No Vacant Seats???

[Gold60]

How often do people see vacant seats in F and J class when they are flying ??

i would have thought with all the FF points floating around, and a lot of people with a large no of SC's and high levels of status that virtually all F and J seats would always be taken - especially on the better class of airlines like QF, SW, CX, LH, etc etc ??

i am guessing that the really unpopular, and/or dangerous destinations flight/places might have the odd seat or two occasionally, but on say the OZ to US and ASIA routes, i would have expected seats of any sort in F especially, and J to a lesser extent, would be hard to come by ?

 

[RooFlyer]

Some airlines (QF amongst them) are notorious for not filling their F cabins by allowing Award tickets to fill the non revenue filled seats. They appear to believe they maintain the 'premium' nature of the cabins if they make them hard to get.

And, to a certain extent, if you do pay that much for First, you would appreciate it not being chokkers with freeloaders (like me).

Nth American airlines have no such policies!!

 

[Gold60]

you? a freeloader, you, ROO ??? Never sir, never i say!!!

part of the reason i am asking is that i am trying to work out if it is worth trying to get a First class seat somewhere, to somewhere, sometime in the vaguely distant future, even if it is only for a short-shortish hop. i will never be able to pay for a seat with cash, but am looking at maybe trying to get an award seat or upgrade somehow. Then i asked myself, they are probably as rare as hen's teeth, and not that much better than BIZ - if you aren't into the food and drink thing, and if you don't fly much.

so who knows !!!

Some airlines (QF amongst them) are notorious for not filling their F cabins by allowing Award tickets to fill the non revenue filled seats. They appear to believe they maintain the 'premium' nature of the cabins if they make them hard to get.

And, to a certain extent, if you do pay that much for First, you would appreciate it not being chokkers with freeloaders (like me).

Nth American airlines have no such policies!!

 

[RooFlyer]

Well, you know you are in the right place! You'll know what type of miles/points you have to spend (which airlines) and then its as 'easy' as coming back to the appropriate airline forum and asking which routes are the best bet for Award flights. I have been following the SQ thread to see the routes have the most available First Suites availability. May not be routes out of Australia, but you can plan ahead and hopefully snag a seat as part of a wider trip.

And/or get directed to the best airline's search engine for award flights on that alliance - for instance, I know that the Japan Airlines and BA sites indicates more availability of First (and J etc) award seats than, say Qantas' site. But I'm far from expert in those dark arts.

Probably the best short hop in First from Oz is Emirates across the ditch - but I don't now about Award availability (Qantas/ EK); again, ask away in the Qantas/Emirates forum.

First is definitely worth trying ... especially, I think , EK with their showers in First and, if you can points afford it, Etihad's Apartment (and showers). But of course the downside is that its a bit of a come-down back to J and, horror-of-horrors, economy.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Then i asked myself, they are probably as rare as hen's teeth, and not that much better than BIZ - if you aren't into the food and drink thing, and if you don't fly much.

I've recently redeemed our first F awards and I found them no rarer than J awards for the dates and routes I was searching. We had enough QF points for one way to Europe and enough VA for the return. I booked well in advance -- the week of release -- and got my preferred dates flying QR one way and SQ the other. It's highly unlikely we'll ever get the chance to do this again, at least not as a couple, and so we're treating it as bucket-list item. And hoping it doesn't totally spoil me for all future travel in lesser classes.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

part of the reason i am asking is that i am trying to work out if it is worth trying to get a First class seat somewhere, to somewhere, sometime in the vaguely distant future, even if it is only for a short-shortish hop. i will never be able to pay for a seat with cash, but am looking at maybe trying to get an award seat or upgrade somehow. Then i asked myself, they are probably as rare as hen's teeth, and not that much better than BIZ - if you aren't into the food and drink thing, and if you don't fly much.

so who knows !!!

depends on the airline - First class on some can be easier than business class on others. Thai First for example has better availability than Qantas business.

Some airline like Cathay release a few seats initially, then nothing, then release pretty much every seat that's left a week or so before departure. Lufthansa F is notoriously hard to get, SQ F is the same, unless you belong to KrisFlyer, in which case F is pretty easy.

For a cheap return in First class you might consider SYD-BKK-HKG return via United miles, yours for just $1700 return if you buy your miles during a 100% bonus.

 

[Gold60]

MEL T - I presume that TG would be the people you would fly with once you TFR your United miles over to TG's FF Programme ?

"......For a cheap return in First class you might consider SYD-BKK-HKG return via United miles, yours for just $1700 return if you buy your miles during a 100% bonus......"

 

[MEL_Traveller]

MEL T - I presume that TG would be the people you would fly with once you TFR your United miles over to TG's FF Programme ?

"......For a cheap return in First class you might consider SYD-BKK-HKG return via United miles, yours for just $1700 return if you buy your miles during a 100% bonus......"

Miles can't be transferred from United to Thai, but it's the same concept as Qantas allowing you to redeem on Onewolrd partners. United and Thai are both in star alliance. So you can use your united miles to purchase a Thai ticket (directly on the united booking engine).

 

[Gold60]

aaah ha !!! Thank you very much for this. I was just reading an article on Points Hack about this very process....

Miles can't be transferred from United to Thai, but it's the same concept as Qantas allowing you to redeem on Onewolrd partners. United and Thai are both in star alliance. So you can use your united miles to purchase a Thai ticket (directly on the united booking engine).

 

[Franky]

Recently did MUC-AUH in F on Etihad. Would have been happy with J, but could'nt find any availability to get home from northern Italy on the dates required. On boarding, we were initially the only two in F, however the flight was held up for 16 pax coming in on a delayed flight, and 2 more pax joined us. Daylight flight with an outstanding chef and great service. J looked close to full on the day. As a number have said, to return to Y would have been a tragedy, but we did appreciate our long flight home in J from AUH.

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

A month a go I flew Etihad Melb to AUH and it was only me and another passenger in the apartments on the A380.