Strange availability results for a search

[dot]

For an upcoming HAN-MNL (5/10) flight with Oneworld preference , I am seeing the same flight listed twice (not unusual) but for the same flight on the same day, the results are completely different... Have a look at CX903 on the 5/10:

Top pick in the results:
CX (VN) 790 0 HAN
05/10/08 11:05 AM HKG
05/10/08 1:55 PM 321
Daily
84% / 21m - avail on this flight not important


CX () 903 0 HKG
05/10/08 4:30 PM MNL
05/10/08 6:35 PM 343
Su,T
69% / 22m F3 A2 J0 C0 D0 I0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

Note the lack of availablity on CX903 in anything but First, now look at this detail from further down the results :

VN () 790 0 HAN
05/10/08 11:05 AM HKG
05/10/08 1:55 PM 321
Daily
84% / 21m - avail on this flight not important


CX () 903 0 HKG
05/10/08 4:30 PM MNL
05/10/08 6:35 PM 343
Su,T
69% / 22m F4 A3 J9 C7 D5 I5 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V0 S9 N0 Q0 O0

and all of a sudden, there are plenty of seats in J and Y...:shock:

I am baffled! Can anyone explain?

 

[tscharke]

also noticed the same situation with excess J/Y seats on the HX519(HAN-HKG)/CX903(HKG-MNL) combo for that same day!

so looks like you are penalised for taking the CX codeshare flight number from HAN-HKG rather than VN or HX ...doesn't compute! gotta be a bug!

and a single search for flights between HKG-MNL on that days gives you
F4 A4 J9 C9 D9 I9 Y9 B9 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

 

[serfty]

... gotta be a bug! ...

Not at all; Airlines can vary availability depending upon routing/carrier/place of purchase ... and often do!

i.e. It's possible CX deliberatly have different seat availability for those travelling HAN-(VN)-HKG-(CX)-MNL than HAN-(CX)-HKG-(CX)-MNL.

Perhaps they make more out of booking a VN/CX connection than CX/CX?

 

[tscharke]

would they limit the availability that much to block out all J & Y seats?

and why would CX disadvantage their own passengers when trying to book under CX flight numbers for both legs?

I've noticed the seating games played between codeshare QF & BA flights, especially on the SYD-SIN route, however nothing compared to this example!

I'm just sceptical over EF's reporting of airline data! I have amused myself plenty of times by playing the "lets refresh and see the changes" game!"

Sure, with reporting systems the old saying is "GIGO" however it would be interesting to discover just how reliable EF really is!

Anyhoo, what did you end up booking dot?

 

[serfty]

Here's an example of a YUP I was researching last night (albeit on AA):

• SFO-//-MKE for USD470
• SFO-//-ORD for USD960

SFO-DFW-ORD-MKE cost USD470, SFO-DFW-ORD cost USD960 - Same SFO-DFW/DFW-ORD Flights!

 

[tscharke]

hmmm! to work in yield management do you need a degree or a crack habit?

 

[serfty]

Or another more pertinent example in relation to fare buckets;

I was researching a LONE4 earlier this year; LGA-SEA had no direct flights, but LGA-ORD-SEA was available. However, the important class was L0 for all flights. Looking at LGA-ORD and ORD-SEA individually showed L7 on each of the same flights.

 

[dot]

would they limit the availability that much to block out all J & Y seats?

and why would CX disadvantage their own passengers when trying to book under CX flight numbers for both legs?

I agree - seems very odd to me.

I've noticed the seating games played between codeshare QF & BA flights, especially on the SYD-SIN route, however nothing compared to this example!

I've seen plenty of that sort of behaviour too (for instance on the QF codeshare on OZ metal, QF only get a certain number of seat they can sell, where OZ can sell every seat on the plane if they wish and use all of QF's codeshare allowance. This case is very different though as we are not talking about codeshares for the CX HKG-MNL flight. I can understand the availability being different (as I would expect it to me) for the VN flight depending on travelling on the VN or CX flight numbers, but I still dont understand the major difference in availability on CX903.

Anyhoo, what did you end up booking dot?

Nothing yet - meeting dates in MNL are still too fluid, so I may actually end up doing MEL-HAN-MEL then MEL-MNL-MEL instead of MEL-HAN-MNL-MEL... but that is pretty typical for my travel.