How late do rewards seats get released?!

Hi all

Flying out with my wife to the US on Thursday 12th September - already booked in Economy and looking to use my miles to upgrade us to Upper. Have signed up to Reward Flight Finder (which is a great resource) but nothing released yet for our dates.

When I do a dummy booking, I can see that there are still 12 seats available in Upper on the outbound and 15 available inbound. Is it usual to have so many available this late?! Obviously I will be on it if and when I get an email from RFF to say they are available, but just wondering if its worth me ringing up VA to see if they'd do anything.

Worst case scenario (if seats are still available) we'll have to try and upgrade on the day at the airport!

Thanks
Jack

seat maps are unreliable to try and guess how busy a flight is. Not everyone selects a seat in advance. Many people wait until OLCI opens or take pot luck at the airport.

Without knowing the route it's impossible to say more as some are more prone to last minute bookings than others (and some flights to the same destination than others the same day)

Sometimes VS does offer on the day upgrades for both miles and cash.

Thanks for the reply - sorry forgot to add the route! Outbound: LHR-SEA, Inbound: LAX-LHR

I’d say LHR-SEA = reasonable chance; LAX-LHR = slim chance.

Demand for UC is always higher on redeye flights, and LAX is a premium-heavy route that often sells out in UC and attracts lots of last minute full fare bookings by the entertainment industry, so VS are loathe to fill it up in advance with miles redemptions.

Having said that, if there IS space in UC on the day, check-in agents will often happily sell miles upgrades so don’t give up hope.

I’ve upgraded on the phone the morning of the flight when reward seats appeared and at the airport

[mitchja]

I’ve seen reward seats appear (which I’ve grabbed) whilst I’ve been sat in the Clubhouse waiting for the flight to depart.