Bulkhead row seats in PE part of "unsold" total?

Travelling out to LA on Friday June 3rd, and the seat page for the "Manage your Flights" part of the VAA website shows only 5 seats left.

Does that really mean only 5 seats left, or are there in fact 12 left, as the bulkhead row never shows as available??? Just trying to gauge possibilities of OP-UPs (as the upgrade price offered is £3,750 each way!).

Thanks.

Hello,

Only approx. 60% of seats are available for pre-selection, all that means is that there are 5 seats available for pre-selection remaining - more seats will become available when OLCI opens.

A load check would give a better indicator of the actual load of the flight - what flight number are you taking?

Luke

The 23 on June 3rd.

Below is the load check for your flight, looks pretty open for now.

VS () 23 0 LHR
06/03/11 3:35 PM LAX
06/03/11 7:05 PM

J9 D9 R9 Z5 W6 S6 K3 Y9 B9 L9 M9 Q9 X9 N9 O9

Thanks for that. What's interesting is that a week ago there were a lower number of W's showing as available on EF, and now there are more? Is that because as PE fills up VAA are just charging more for the last few seats in PE?

[mitchja]

What you have to remember is that all airlines often don't release all of their fare inventory all at once. It's all carefully calculated based on numerous things such as route demand/seasons/route history etc. etc.

Also the cheaper fares always come with advance purchase restrictions (usually 21 or 42 day advance purchases)

For example a VS Z fare has to be purchased at least 42 days in advance hence the reason why your upgrade cost is now so high as it's less than 42 days before you travel so there will be no Z fares available to upgrade to.

Those 6 W fares can be sold as either W, S, K and H (VH fare, which do not appear in EF). There's then also reward inventory which is also thrown into the equation which again is hidden from EF.

That's more or less what I'd concluded.

Thx.

Don't get your hopes up for an Opp Up - they are very rare.
Even if the flight looks sold out don't forget some pax will want to use miles at the airport which obviously then releases their seats.
It does happen sometimes but seldom.