Planning travel can be complicated, especially if you’re trying to redeem miles & points. Award availability is often limited, and there are lots of moving parts. In that sense, being able to hold an award reservation for free before ticketing can be extremely valuable.
In this post, I’d like to recap the frequent flyer programs that still let you hold award tickets, as it’s an opportunity that has become increasingly rare.
In this post:
What is an airline award ticket hold, and why does it matter?
Airline award space can disappear quickly, especially first & business class award seats over peak periods. There’s huge value sometimes in just being able to place an award ticket on hold for some amount of time prior to ticketing.
There are several reasons this could come in handy:
- It could be that you want to make sure you can lock in award space or get time off work before ticketing an airline award reservation
- It could be that you have transferable points (like points with Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, etc.), and getting them into an airline frequent flyer program isn’t an instant process (though many points convert instantly nowadays)
- It could be that you’re trying to piece together a larger award itinerary, but need some time to work on that, and don’t want the most important flight to be snatched up by someone else in the meantime
- It could be that you want to make sure space actually confirms before moving over points, given the phenomenon of phantom award space
Back in the day, a vast majority of frequent flyer programs allowed award tickets to be placed on hold for some amount of time before ticketing. Unfortunately nowadays it’s rather rare.
Which frequent flyer programs allow award ticket holds?
Which airline frequent flyer programs allow award ticket holds nowadays? Below I’ll recap the programs that allow holds, for how long award seats can be placed on hold, and how you can request a hold.
Let me note that the policy is generally based on the program you’re ticketing through, rather than the airline you’re actually traveling with, in situations where you’re booking partner award travel.
With that in mind, the following airline frequent flyer programs allow award ticket holds:
- Air France-KLM Flying Club — hold award tickets for up to three days, but only by phone
- All Nippon Airways Mileage Club — hold award tickets for up to two days, but only by phone
- American AAdvantage — hold award tickets for up to one day, directly on aa.com
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — hold awards for up to three days, but only by phone
- Emirates Skywards — hold award tickets for up to one day, but only by phone
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands — hold award tickets for up to one day, both online and by phone
- Lufthansa Miles & More — hold award tickets for up to five days, but only by phone
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer — awards can potentially be held for up to one day, but only by phone
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles — hold award tickets for up to two days, but only by phone
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club — hold awards for up to one day, but only by phone
As you can see, that’s not many programs. In particular, it’s extremely rare to see award holds allowed online, since that’s something that only a couple of programs allow.
Let me also note that for the airlines that only allow award ticket holds by phone, it’s very much a case of “your mileage may vary.” That’s to say that some phone agents will allow holds without issue, while others say it’s not possible. Even when they do allow them, it still seems to come down to the agent as to how long holds are allowed. So never count on those holds being possible 100% of the time.
If I missed any airline frequent flyer programs that allow award holds, please let me know in the comments section.
Are award ticket holds as important as in the past?
Back in the day, I valued programs that allowed award ticket holds immensely. While I still think it’s valuable, a couple of things have changed that make this a bit less important than in the past, in my opinion:
- Airlines generally have policies allowing you to refund your ticket within 24 hours of booking, with certain exclusions; while this technically only applies to travel to & from the United States, many major frequent flyer programs have adopted this rule across the board (make sure you always double check the rules before relying on this, though)
- Following the pandemic, we’ve seen some frequent flyer programs eliminate change & redeposit fees on awards, which is a game changer for locking in award travel; for example, Alaska Mileage Plan, American AAdvantage, and United MileagePlus, don’t have award ticket change or redeposit fees on most types of tickets
This certainly doesn’t cover all situations, but for many of the best programs, locking in important award segments is less costly than it was in the past.
Bottom line
Understanding airline hold policies can be incredibly valuable, given how fluid award space is. Unfortunately so few programs allow this nowadays.
With some airlines having eliminated change and award redeposit fees, combined with a 24-hour refund policy, this isn’t quite as important as in the past. But still, there sure is value in this, especially if you’re transferring points from a partner.
What has your experience been with airline award ticket holds? Any programs I missed?
You should realize that to some extent programs were designed to reward their frequent fliers. They owe less to the random award user that has few points and is only flying because of transferred points. While I do appreciate the math and many airlines only show a profit on point sales, the staff does not always get that nuance.
As far as SQ (Singaporeair) NEVER trust anything they say. They and their computer system are...
You should realize that to some extent programs were designed to reward their frequent fliers. They owe less to the random award user that has few points and is only flying because of transferred points. While I do appreciate the math and many airlines only show a profit on point sales, the staff does not always get that nuance.
As far as SQ (Singaporeair) NEVER trust anything they say. They and their computer system are whizes at politely lying, screwing up and deleting your points. They will politely hassle you with explanations and apologies but NEVER resolve their error.
Air France held two award tickets for me for three days but charged me $30 for each ticket. I was surprised but was fine paying as they were saver awards during a 20% bonus transfer. On the other hand United agreed to hold two award tickets but Chase took so long to transfer the points that the hold expired. So I was stuck having transferred the points and couldn’t get United to extend the hold.
Last month, Emirates gave me a 3 day hold for a Capital One transfer for two J tickets JFK -SYD. Capital One suspected fraud and didn't transfer the miles in time so Emirates gave me another 3 days. The miles finally posted and the tickets were issued.
Hold by phone. This is so darn stupid and a waste of resources.
This is very useful information. I had heard that transfers to Ana can take quite a while, which would make it too scary to try to transfer miles when the award could be gone when they get there. Thank you for this post.
This is very useful information. I had heard that transfers to Ana can take quite a while, which would make it too scary to try to transfer miles when the award could be gone when they get there. Thank you for this post.
Right: if and when you can reach a human agent.
If you hold AA to cancel & rebook a better itinerary, don't chat to have the miles reinstated. It will take longer than 24 hours. Also.. the 24 hour hold is available to certain markets. It really is amazing how bad the tech is at AA considering what other airlines do. Still worth putting up with it for the 80k JAL First redemptions.
Twice in the last two years, Singapore Airlines allowed me time to transfer points and call them back to secure the ticket hold. The first time it took Chase five business days to complete while only one day for AMEX. The second time it took Chase three days. The agents were quite accommodating. For Chase I had to contact the agent every two days to let them know I was still waiting for points transfer....
Twice in the last two years, Singapore Airlines allowed me time to transfer points and call them back to secure the ticket hold. The first time it took Chase five business days to complete while only one day for AMEX. The second time it took Chase three days. The agents were quite accommodating. For Chase I had to contact the agent every two days to let them know I was still waiting for points transfer. It always depends on who you deal with and how knowledgeable the agent is with the system. It is probably an unspoken practice.
BA and Aeroplan both let you cancel without penalty within 24 hours on Avios bookings. For BA I frequently use this as a 24 hour hold
Korean Air also holds your mileage ticket when booked via call center. I’m not sure whether there is a specific limit, but I believe that they once gave me up to a week for an award ticket.
EVA seems to be the most generous, but I refuse to join a program called "Infinity MileageLands". Who came up with that clunker??
That's -- not a very logical response.
Alaska will do it too, it’s just not a published benefit.
Finnair allows holds for 24 hours for Platinum members
Qantas do it for at least 3 days, but only when all segments are for Qantas flights
I know you already differentiated Singapore from the rest by adding that holds are "potentially available", but I'd say more like "possible but rare". It is technically possible, but every agent will initially tell you no, and it requires a supervisor to override the policy. In general, waiting for a transfer isn't a good enough reason for the override. Definitely YMMV, but be prepared for strong resistance.
Within the last few months I've had three holds. Two were to wait for miles to transfer (that was for 7 days), another was to wait for miles on a cancelled ticket (that was for 14 days). One was for business and the other two were for first. Maybe that makes a difference? One time I did have to hang up and try again. I also have a friend who I was coaching that got two holds (no hang up and call agains necessary for him).
British Airways do it for 72 hours. Not sure if it's just for Gold Guest List. I think they did it when I was gold, too.