Envoy from BCN sold out months in advance?
 

Back in May when I was booking travel to Europe this summer, I was rather surprised to find the flight from BCN-PHL (US473) to be completely sold out in Envoy a couple months in advance on a seemingly random Monday, 07/29. Pretty impressive since it's operated by an A330-330.

My best guess is that the space was reserved for people returning from an upscale cruise (Celebrity, for example). If that's the case, any idea if those would all be actual bookings, or if the cruise line gets to "hold" a number of seats for potential travelers and some of them are likely to be released closer to the travel date?

The seat map shown by ExpertFlyer shows all Envoy seats have been assigned, as well as probably 80-85% of Coach. Still could be some cruise operator that has assigned all the seats to themselves perhaps, but since there are seats actually assigned rather than J= 0 but a bunch of seats unassigned, I would think there are probably actual bookings already made for these seats, and that only onesy-twosy stuff might maybe open up. A lot of times when consolidators make bulk purchases, they don't actually assign the seats till very close to the travel date.

For a route that they just started a few years ago and is only seasonal, US seems to be doing big volume on the route to be filling A330-300s. In the past it's just been the 767 or A330-200.

Yeah, I was going to say that whenever I perused BCN this year as a possible destination, I was surprised at how full the planes are, how there is never any reasonable Envoy award availability, and so on. Maybe I should not be surprised -- BCN is currently viewed, among Europeans at least, as being the most "with it" place on the continent; so no surprise Americans want to go, too.

That's perhaps a good guess. The days +/-1 are wide open in Envoy - C9 D9. Props to the US staff doing cruise sales - there are six dates presently where Enjoy is sold old BCN-PHL this summer.

Spain is a very inexpensive vacation location. If you look at the number of flights from other parts of Europe to Spain it is very impressive. American's are starting to catch on that not only for cruises. I have a couple of favorite Spanish resorts cities that I have been visiting for years. More and more Americans are showing up (Damn it) And BCN is a big cruise port.

LOL! I'm the same way: when I travel overseas, I hate running into (most) Americans! :eek:

I am going to BCN Envoy (Chairman certs) through Frankfort at the end of October. I read this thread and checked the web site - they are asking me to accept a schedule change. Great! But then I realize I am still going through Frankfort. So I call the Chairman's desk - and ask to be switched to the direct PHL-BCN flight - which is 100% empty in Envoy. I am told no way - but I can switch to coach.

I explained that going direct would free up the Envoy to Frankfort - but more important the need to buy a ticket for me on Lufthansa from FRA to BCN. The fare is now lower and I am not asking for any credit. Still got nowhere.

I think this is the type of service that makes the frequent flyer (mostly for personal travel in my case) get exasperated. It is just seeming so hard these days - I have been a lot of places - soon it will be time to explore new places closer to home:confused:

I like your style. I tried to do the same thing for my JAX-LAS flight, I wanted to switch it to GNV after a schedule change. The lady politely said they can't change origin or destination without a fee. Although I didn't push her on what would happen if I just canceled the ticket and restarted I imagine you could do that without a fee? Not sure but bottom line is you can't change the routing...

Go Gators

As Chairman's, this is the correct approach - book a new itinerary (assuming you have the miles to do so) then cancel the existing award itinerary and refund the miles, as CPs get the fees waived for this.

Yes, it should be simpler.

BCN Envoy availability is always blocked by US Airways - that is their way of sticking it to their own elite flyers. Those seats will open up closer to the flight time. I travelled that route several times doing either upgrade to Envoy or award Envoy, and this was the case for at least past 3 years.
It takes strong nerves and daily calls - but more than 30 days out - they keep the seats to themselves.
In addition they also play defense in committing the airplanes - which dictates how many seats they offer.
If you believe in unassigned seats in Envoy - you need to reconsider - just buy more seat than you see - you can always cancel within 24 hours ;-)

I also have been in a similar situation, with the same results. It sure seems like logic should prevail, but it never does.

So true. Even 4 and 5-star hotels in Spain are very cheap in comparison to the rest of Europe.

Looks like all those Envoy seats were just being held for some reason after all, or some large trip rescheduled. I checked back on that same flight that previously had no seats available in Envoy, and now it has 20 (of 28) of the seats open. Seems like a lot of lost potential revenue if they were just being held.

On the plus side, there's probably a good chance that I use miles toward upgrading that segment now.