BAPP 241 – more availability during BA sale?

[ecugkq30]

Hi, I was doing some speculative bookings with a ‘new’ style BAPP 241. I was wondering should availability improve when BA is doing a cash fare sale? I know there is a specific fare class which is made available for avios redemptions but wondered if sale fares would fall in this (and therefore improve redemption availability when sales are on)…thanks

[Thegasman]

Traditionally Avios availability decreases during a sale (a sudden drop is one of the signs a sale is imminent). I don’t think anyone can say for certain how things will work with new vouchers but my understanding is there is no fixed formula/automated process that guarantees I class availability > x = additional Avios availability.

I’d also say that I class numbers don’t increase during a sale, there are just different fares available that book into I class (which may or may not be cheaper than those available before/after a sale).

Think of BA sales as similar to DFS etc, BA’s revenue management is one of its strong points so they won’t allow a load of cheap cash fares & Avios redemptions to fill up the plane unless they’re desperate which will probably not be until 2-3 months out if demand undershooting predictions or there’s a macro issue like 2020.