Lufthansa First Award seats availability [for partner FFPs outside of M&M]
Dec 14, 2012, 11:13 am
#211
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: BA, AA, SQ, UA, AC, WS, MR TIT
Posts: 8,659
Dec 18, 2012, 5:48 pm
#213
Join Date: May 2009
Location: North Carolina
Programs: United 1K, Marriott Platinum Premier, National Executive Elite
Posts: 131
I have grabbed several F(O) awards on LH this year.
All using UA miles with saver awards at T-14 and less.
IAD to FRA (Old F)
FRA to NRT (A380) and only two people
JFK to FRA (A380) and return twice this year
And I just booked a return on FRA-EWR On what looks like New F.
I know it stinks to have to wait to T-14 but always got the dates I wanted and wouldn't have a problem going +\- a day if it meant LH F. The serving is always absolutely amazing.
All using UA miles with saver awards at T-14 and less.
IAD to FRA (Old F)
FRA to NRT (A380) and only two people
JFK to FRA (A380) and return twice this year
And I just booked a return on FRA-EWR On what looks like New F.
I know it stinks to have to wait to T-14 but always got the dates I wanted and wouldn't have a problem going +\- a day if it meant LH F. The serving is always absolutely amazing.
Dec 19, 2012, 1:22 am
#214
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: BA, AA, SQ, UA, AC, WS, MR TIT
Posts: 8,659
But for flying on business it is not convenient and might be risky sometimes
Dec 19, 2012, 3:43 pm
#215
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP,AS MVPG,MR Platinum,HH Gold
Posts: 1,343
Dec 28, 2012, 3:53 pm
#216
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: WI
Programs: A bunch
Posts: 488
Im not sure if anyone can assist me on this but I believe in the past few weeks there was a blog post from one of the "boarding area" bloggers about when the First class availability shows available. I believe it was like t-minus 14 days but mentioned the specific time like 4 or 5pm est or something but i would like to archive the blogpost and re-read the specifics of that article. Anyone know what I am talking about or can lend a hand?? ( i tried searching boarding area and i couldnt find the article, it was NOT from onemileatatime or viewfromthewing if i recall correctly)
Dec 29, 2012, 3:04 am
#218
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Im not sure if anyone can assist me on this but I believe in the past few weeks there was a blog post from one of the "boarding area" bloggers about when the First class availability shows available. I believe it was like t-minus 14 days but mentioned the specific time like 4 or 5pm est or something but i would like to archive the blogpost and re-read the specifics of that article. Anyone know what I am talking about or can lend a hand?? ( i tried searching boarding area and i couldnt find the article, it was NOT from onemileatatime or viewfromthewing if i recall correctly)
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/points...tner-airlines/
Dec 29, 2012, 7:01 pm
#219
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: WI
Programs: A bunch
Posts: 488
Jan 16, 2013, 2:52 pm
#220
Join Date: May 2011
Location: ORD
Posts: 208
My data/experience getting LH F for ORD-FRA...extrapolate if you will
Just wanted to share my experience on snagging LH F. While availability does change/update at 0:00 UTC, please make sure to check very frequently - here's why.
I tracked the entire availability for LH431 from ORD-FRA for the date range of 1/9 thru 1/29 (I began tracking this range on 1/7 and stopped on 1/16). I used the ANA tool to do a reverse search in order to bypass the <4 day limit.
Of the 21 days I tracked, only 7 didn't show availability at some point, and 3 of those 7 were still 9+ days out. 12 of 16 flights that were T-8 or less had availability at some point during my tracking. **The flights that didn't show availability had 0, 1, or 2 open seats (out of 8). 1 flight showed availability with as few as 2 open seats out of 8 (this was at T-1).
5 of 8 open seems to be a magic number - when it hits 5 available there's a vastly larger chance of a seat opening than with 4 available.
**CHECK often because nearly every flight I tracked had seats free up while I was tracking them - I'm not sure if it's pax cancelling or what, but it almost always happened. For me, my Tuesday flight had no award availability with 4 open seats at T-6, however sometime between 4AM and 10AM CST a seat opened up at T-6. I checked and 5 seats were available, 1 award, I got the award seat making 4 available and then award availability was closed.
This was a summary of a spreadsheet, so sorry if it's confusing...
...And then right after I post this I re-check availability and my flight has another award seat available by the looks of it, at T-6 with 4 open...so availability changes at times other than 00:00 UTC even when the number of open seats doesn't change.
I tracked the entire availability for LH431 from ORD-FRA for the date range of 1/9 thru 1/29 (I began tracking this range on 1/7 and stopped on 1/16). I used the ANA tool to do a reverse search in order to bypass the <4 day limit.
Of the 21 days I tracked, only 7 didn't show availability at some point, and 3 of those 7 were still 9+ days out. 12 of 16 flights that were T-8 or less had availability at some point during my tracking. **The flights that didn't show availability had 0, 1, or 2 open seats (out of 8). 1 flight showed availability with as few as 2 open seats out of 8 (this was at T-1).
5 of 8 open seems to be a magic number - when it hits 5 available there's a vastly larger chance of a seat opening than with 4 available.
**CHECK often because nearly every flight I tracked had seats free up while I was tracking them - I'm not sure if it's pax cancelling or what, but it almost always happened. For me, my Tuesday flight had no award availability with 4 open seats at T-6, however sometime between 4AM and 10AM CST a seat opened up at T-6. I checked and 5 seats were available, 1 award, I got the award seat making 4 available and then award availability was closed.
This was a summary of a spreadsheet, so sorry if it's confusing...
...And then right after I post this I re-check availability and my flight has another award seat available by the looks of it, at T-6 with 4 open...so availability changes at times other than 00:00 UTC even when the number of open seats doesn't change.
Last edited by garkman; Jan 16, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Jan 16, 2013, 3:05 pm
#221
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: RIC
Programs: AA, IHG
Posts: 239
That's probably as detailed of a summary of the current state of LH availability as I've seen, garkman. Thanks for doing the research!
Any differences across aircraft types? For example, last summer I was watching the 748 when it was flying to/from Dulles and availability on it seemed to follow different logic (and be much harder to get) than flights on other aircraft.
Any differences across aircraft types? For example, last summer I was watching the 748 when it was flying to/from Dulles and availability on it seemed to follow different logic (and be much harder to get) than flights on other aircraft.
Jan 16, 2013, 4:25 pm
#222
Join Date: May 2011
Location: ORD
Posts: 208
That's probably as detailed of a summary of the current state of LH availability as I've seen, garkman. Thanks for doing the research!
Any differences across aircraft types? For example, last summer I was watching the 748 when it was flying to/from Dulles and availability on it seemed to follow different logic (and be much harder to get) than flights on other aircraft.
Any differences across aircraft types? For example, last summer I was watching the 748 when it was flying to/from Dulles and availability on it seemed to follow different logic (and be much harder to get) than flights on other aircraft.
). I'd assume any similar-sized aircraft (ie 8 F seats) would have similar trends, but they could vary it by any number of metrics. For example, some routes may have higher propensity for last-minute bookings, so they'd probably try to hold back award inventory later for those. Just speculation at this point - others can feel free to add in data for their own flights.
Jan 16, 2013, 7:21 pm
#223
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,562
Just wanted to share my experience on snagging LH F. While availability does change/update at 0:00 UTC, please make sure to check very frequently - here's why.
I tracked the entire availability for LH431 from ORD-FRA for the date range of 1/9 thru 1/29 (I began tracking this range on 1/7 and stopped on 1/16). I used the ANA tool to do a reverse search in order to bypass the <4 day limit.
Of the 21 days I tracked, only 7 didn't show availability at some point, and 3 of those 7 were still 9+ days out. 12 of 16 flights that were T-8 or less had availability at some point during my tracking. **The flights that didn't show availability had 0, 1, or 2 open seats (out of 8). 1 flight showed availability with as few as 2 open seats out of 8 (this was at T-1).
5 of 8 open seems to be a magic number - when it hits 5 available there's a vastly larger chance of a seat opening than with 4 available.
**CHECK often because nearly every flight I tracked had seats free up while I was tracking them - I'm not sure if it's pax cancelling or what, but it almost always happened. For me, my Tuesday flight had no award availability with 4 open seats at T-6, however sometime between 4AM and 10AM CST a seat opened up at T-6. I checked and 5 seats were available, 1 award, I got the award seat making 4 available and then award availability was closed.
This was a summary of a spreadsheet, so sorry if it's confusing...
...And then right after I post this I re-check availability and my flight has another award seat available by the looks of it, at T-6 with 4 open...so availability changes at times other than 00:00 UTC even when the number of open seats doesn't change.
I tracked the entire availability for LH431 from ORD-FRA for the date range of 1/9 thru 1/29 (I began tracking this range on 1/7 and stopped on 1/16). I used the ANA tool to do a reverse search in order to bypass the <4 day limit.
Of the 21 days I tracked, only 7 didn't show availability at some point, and 3 of those 7 were still 9+ days out. 12 of 16 flights that were T-8 or less had availability at some point during my tracking. **The flights that didn't show availability had 0, 1, or 2 open seats (out of 8). 1 flight showed availability with as few as 2 open seats out of 8 (this was at T-1).
5 of 8 open seems to be a magic number - when it hits 5 available there's a vastly larger chance of a seat opening than with 4 available.
**CHECK often because nearly every flight I tracked had seats free up while I was tracking them - I'm not sure if it's pax cancelling or what, but it almost always happened. For me, my Tuesday flight had no award availability with 4 open seats at T-6, however sometime between 4AM and 10AM CST a seat opened up at T-6. I checked and 5 seats were available, 1 award, I got the award seat making 4 available and then award availability was closed.
This was a summary of a spreadsheet, so sorry if it's confusing...
...And then right after I post this I re-check availability and my flight has another award seat available by the looks of it, at T-6 with 4 open...so availability changes at times other than 00:00 UTC even when the number of open seats doesn't change.
) analysis back in August. I was tracking a bunch of longhaul F routes for a certain day (as opposed to a bunch of days) watching for 2 seats to open.See here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19247825-post325.html
Jan 18, 2013, 11:52 am
#224
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 106
How see same day award visibility
Does anyone know how to see same day *A award availability on LH? ANA appears to limit the latest search to next day. Expert flyer shows it, but from what I gather it gets it's info from UA.com. So would that mean UA.com is the only way?
Jan 18, 2013, 12:15 pm
#225
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Here Today, There Tomorrow
Programs: 2.96MM DL DM, Hyatt Globalist, AA Plat Pro, UA Silver, HH Lifetime Diamond, Marriott TE
Posts: 1,318
Here's my scenario; Currently holding 3 Business Class (I) awards from DTW to FRA for May. Used United miles. A340-300 currently scheduled for the route. F completely empty as of now. What are the odds of upgrading to F with more miles or any other alternative?