Suddenly no availability in Thai Business from Europe using Lifemiles

[Tash Melbourne]

I have been searching for Business flights back from Europe to Mel in February next year using Lifemiles. Only economy in Thai available. Not one single Business ticket available from any city I looked at. A week ago there were lots of flights showing 4 seats . Has anyone else had the same experience? Any suggestions?

 

[burmans]

Not only to Europe, I have found the same to SYD - Bangkok both with Lifemiles, United and SQ. Admitedly I am looking the the Xmas/New Year period but last week plenty of options, this week absolutely zero, even in Y.

Could be related to their upcoming devaluation, a combination of people rushing to get FF seats before the devaluation combined with them turning off their normal rule that as seats are taken they release more. Of course that's just a theory!

 

[Tash Melbourne]

I am hoping its just a glitch....... I have just bought more Lifemiles which will be pretty useless if Thai pulls the plug! There are seats available about 3 months from now (June say) but patchy beyond June. I wondered if Thai had decided to only release seats nearer to the date of travel, allowing them to actually sell more business seats?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I am hoping its just a glitch....... I have just bought more Lifemiles which will be pretty useless if Thai pulls the plug! There are seats available about 3 months from now (June say) but patchy beyond June. I wondered if Thai had decided to only release seats nearer to the date of travel, allowing them to actually sell more business seats?

Have you tried splitting the itinerary looking for Europe to Asia and then Asian-Australia? You might need to do a screenshot booking.

But agree in general TG availability has dried right up for the moment and can be hard to find. Not just on LM, but as others have observed, via other partners as well.

An airline can choose to selectively release seats, and award seats are only seats the airline doesn't expexct to sell anyway. This dip in availability shouldn't be due to them looking to 'sell' more seats - unless they are going to heavily discount... which is rare for TG.

However the devalaution could have something to do with it.

 

[burmans]

My suspicion is that with the devaluation coming up they have a rush of their own members looking to redeem and hence have turned off redemptions for partners. But don't have a Thai account to test this theory.

Hoping so as this means post devaluation they will most likely return back to 'normal' availability.

 

[VAG newbie]

My suspicion is that with the devaluation coming up they have a rush of their own members looking to redeem and hence have turned off redemptions for partners. But don't have a Thai account to test this theory.

Hoping so as this means post devaluation they will most likely return back to 'normal' availability.

I have friends who has a stash of Royal Orchid miles and had a look. Under their own program the availability is excellent as usual. 4-5 seats in J/F at 1 year out. But to all star alliance partner (including UA) it seems they've closed the door. They have done what SQ did. I'm sure it has something to do with upcoming devaluation forcing people to use their own miles rather than partners.

 

[PIN]

I have been searching for Business flights back from Europe to Mel in February next year using Lifemiles. Only economy in Thai available. Not one single Business ticket available from any city I looked at. A week ago there were lots of flights showing 4 seats . Has anyone else had the same experience? Any suggestions?

Hi there,
Have tried the same for May next year with no go. Same for BKK,ICN,SIN,NRT but PEK is ok.

 

[PIN]

Hi there,
Have tried the same for May next year with no go. Same for BKK,ICN,SIN,NRT but PEK is ok.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It looks like, for the moment, TG is releasing most of the inventory 14 days prior to departure. Before that it's real sketchy.

 

[goldenhorn]

It looks like, for the moment, TG is releasing most of the inventory 14 days prior to departure. Before that it's real sketchy.

That’s works for a last-minute holiday to BKK but not much else.

 

[davidjm2389]

Any news on TG J availability? Still appears to be non existent. Devaluation must have happened by now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Any news on TG J availability? Still appears to be non existent. Devaluation must have happened by now.

At least for AU-Bkk And v.v. it seems to be available within about a 2-3 month window? It’s hard to pin it down exactly because of factors like school holidays, which would impact availability anyway.

 

[goldenhorn]

Any news on TG J availability? Still appears to be non existent. Devaluation must have happened by now.

@Notyourbag booked something about a month out here:

Avianca Life Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here

ORD - YVR -SYD J class with AC 2 pax July 2020 79,000 miles + USD$1319.86 This purchase was made on the phone as the website was showing an error when I tried to add passenger names. The process was a little less painful this time. 2 phone calls - 1 to make the booking and then one the next...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Notyourbag]

@Notyourbag booked something about a month out here:

Avianca Life Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here

ORD - YVR -SYD J class with AC 2 pax July 2020 79,000 miles + USD$1319.86 This purchase was made on the phone as the website was showing an error when I tried to add passenger names. The process was a little less painful this time. 2 phone calls - 1 to make the booking and then one the next...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I'm Also looking at LHR-BKK TG J availability and it's coming up less than 7 days but more availability from Frankfurt. Handy for anyone travelling to/from Europe.

 

[joon8887]

Has anyone found Melb - North Asia early next year? There's nothing on TG or OZ even Air China

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Has anyone found Melb - North Asia early next year? There's nothing on TG or OZ even Air China

Are you searching sector by sector? TG's availability should be open now for early next year, although the seats may have gone by now. Air China is notorious for stingy availability.

 

[joon8887]

Are you searching sector by sector? TG's availability should be open now for early next year, although the seats may have gone by now. Air China is notorious for stingy availability.

You mean ICH - BKK, then BKK - MEL ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You mean ICH - BKK, then BKK - MEL ?

Yeah. In many cases Lifemiles won't show connecting flights. If you can find them sector by sector, you can take a screenshot of those, and a third screenshot showing no available flights ICN-MEL. You send those all off with your passport page to Lifemiles and they'll book the flights manually for you.

 

[joon8887]

Thanks Mel!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks Mel!

You can check availability using United's booking tool (requires free membership). If United shows connecting flights, you can then search LM sector by sector for the same flights.