Hi all,

Two of us have ticketed LONE6 tickets that are mostly open dated, the dates listed below are the days we want to fly (until we get to South America, at which point its approximate). I'm wondering if anyone knows about L class availability on the following routes. My second question is WHEN I can book these (is it 330 days out on all routes?)

05-Nov-08 NBO - xLHR (BA) - HKG (CX)
09-Nov-08 HKG - NRT (CX)
30-Nov-08 NRT - MEL (QF)
05-Jan-09 MEL - AKL (QF)
04-Feb-09 AKL - SCL (LN)
07-Feb-09 SCL - IPC (LN)
12-Feb-09 IPC - xSCL (LN) - LIM (LN)
09-May-09 GIG -xMIA (AA) - YYZ (AA)

(The flights leading up to Nov 2008 are all dated)

Thanks!

No. For AKL-SCL every single day counts, as this is perhaps the hardest segment to get anywhere (and in February it is close to mission impossible). Right now, if you were to make a booking directly with LAN the window is virtually one year. For example, the last flight available for booking today is the one for the 4th of November, 2008.

Sorry, I'm a little confused! If every day counts, but the last flight available for booking today is Nov 4, 2008 what happens to the other 5 days? (Nov 5 - 9, 2008?)

Should I be booking AKL-SCL on Feb 5, 2008?

Thanks again!

The "missing" 5 days are due probably to a combination of factors, one of them being that the flight does not operate daily, another that the schedule probably does not get loaded in lan.com at precisely midnight of the 365th day, etc. I suggest you monitor lan.com for the next few days and try to do dummy bookings one year out. That will give you a feeling for exactly what to expect when you call LA. The other thing you should do, of course, is call LAN and get their take on things.

You might also want to look at revising your itinerary to use the N. America transfer option - AKL-xLAX-SCL....GIG-MIA-YYZ... etc. Two entries into NA are allowed as long as one is a transit without stopover en route to/from another continent. You'd need to re-issue, but far more certainty of getting across the Pacific in L.

Thanks for the help and the clarification, after going to the LAN website, I see what you mean!

As our dates aren't set in stone, I'll guess I'll just start calling and trying to get a flight 3-4 days before a year before our desired date (and try every subsequent day until I can get one.) From the sound of it, I can call LAN and try to get on this flight despite booking through AA? Can someone confirm this, and the process - for instance do I give them my ticket number and/or AA booking reference?

Unfortunately, we are using all 20 segments and can't take advantage of the 2 entries into North America.

Finally, does any one have any other concerns about the rest of our routes? Is SCL-IPC and back tough to get on as well?

Thanks again for all the help!

Yes, you can call them direct, but LA, like all the other airlines in your itinerary for which you hold open sectors, will want to know your ticket number.

It's February, you are competing with a lot all the people wishing to see the moais on a sunny day... yes, it's tough, although not nearly as tough as SYD-AKL-SCL.

Hopefully this will free up when Qantas commence their planned SCL flights from Nov 2008.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=697672