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#935742 by Sringer
05 Jun 2017, 10:11
I have been waiting for my flights to become available for MCO for next May, Whilst i wait for them to be released i decided to look into each month to see what flights are currently available in all classes. I was surprised by the lack of reward seats available. Nothing available from January onward or in September for instance.

From memory these flights where very easy to get in the past, especially economy flights. Are people finding this is the norm nowadays? How do you go about claiming rewards seats to get what you want?
#935744 by tontybear
05 Jun 2017, 11:15
There are a limited number of reward seats. VS does not guarentee a certain number on each flight.

It is simply a case of checking, checking and checking again on a regular basis.

It also depends how many you want. If you want 3 and there are only 2 on that flight the website does not tell you that it just tells you 'none available'
#935746 by Sringer
05 Jun 2017, 11:29
ok thanks, just strange i haven't seen any since looking 3/4 weeks ago. only looking for singles at this time!

Do you guys use expert flyer to setup reminders of when reward flights become available?

or another application?
#935747 by Kraken
05 Jun 2017, 12:14
I have always been lucky with reward seats on the MAN-MCO-MAN route. Have bagged 2 G fares for Upper Class returns in May (twice) and November (once) in the past.

It's really just a case of looking often (i.e. at least daily) on the VS website and the Mobile App. Since the move to the Delta IT platform I have noticed that on quite a few occasions that the website will say no availability, but the Mobile App will show seats available. When you then phone Flying Club, they can see the seats available on their system.

Whilst I note the OP is only after a single seat in Economy, if you want more than one reward seat, always start searching for a single seat, then increment the number to 2 on the next search and so on. This will give you an idea of how many reward seats are available in each cabin. If it's a family of 4 travelling, you may decide to bag 2 seats in Upper for the parents & put the children - if they are suitably old enough - in Premium Economy! (Have seen this done & the kids took the pi55 and tried to spend most of the flight on their parents footrests in Upper, until the FSM sent them packing on a regular basis).

I do find it odd that there are no reward seats showing for MAN-MCO in January, as this is very low-season in Florida and it can be cold - even with frosts. I've also flown home from MCO-MAN in late January a few years ago and there were only about 160 onboard the 747 (which can seat over 450). Upper was full, but people in Economy were dashing to bag centre rows of 4 once the seatbelt sign went off so they could have a lie-flat sleep.
#935748 by stevebrass
05 Jun 2017, 12:25
I have been looking for PE rewards MCO to MAN late January 2018 but nothing so far. Just a matter of keep checking. I use a Expert Flyer alert and I check the VS website daily.

Not a busy time so I would expect so P's to come up.
#935772 by dickydotcom
06 Jun 2017, 07:33
In the past I have managed LGW to MCO several times in Upper bagging the tickets at the first opportunity.
But last March, booking for this Feb it was not easy. We did get outbound flights but they were not appearing in the predictable manner they have in the past. When it came to book the return flights there was nothing anywhere near our date. (In the past we have often added a day to get an upper reward home as Sunday seems a better bet than Saturday.) So we ended up flying home from Atlanta.
We drove to Atlanta but I gather quite a few fly from MCO to Atlanta which is an option to consider.

Dick D
#935776 by stevebrass
06 Jun 2017, 11:52
inkiboo wrote:Main issue with MCO reward seats is that there are nearly always only 14 UC seats in total so this makes getting reward seats very difficult.


True enough. But there are a lot more PE seats.
#935781 by gumshoe
06 Jun 2017, 13:37
stevebrass wrote:Not a busy time so I would expect so P's to come up.


Not a busy time, true, but that means fewer flights.

On the busiest summer days VS can operate as many as 6 or 7 747s from the UK to MCO. On the quietest winter days it can be as few as 1 or 2, so even then reward availability can be very limited.

Having said that I'm surprised there's nothing in Economy. Having flown to MCO myself on a very quiet day in January, UC & PE were rammed but Y was virtually empty.
#937161 by stevebrass
02 Aug 2017, 08:42
And then 2 ps come along and promptly bagged. So with the help of the Amex upgrade vouchers 2 Pax MAN to MCO return in PE for 50000 miles and just over £800 in taxes. :-D
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