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Old 7 Jul 21, 05:51 PM  
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#31
CosmicGirl
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Originally Posted by AntonyJ View Post
Tried sending this as direct message but your box is full the system tells me

fFrst of all could / would you fly from Frankfurt out on May 26th? Can see an economy and first class seat OUT on that date.

Secondly, ANA are only doing 1 flight a day from Frankfurt for obvious reasons, but where did you see that "calendar" thing that showed what flights were running at moment?

Am looking to see if can still nab rewards seats from Frankfurt - and May 10th shows one flight a day, but from May 11th the reward seat checker shows 2 flights a day. Have ANA said they are resuming 2 flights a day from that date?
Thank you for keeping an eye out, that's very nice of you.

Our ideal dates are an early to mid-May departure with a return in the last week of May, so that's why I booked the one seat on May 8th. Only one seat is occupied so far, so I'm pretty sure they haven't released a second one yet.

We don't get credit card points here, so this is really a once in a lifetime flight for us. It took years of saving up points, transferring hotel points that I got when I temporarily lived in a country where I could get credit card points, and buying the rest with miles boosters and bonus promotions. It was quite the endeavour to get the points.
For this reason we'd rather be flexible on dates than to settle for one seat in economy and one in business or first. It's also part of the reason we've chosen to fly to/from NY, as it's a longer flight, it would take us over Alaska, and the odds of getting two seats in F are better. I'm an avgeek so these things matter to me, however silly they may sound to other people. One in F and one in J is the minimum we're willing to settle for. We did consider Frankfurt when the planning stages started over 3 years ago, but getting to and from Frankfurt with lots of luggage would cost us nearly the same as getting to NY. Leaving from NY and coming back to Frankfurt would be even be more expensive, as we'd have to get two one-way tickets. So long story short: I appreciate your help but we have our hearts set on JFK. If you'd happen to see anything pop up there I'd love to hear about it.

As for the calendar, I'm not sure what you are referring to. ANA have a calendar of sorts here, which tells you which flights are operating. But that doesn't include next year yet. Other than that I've simply been using ANA's own booking system and those of partner airlines. That's how I noticed that the 12:10pm flight from FRA is on a 787-9 in May. I'm still seeing two flights per day in both April and May but you can only get first class on the overnight flight, so you would miss out on a lot of the experience as they only offer a reduced service on the late evening departures. On May 10 in particular it looks like only one flight has reward seats left. That's why the other one is not showing up on United. When in doubt you can try booking a cash flight, that way you'll know which flights are scheduled.
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Old 9 Jul 21, 10:06 AM  
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#32
AntonyJ
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Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
Our ideal dates are an early to mid-May departure with a return in the last week of May, so that's why I booked the one seat on May 8th. Only one seat is occupied so far, so I'm pretty sure they haven't released a second one yet.
The previous time we used points to book seats it was a bit of a stressful time, as you have found out! We went same dates in May 2019 and when I booked our seats first of all, I got partner in First OUT and me in Economy Out - and we were both in Economy for way back - as at that time you had to book both legs of the flight. Over the comings months (and it took months) I got myself in a Business OUT, and then both of us in Business BACK and finally nabbed my partner a First BACK 3 weeks before we flew! We got on the plane at Heathrow and they were the only person in First, and I had points to possibly nab a First seat out too - while sat on the plane, I as talking to flight crew if this was possible - and then the other seats filled in first seconds before they closed doors. Talk about first world problems...

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
We don't get credit card points here, so this is really a once in a lifetime flight for us. It took years of saving up points, transferring hotel points that I got when I temporarily lived in a country where I could get credit card points, and buying the rest with miles boosters and bonus promotions. It was quite the endeavour to get the points.
For this reason we'd rather be flexible on dates than to settle for one seat in economy and one in business or first. It's also part of the reason we've chosen to fly to/from NY, as it's a longer flight, it would take us over Alaska, and the odds of getting two seats in F are better. I'm an avgeek so these things matter to me, however silly they may sound to other people. One in F and one in J is the minimum we're willing to settle for. We did consider Frankfurt when the planning stages started over 3 years ago, but getting to and from Frankfurt with lots of luggage would cost us nearly the same as getting to NY. Leaving from NY and coming back to Frankfurt would be even be more expensive, as we'd have to get two one-way tickets. So long story short: I appreciate your help but we have our hearts set on JFK. If you'd happen to see anything pop up there I'd love to hear about it.
If I see any pop up for JFK will ping you a message, am on the United site several times a day in break with work (as checking dates takes like 2 mins!) and have paid to create alerts on ExpertFlyer. Reminds me, need to add more airports and dates to those alerts...

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
As for the calendar, I'm not sure what you are referring to. ANA have a calendar of sorts here, which tells you which flights are operating. But that doesn't include next year yet. Other than that I've simply been using ANA's own booking system and those of partner airlines. That's how I noticed that the 12:10pm flight from FRA is on a 787-9 in May. I'm still seeing two flights per day in both April and May but you can only get first class on the overnight flight, so you would miss out on a lot of the experience as they only offer a reduced service on the late evening departures. On May 10 in particular it looks like only one flight has reward seats left. That's why the other one is not showing up on United. When in doubt you can try booking a cash flight, that way you'll know which flights are scheduled.
That was the calendar I meant - like you say it shows the current flights running but does nto even go to the end of this year, let alone next May, but was wondering why some dates in May on United, showed 2 ANA direct flights a day from Frankfurt.

Anyway, keeps me busy
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Old 9 Jul 21, 11:17 AM  
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#33
CosmicGirl
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Join Date: May 16
Originally Posted by AntonyJ View Post
The previous time we used points to book seats it was a bit of a stressful time, as you have found out! We went same dates in May 2019 and when I booked our seats first of all, I got partner in First OUT and me in Economy Out - and we were both in Economy for way back - as at that time you had to book both legs of the flight. Over the comings months (and it took months) I got myself in a Business OUT, and then both of us in Business BACK and finally nabbed my partner a First BACK 3 weeks before we flew! We got on the plane at Heathrow and they were the only person in First, and I had points to possibly nab a First seat out too - while sat on the plane, I as talking to flight crew if this was possible - and then the other seats filled in first seconds before they closed doors. Talk about first world problems...



If I see any pop up for JFK will ping you a message, am on the United site several times a day in break with work (as checking dates takes like 2 mins!) and have paid to create alerts on ExpertFlyer. Reminds me, need to add more airports and dates to those alerts...



That was the calendar I meant - like you say it shows the current flights running but does nto even go to the end of this year, let alone next May, but was wondering why some dates in May on United, showed 2 ANA direct flights a day from Frankfurt.

Anyway, keeps me busy
I understand your stress level... and Virgin haven't always been easy to deal with. Our flights have been cancelled for obvious reason two years in a row now, and last year I voluntarily switched to open tickets to help Virgin out, as I didn't want to add onto the pile of refunds they couldn't afford. And now that they have (borrowed) money they refuse to give me credit for all the money that was paid. We've paid about £200 in fees on one ticket, yet they're only willing to give me £46 in credit. It's ridiculous. They claim that they've paid the remainder to ANA for a flight which didn't fly. Yet I know enough about ticketing to know that they don't even have to pay ANA until we have flown. I've spent more hours on the phone than the 27 hours of flight time we're aiming for.

Thank you for keeping an eye on JFK. Let me know what you're looking for exactly and I'll check your dates, too.

If a flight doesn't show on United that simply means there are no reward tickets available for partner airlines. It doesn't mean that the flight isn't scheduled. You should be able to find details of the scheduled flight frequencies on Expertflyer.
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Old 9 Jul 21, 08:08 PM  
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#34
CosmicGirl
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Victory! I just got a second seat out of JFK on the same day in business class. It's the earlier flight, but it's on the same day so that's something. Now, to get home...
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Old 9 Jul 21, 08:13 PM  
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#35
AntonyJ
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Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
Victory! I just got a second seat out of JFK on the same day in business class. It's the earlier flight, but it's on the same day so that's something. Now, to get home...
Result!
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Old 21 Jul 21, 11:40 AM  
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#36
CosmicGirl
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Anthony, there's a seat in F on May 11 from Frankfurt.
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Old 21 Jul 21, 11:47 AM  
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#37
AntonyJ
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Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
Anthony, there's a seat in F on May 11 from Frankfurt.
Thanks! off to look
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Old 21 Jul 21, 01:00 PM  
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#38
AntonyJ
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Originally Posted by CosmicGirl View Post
Anthony, there's a seat in F on May 11 from Frankfurt.
Got it!

Alas an Economy seat returning on Friday 27th, but now the game starts of coming weeks and months to see if can find a Business or First for pretty much any day that week back!

Annoyingly there was Business seats showing on United as being available for a few days that week on the 00:10 flight, but when Virgin tried to nab them for me, each day came back "unconfirmed"

Still showing as available on the United site even now

However, let the games begin to try and get a better seat on way back

What dates / flights you still looking to try and nab?

Thanks for heads up
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Old 21 Jul 21, 01:20 PM  
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#39
CosmicGirl
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Join Date: May 16
Originally Posted by AntonyJ View Post
Got it!

Alas an Economy seat returning on Friday 27th, but now the game starts of coming weeks and months to see if can find a Business or First for pretty much any day that week back!

Annoyingly there was Business seats showing on United as being available for a few days that week on the 00:10 flight, but when Virgin tried to nab them for me, each day came back "unconfirmed"

Still showing as available on the United site even now

However, let the games begin to try and get a better seat on way back

What dates / flights you still looking to try and nab?

Thanks for heads up
I had noticed it was gone and I was wondering if you got it. I'm glad I could help.

We still need to book the return flight and hopefully find another F or J on the same plane for the outbound. There's availability for a return to Chicago but Virgin have still not returned the points from one of the cancelled tickets so I can't book. They were supposed to call me back a week ago, never did. I tried Whatsapp, and they responded in the middle of the night and then closed the conversation because I didn't respond. I have a long to do list for the next few days, but I'll have to fit chasing Virgin into it somehow.

ETA: Regarding the phantom seats: maybe they checked the wrong flight? This happened to me last week when calling to book the second seat. The flight numbers were alike and the agent accidentally checked the wrong the flight, but as one is going to Narita and the other to Haneda I was able to pick up on it. He then checked the correct flight and got the seat. Is there availability according to Expertflyer?

Edited at 01:26 PM.
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Old 21 Jul 21, 01:37 PM  
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#40
AntonyJ
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Yeh I found Whatsapp to be the best way to talk with tjem to br fair, but they do sometimes come back in middle of night - grrrr

My advise is to ping them on Whatsapp as soon as you wake up, then a better chance of a daytime reply

Now need to see if can nab the return leg over next few months, and also cancel the paid flights and also change dates of this thread

Lordy - I hope after all this we can travel!
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