I was looking at "O" class availability on KE yesterday for a ICN-AKL flight and saw there were 5 seats available on my date plus several seats available on the dates +/- 3 days through EF. Since I didn't have the miles in my account to purchase it yet, I set an alert on expert flyer to tell me when the seats drop below 5. This morning I got the alert and checked to find ZERO seats available on any date that I searched (I tried other routes on KE too). Did somebody buy up all the inventory or is this a glitch?
It could be inventory management. What airline's miles do you plan to use? There could also be an issue with blackout dates on KE.
It's been reported on TOBB that KE is not presently displaying O inventory into the GDS. EF says they don't know if its intentional or a glitch, so let's hope for glitch. 1 March 2012 was KE's cutover date to the new booking classes, so glitch doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Of course, them showing it to us for the last couple of weeks might have been a glitch. KVS is making up nonsense about still having it, but it appears they're faking the data they're posting on TOBB (or using old data) since their search results show that they're using the FlightStats screen scrape method, and screen shots of FlightStats show no KE O inventory.
That is, most certainly, not the case. As always, the data included in our posts is accurate as of the date/time of each post (+/- 5 minutes). As of today, it appears that KE O Class Availability is accessible for certain flights/dates only with no particular identifiable pattern: [KVS Availability Tool 6.9.5/Diamond - Sabre: Availability/FS/US] Code: ICN Seoul Incheon Intl KR [RKSI] NRT Tokyo Narita JP [RJAA] TUE 01 May 2012 Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability --------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ----------------------------------------------- KE/JL 5001 ICN 08:00 NRT 10:20 767 C0 Y4 B4 M4 H4 E0 K0 Q0 T0 KE 701 ICN 09:10 NRT 11:30 773 P4 A4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 Y4 B4 M4 H4 E4 K4 Q4 T4 G4 KE 703 ICN 10:10 NRT 12:30 773 P4 A4 C4 Z4 I4 O4 Y4 K0 M4 T0 H4 Q0 E4 B4 G0 KE 1 ICN 11:10 NRT 13:30 332 P4 A4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 Y4 W0 B4 M4 H4 E4 K4 Q4 T0 G0 KE/JL 5703 ICN 13:35 NRT 15:55 767 C4 Y4 B4 M4 H0 E0 K0 Q0 T0 KE 705 ICN 18:35 NRT 20:55 744 P4 A4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 Y4 B4 M4 H4 E0 K0 Q0 T0 G0
Just like in any other test, if the results can not be reliably reproduced, then they are not valid. FlightStats has been known to cache their availability data, as such by doing the initial search, old data is being shown which is later refreshed, which is why it can never be replicated after you do the initial search:
We are seeing similar results in other GDS systems: [KVS Availability Tool 6.9.5/Diamond - Galileo: Availability/ETR/JP] Code: ICN Seoul Incheon Intl KR [RKSI] NRT Tokyo Narita JP [RJAA] TUE 01 May 2012 Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability --------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------ KE 703 ICN 10:10 NRT 12:30 773 0 O4
ExpertFlyer again shows O inventory when it is available. For example: Results from ExpertFlyer.com Code: Awards & Upgrades Search Departing FUK on 05/02/12 12:00 AM for PUS Flying KE on booking class A O Z Frequency Flight Stops Depart Arrive Aircraft Reliability Class Description Code Seats 0 Connections KE 784 0 FUK PUS 739 Unavailable Business - Upgrade Z 4 05/02/12 11:05 AM 05/02/12 12:00 PM 100% / 2m 0 Connections KE 798 0 FUK PUS 739 Daily Business - Award O 4 05/02/12 7:45 PM 05/02/12 8:40 PM 100% / 0m Business - Upgrade Z 4 and Results from ExpertFlyer.com Code: Awards & Upgrades Search Departing ICN on 03/09/12 12:00 AM ± 3 Day(s) for PVG Flying KE on booking class A O Z Frequency Flight Stops Depart Arrive Aircraft Reliability Class Description Code Seats 0 Connections KE 893 0 ICN PVG 333 Daily First - Award A 2 03/09/12 8:40 AM 03/09/12 9:45 AM 79% / 13m Business - Award O 4 Business - Upgrade Z 3 0 Connections KE 897 0 ICN PVG 333 Unavailable First - Award A 2 03/09/12 11:50 AM 03/09/12 12:50 PM 98% / 6m Business - Upgrade Z 7 However, we are looking for more confirmation that the flights that do not return O class at all in fact do not have any award availability, as this is different from the previous behavior of returning O0. If you encounter a case of no O inventory being shown when it is actually available, please let us know.
Something's not right with this, as I'm not finding O inventory on any route other than intra-Asia. ORD-ICN and FRA-ICN, for instance, had great inventory before, and now I'm not finding a single day with availability. Unfortunately, I don't have any mechanism for confirming that O should be showing on those routes.
