jowlymonster

Booked in WTP in November, and have a decent chunk of Avios, but currently no availability to upgrade using them.
Is this likely to appear later on at some point or is it a case of "once they're gone they're gone"?

zaphod424

Yes, more reward seats often do show up later, in addition to the guaranteed ones which open at T-355. How many seats come up, when they do, and whether they will at all is all up to BA though and can be pretty random, there's no set time of day like with the T-355 seats, they could appear at any time.

They will make more seats available on flights for which they're not selling as many cash tickets, so travelling on a popular route, during school holidays, or on more polular days of the week will reduce the chances any come up. In general though, unless a flight is sold out (or BA expect it to sell out before departure) there will often be a few J seats released in the last few days/weeks before departure.

Because of the random timing it's useful to have an alert set up, on a service like seatspy or rewardflightfinder, as they will alert you if/when seats become available so you can book asap, otherwise you have to keep checking, and may get beaten to the seats you want.

jowlymonster

Thanks, that's helpful info! There's still a decent number of J seats free according to Expertflyer so will keep an eye out.

thejohn

That could also mean that tickets are sold for J but passengers will not pay for seating as BA charges for seat selection even on a J ticket.

John

ijgordon

Yeah, seat maps can be very unreliable indicators of availability in Y/PE/J where airlines don't provide free seat assignments to all/most travelers. For the US-based carriers, the premium cabin seat maps can be more informative.
But ExpertFlyer can still help, flights with I9 inventory are more likely to ultimately open up award/upgrade availability. Of course a flight that's I3 or even I0 today can become I9 in the future, the inventory is always dynamic. You'll be unlikely to see award/upgrade availability with I3 or similar unless it's very close to departure.

Krisz

Also to add, it's a myth that BA opening Avios seats if they dont sell cash tickets. It's very complex the calculations and in some cases BA opens up Avios seats on flights which are more full than on emptier one. It is just no way to know in advance, there is no pattern really so the only method is either check the availability frequently or using 3rd party tools. The only semi- pattern I think it exists that around midnight (UK) there is a recalculation automation running and adjusting availability. I have had some luck with flights which are only a few days out and suddenly they released some Avios seats just after midnight.The other time is Monday - Friday just after 9am (UK) I guess when rev management starts working and adjusting numbers too. However seats can open up anytime so best to check frequently. I would not bother to check seat maps or expert flyer for this. I've seen one flight 10pm fully open, like J9 D9 C9 I9 R9 Y9, etc then the next morning went down J2 D1 C0 I0 R0 Y3, etc things like that. What does it mean, nothing really we would not know why and what triggered the change, etc. BA rev man is really complicated and secretive so no one knows why and what they are doing. What we know they are maximising profit for BA.