FFPs]
Jan 18, 13, 12:24 pm
#226
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: LAF, VIE
Programs: A3 *G; AA EXP
Posts: 509
Well, LH makes F awards usually available T-14 days, but 3 seats is stretching it. Re-check availability closer to the departure date, there really is nothing else you can do right now ...just wait and see..
Jan 18, 13, 12:35 pm
#227
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Here Today, There Tomorrow
Programs: 2.75MM DL DM, Hyatt Explorist, AA Plat,Ex UA 1K, HH Diamond, Marriott TE
Posts: 1,309
Right, plan on doing that. Just wondered if it is possible if I come up a seat short to upgrade with cash at check in.
Jan 18, 13, 6:25 pm
#228
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CGK/LAX
Programs: KF,JMB, OZ, SPG,AA,UA,AS
Posts: 1,161
Not completely impossible. I was able to snag 3 F awards on the same flight from FRA-KIX in 2012. I had to be vigilant since two seats had opened up about T-10 and the last seat opened up at about T-3. I was prepared to have one person in J if I wasn't able to snag the last seat.
Jan 18, 13, 8:27 pm
#229
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Silver/0.728MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,496
Not completely impossible. I was able to snag 3 F awards on the same flight from FRA-KIX in 2012. I had to be vigilant since two seats had opened up about T-10 and the last seat opened up at about T-3. I was prepared to have one person in J if I wasn't able to snag the last seat.
Jan 19, 13, 5:02 pm
#230
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Here Today, There Tomorrow
Programs: 2.75MM DL DM, Hyatt Explorist, AA Plat,Ex UA 1K, HH Diamond, Marriott TE
Posts: 1,309
Jan 20, 13, 9:42 am
#232
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: BA, AA, SQ, UA, AC, WS, MR TIT
Posts: 8,488
Jan 20, 13, 10:33 am
#233
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Silver/0.728MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,496
Mar 12, 13, 1:11 am
#234
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,366
Hi guys, sorry to bring an old thread up, but I've been searching on ANA and EF, and it seems like there's no correlation between F/A space and award space!
Looking at my highly biased sample of FRA-NRT/FRA-BKK, UA only shows F space a few days in advance. Either I haven't checked carefully enough, or I'm sleep deprived from moving 1 hour forward, but it seems like UA isn't showing phantom space for these routes anymore. Furthermore, I have no idea when space is going to open up. On several dates there's F4 but there isn't any phantom space.
I thought phantom space was actual award space which would become bookable 14 days out?
Looking at my highly biased sample of FRA-NRT/FRA-BKK, UA only shows F space a few days in advance. Either I haven't checked carefully enough, or I'm sleep deprived from moving 1 hour forward, but it seems like UA isn't showing phantom space for these routes anymore. Furthermore, I have no idea when space is going to open up. On several dates there's F4 but there isn't any phantom space.
I thought phantom space was actual award space which would become bookable 14 days out?
Mar 12, 13, 5:57 pm
#235
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil and Porto, Portugal
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, LH FTL, FB Gold, LATAM Black Signature
Posts: 541
I am SEN but transfer my miles to TAP or JJ from my credit card.
EX-GRU LH releases F inventory (if any) 3 to 4 days out! Of course it is impossible to snag a seat, simply because once your flight becomes available in the outbound, the inbound is still not available!
And C class is only released for flights departing GRU on Tuesday! Surely they must be making a lot of cash in the market.....
EX-GRU LH releases F inventory (if any) 3 to 4 days out! Of course it is impossible to snag a seat, simply because once your flight becomes available in the outbound, the inbound is still not available!
And C class is only released for flights departing GRU on Tuesday! Surely they must be making a lot of cash in the market.....
Apr 7, 13, 3:56 pm
#236
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 514
Just a quick update for those interested- despite my carefully-researched findings last time around, I'm disappointed to report the experience reported by garkman appears to be the new state of affairs for LH F. Very rarely am I seeing seats open at the earliest possible window 15 hr as they once were. And remember inside that window there are no meaningful patterns to rely on to make searching easier.
I'll be collecting more data over the next 2 months for my own travel plans and will share once I'm done.
I'll be collecting more data over the next 2 months for my own travel plans and will share once I'm done.
Apr 7, 13, 4:42 pm
#237
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: GRR, USA
Posts: 3,298
Hi guys, sorry to bring an old thread up, but I've been searching on ANA and EF, and it seems like there's no correlation between F/A space and award space!
Looking at my highly biased sample of FRA-NRT/FRA-BKK, UA only shows F space a few days in advance. Either I haven't checked carefully enough, or I'm sleep deprived from moving 1 hour forward, but it seems like UA isn't showing phantom space for these routes anymore. Furthermore, I have no idea when space is going to open up. On several dates there's F4 but there isn't any phantom space.
I thought phantom space was actual award space which would become bookable 14 days out?
Looking at my highly biased sample of FRA-NRT/FRA-BKK, UA only shows F space a few days in advance. Either I haven't checked carefully enough, or I'm sleep deprived from moving 1 hour forward, but it seems like UA isn't showing phantom space for these routes anymore. Furthermore, I have no idea when space is going to open up. On several dates there's F4 but there isn't any phantom space.
I thought phantom space was actual award space which would become bookable 14 days out?
United has been doing a FAR FAR better job in keeping phantom inventory off the search results. Now most UA inventory that I see for LH F is real.
I called UA yesterday just to test the idea, and when I asked about 3 different LH F that I saw for flights 5-7 days out, it was confirmed as real. Doing this because I need to do it for my own trip towards month end and wanted to test UA's new reality.
Apr 18, 13, 11:36 pm
#239
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,366
what little phantom inventory that shows, normally becomes real from my observations, but 7 days out, sometimes 10. I've helped readers find LH F 7-10 days out without much hassle. sometimes it took a 'long sell' request.
United has been doing a FAR FAR better job in keeping phantom inventory off the search results. Now most UA inventory that I see for LH F is real.
I called UA yesterday just to test the idea, and when I asked about 3 different LH F that I saw for flights 5-7 days out, it was confirmed as real. Doing this because I need to do it for my own trip towards month end and wanted to test UA's new reality.
United has been doing a FAR FAR better job in keeping phantom inventory off the search results. Now most UA inventory that I see for LH F is real.
I called UA yesterday just to test the idea, and when I asked about 3 different LH F that I saw for flights 5-7 days out, it was confirmed as real. Doing this because I need to do it for my own trip towards month end and wanted to test UA's new reality.
Edit: Oops, 4/29 isn't showing F space either.
Last edited by yerffej201; Apr 18, 13 at 11:49 pm
May 10, 13, 12:22 pm
#240
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Here Today, There Tomorrow
Programs: 2.75MM DL DM, Hyatt Explorist, AA Plat,Ex UA 1K, HH Diamond, Marriott TE
Posts: 1,309
Here's an update on my quest to upgrade 3 C awards to F awards, ex USA to FRA. At T- 14 days, only 2 award seats showed on the United website. At T- 10 days, 3 C seats showed and 1 F. This continued until T- 96 hours when, miracle of miracles!, 3 F seats opened. I quickly called UA and successfully upgraded my C awards to F with the payment of a few additional miles.. and 30+ minutes on the phone. Current F load on my flight is now 4. Only 1 seat had been reserved prior to my score. So, it appears that it IS possible to get F awards close in thru *A partners. I do wish however LH would go back to opening some F seats for awards at 330 days. It certainly would save some of the angst 
