While I try to share tips for redeeming miles & points as efficiently as possible, in this post I wanted to address a common misconception that many people seem to have when it comes to booking award travel.
In this post:
Airlines often don’t make award seats available right away
For many people, the goal with earning miles is to be able to redeem them for first & business class travel during peak travel periods. This is absolutely possible at times, though not necessarily in the way that people assume.
Many people believe that the key to snagging the best award seats is to stay up until 12:01AM on the day that the airline opens its schedule (10-12 months out), and to then call up to book, so that you can be the first person to secure those award seats.
I often get emails from people who are frustrated that they did exactly this, but that someone else beat them to it, and booked those saver level award seats before they had the chance to.
For people with that belief, I have good and bad news:
- The good news is that odds are that no one else beat you to those award seats
- The bad news is that more often than not, airlines don’t release any premium cabin award seats right when the schedule opens
Now, there are some exceptions. Both British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club have an award seat guarantee, whereby the airlines will open up a certain number of award seats on each flight as soon as the schedule opens.
For example, currently the British Airways schedule is open as far as December 10, 2023. The airline guarantees at least four business class award seats per flight, and if you look at flights for that day, you’ll see that all but one flight have at least four business class award seats. So clearly that one flight is a case where three award seats were booked immediately.
However, the policies of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are very much the exception rather than the norm.
Tips for finding award seats in advance
Often booking award travel last minute can be the best option, as that’s when airlines often release the most space. However, that’s not practical for everyone, since many people understandably want to plan their travel in advance.
With that in mind, below are a few things that can maximize your odds of finding award space in advance on a given flight.
Know when airlines open award space
Keep in mind that the date you can book an award is limited by when the frequent flyer program you’re redeeming miles with opens its calendar, and not necessarily when the airline you want to fly with opens its calendar. For more info on that, check out my post on when airlines open their booking windows for award tickets.
For example, American AAdvantage opens its calendar 331 days out, while Cathay Pacific Asia Miles opens its calendar 360 days out. So if you want to redeem American AAdvantage miles on Cathay Pacific, you can only do so 331 days out. That’s just one example, but there is generally some difference in the windows when access to awards opens.
Know airline award trends
Before your booking window even opens, take a look at the trend for the airline releasing award space on the route you’re eying. Some airlines consistently release award space when the window opens, while others don’t. Conversely, some airlines consistently open award space close to departure, while others don’t.
While it’s no guarantee that there will be award space on a flight when the window opens if the previous week had availability as well, at least you have a good indication. After all, airlines generally release award space in an automated way. While patterns can be tough to crack, it’s not impossible to figure them out.
If dates are set, earn flexible points
This is generally a good idea, but is especially important if you want to travel over specific dates with limited flexibility, and plan on booking as soon as the window opens. I recommend making sure you earn transferable points currencies, so that your points are as diversified as possible.
The beauty of earning transferable points currencies is that you can not only transfer those to quite a few frequent flyer programs, but then each of those programs also typically has several more partners on which you can redeem.
For example, Air Canada Aeroplan is transfer partners with Amex, Capital One, and Chase, and the program allows you to redeem points on over 45 airlines. It’s awesome to have points that you can redeem on anything from All Nippon Airways, to Air Mauritius, to Etihad, to Lufthansa.
Bottom line
For better or worse, airlines don’t always open award space when the schedule opens. If you’re looking for saver level award availability, I’d say it’s the case more often than not. This is a common misconception, as I know many people think they were just beat to the punch if they check availability the day it opens, and don’t see anything.
More often than not, airlines release most of their award space as the departure date approaches, generally significantly less than a year out.
What has your experience been with airlines releasing award seats at the booking window?
I always book my November/December travel in January and CX used to have plenty of F/J seats available for redemption but not this year, I have not seen one single F/J seat for CX redemption on Alaska or British Airways website except AsiaMiles website which shows many open seats. Is CX not releasing F/J award seats to its partners anymore?
I booked most of my Business Class flights in the last 9 years close to a year out, often to see they are gone three days later. But since most award flights are still fully refundable, and I can be extremely flexible, I also watch for better last minute options. Good to know though, that a short positioning flight within Europe on LH booked with Aeroplan for 12.5 K fewer miles than booked via UA has a $ 150 cancellation fee, while UA doesn't.
Lucky, would also love an article on how to strategize on adding AA domestic positioning flights to your award itinerary. For instance, it’s very straightforward to book an award flight on JAL from ORD to Tokyo or on QR from JFK to DOH but if you need to fly to ORD or JFK at the beginning of the itinerary, it’s very tricky to find AA availability at the right mileage rate to add to the...
Lucky, would also love an article on how to strategize on adding AA domestic positioning flights to your award itinerary. For instance, it’s very straightforward to book an award flight on JAL from ORD to Tokyo or on QR from JFK to DOH but if you need to fly to ORD or JFK at the beginning of the itinerary, it’s very tricky to find AA availability at the right mileage rate to add to the itinerary without changing mileage rate. I spend hours looking for those flights to open up bc they are rarely available with dynamic pricing.
I have observed that some programs fully block out the upcoming week or two of redemptions for their partners and their own too.
Thinking of BA and AviancaLifeMiles. Not good if you're hoping for a last minute F or Business!
The exception is Aeroplan, which will give you a flight to your proposed destination tommorow, if you are willing to go Economy on one or more third-rate airlines with excessive stops with long...
I have observed that some programs fully block out the upcoming week or two of redemptions for their partners and their own too.
Thinking of BA and AviancaLifeMiles. Not good if you're hoping for a last minute F or Business!
The exception is Aeroplan, which will give you a flight to your proposed destination tommorow, if you are willing to go Economy on one or more third-rate airlines with excessive stops with long layovers in undesirable ports.. OK I guess if you absolutely have to be somewhere ASAP regardless of the inconveniences.
As Ben points out frequently, LH regularly throws out some good F flights on their own metal around a week out. Have snagged of few of those over the years!
I second the comment above that it would be great if you could give us an idea of when airlines generally release seats. I am one of those who tends to book as soon as the window opens. I have been successful with BA, Iberia, and AF doing this (I basically plan our trips on where we can get flights for the following year). On the other hand, I have booked trips on American and Austrian when they had unexpected availability open up a few months in advance.
I had an ANA Business class seat booked with points for September 2023, and after checking again last week 1st class had an award space for both flights that day so I switched for an upgrade. I think this is what happened, they opened 1st class spaces long after the initial round of award space hit the market.
Ben- I think a very interesting post would be one summarizing when award seats typically open up for various airlines and the best strategy for booking. i.e. BA seats available when schedule opens, XX days before departure; VS seats available when schedule opens YY days before departure, LH random, but typcially best just before departure, etc.
American appears to release a lot closer in to the flight date. Recently was able to book flights using avios the week before and week of Thanksgiving all just days before the flight when there was nothing available months previously. AF/KLM, ANA, JAL, and virgin and BA as u note, all release at the earliest time. Delta domestically tends to release coach flights at its lowest costs far in advance but can hold back first/Delta one availability until closer in
Maybe its tough to generalize but have wondered for a while if you or another blogger would post an airline by airline breakdown of when availability is commonly updated (for at least the programs you use the most).
I know that some here welcome the last minute award seat openings as great finds. I personally know of few people who have the flexibility in their work and life schedules to be able to take advantage of these last minute gems. For all the money these programs generate for the airlines, offering only last minute award seats is rather shameful.
Ben, you are 100 percent correct. And, it is worth noting an important distinction. Your example illustrates BA, which has a preset calendar for high-season and low-season point redemption. When BA's revenue management releases a seat on a specific flight on a specific date, the point cost is already known. With AA, when revenue management releases a seat, say a first class seat, it might do so as an F redemption (high point cost) as...
Ben, you are 100 percent correct. And, it is worth noting an important distinction. Your example illustrates BA, which has a preset calendar for high-season and low-season point redemption. When BA's revenue management releases a seat on a specific flight on a specific date, the point cost is already known. With AA, when revenue management releases a seat, say a first class seat, it might do so as an F redemption (high point cost) as opposed to an A redemption (low point cost). On certain routes, we might never see an A redemption. Or, it might release it directly as an A redemption. Or, it might first release it as an F redemption and later open it up as an A redemption. Then, of course, there are the web specials, which are wild cards.
I knew about the releasing of award space. I guess it makes sense that the Airline would want to make money on the seat before giving it away. I have been fortunate when booking later.
Wow, someone booked award seats on that 7.25pm JFK flight nearly immediately.
They must have taken inspiration from your post about what unarguably constitutes a red eye flight.