Petrified of not getting my free seats

heleen

My sister is moving to Argentina. We've been savign airmiles forever and we now have enough for the 4 of us to go to Argentina in business class! (My husband is Gold on BMI)

We want to go Xmas 2009. I know the seats won't be released until 300-330 days before but I am so scared that I won't get my seats. It's a sort of too good to be true feeling...
So can anyone tell me:
- whther they (Lufthansa) tend to release more than 4 seats in business class on a flight?
- what the best date is to call to try to get the seats?
- any other tricks?
Thanks for any hints

richardw

If you want to use your miles you may have to go in late November/early December, at peak times (near Christmas) airlines like to have their seats occupied by people who have paid for them.
A lot can happen in 2.5 years, perhaps worry about this nearer the time.

blindman

heleen wrote: »

My sister is moving to Argentina. We've been savign airmiles forever and we now have enough for the 4 of us to go to Argentina in business class! (My husband is Gold on BMI)

We want to go Xmas 2009. I know the seats won't be released until 300-330 days before but I am so scared that I won't get my seats. It's a sort of too good to be true feeling...
So can anyone tell me:
- whther they (Lufthansa) tend to release more than 4 seats in business class on a flight?
- what the best date is to call to try to get the seats?
- any other tricks?
Thanks for any hints

Ask\research this on Flyertalk.

I agree on both points richardw has raised.

heleen

Sorry, holiday is planned for Xmas 2008, not 2009.
I know it's 1.5 years ahead but that measn I need to book it in 6 month's time.

Voyager2002

Most airlines will only make three business class seats on each flight available to people using miles. So be prepared to travel on separate flights, or for some of your party to travel in economy.

I think you are more likely to find seats using their website than by telephone, but getting free seats in business is a bit like winning the lottery.

richardw

Voyager2002 wrote: »

but getting free seats in business is a bit like winning the lottery.

er depends on the route and peak or off peak time. London-Sydney off peak is highly probable.

Takecareofthepennies

Lufthansa are usually pretty good for award seat availability through their own Miles & More programme. Not sure how that is if you want to book with points/miles from an affiliate programme. In any case it won't do any harm to try and come in early.

These seats, of course, are not totally "free" as you still pay taxes & fees: LH managed to part me with the best part of £500 for two return business class award seats London - New York recently (two sets of airport taxes, since flying LH involves a change of planes in Frankfurt or Munich, do add up!). Not much for business class, but still ...

chalky_bertie

Be slightly flexible on the dates and times that you want to go as there may be ore seats on an earlier / later flight and on a sunday instead of a saturday.

blindman

Further to my earlier post.

Use the ANA Tool to find award availability on Star Alliance routes.

Read this thread chapter Checking Award Seat Availability:

Can use this up 330 days in advance, mostly accurate :rolleyes:

Then once found, ring up LH and book.

tartan_guru

It really is worth registering with ANA and keep checking availability on the ANA website (i.e everyday!). If you can afford to it, it is worth topping up the points with money (not sure if LH do this but BMI definitely do)
We did this and are flying out on our honeymoon next week to Australia/ NZ in First Class for the cost of an economy ticket (£900). When I asked how much the tickets would be normally I was told £24,000!!!!!!

blackeberg

Just to back up what others have said about being flexible. We went to Buenos Aires with Lufthansa last Xmas (10th Dec to 1st Jan). It was very full and they actually added an additional flight due to the demand. On the plus side it means that you might be able to go as 2*2. There were morning and evening flights from Frankfurt and Munich to Sao Paolo. Passengers from both flights then joined up on the same flight for the last leg to Buenos Aires.