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I was looking to book return Avios business class London New York at the end of May. While there is a lot of availability from London to New York, there is nothing coming back over the next three weeks
I was wondering if anyone knew why you could get plenty of Avios availability in just one direction on a route but nothing the other way
I can see business seats on various flights from both JFK & EWR every day 26th – 28th, no less than seven on one flight! Plus a single seat via BOS on the 29th.
It’s possible than further seats may pop up on flights more than a week away, but that doesn’t help if you want to know you can get back.
Many people prefer a flat bed on an overnight flight but will put up with economy or premium on a day flight. I expect this is amplified on the NYC route where there’s a lot of business travel.
It is a bit weird though, that there are no J seats at all with so many daily services.
FYI, there is an 8 am departure from JFK which is a much better experience than a red eye, and would be very bearable in a lower cabin. For 5-6 hours, the extra avios and cash for J aren’t really worth it, IMO.
*A Quick Look on SeatSpy shows no J on the return between June 5th and 21st which is probably when OP is looking at.
Still plenty of availability left:
However, I’ve seen reward seat imbalance for a bunch of reasons cited before: vacation travel patterns (due to hub/spoke), business events, “positioning”, inventory management etc.
You’re into peak season now – just before the crazy summer seat, just after the freezing winter months. A lot of people will fly out PE or Y and use Club back.
Plan B (which will change, because seats WILL open up – I cancelled a Club return from NY in June just last week actually) is book the 8am day flight back in PE. Will be fine.
Also make sure your searches are including Newark and you’re not typing in JFK out of habit.
Over the last few years there has been a large increase in people doing one ways and open jaws rather than the more traditional out and back from the same airport.
Plenty of cruise ships use NYC (and e.g. MIA) as ports so after a week crossing the Atlantic you’re only going to need a OW flight and OW rewards are much cheaper than cash flights.
@ Charlie
What are you getting that availability from? Are you sure that isn’t premium economy?
Perhaps peak season, but 3 weeks ago my wife got 2 Avios returns LHR/JFK with an AMEX 241 voucher for the following week without issue. Maybe they will open more seats nearer the time.
End of May is always a busy and expensive time for flights across the pond. Colleges/Unis break up mid May and schools end May early June. Memorial Day (26 May this year) and late May bank holiday plus various dates for half term here makes it one of the busiest and most expensive times of the year. One year we urgently needed to go back to the UK at this time and the only way back was via Mexico.
@Speedfriend That’s from FlightTimeCalendar showing all the cabins
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