The best time to book award seats is when the airlines release them at the start of their calendar. This is why it is important to know when airlines open up award seats.
In this post, we compiled a list of the award opening times for over 70 different airline points programs, and give you tips on how to book awards at the start of the airline’s calendar.
How to Figure Out When to Book an Award?
To use the charts below you need to figure out a few things: (1) the airline you want to fly, and (2) the points you want to use.
After you figure out those two things, locate the lowest number between the two airlines. This will be when you can book an award.
For example, if you wanted to use American Airlines miles to book Qatar Airways’ amazing QSuites, American Airlines opens up its award calendar 331 days out, but Qatar Airways releases its calendar 361 days out. Here, you would not be able to book the QSuites until American Airlines opens up its calendar on day 331 from departure.
- Pro Tip: In this example, you could prepare yourself for the schedule release by researching Qatar Airways awards that are available on your dates using British Airways’ “Book a flight with Avios” search engine, which will display Qatar Airways awards 355 days in advance (24 days before American Airlines’s website).
To calculate when you can book an award, enter your departure date to this date calculator and subtract the number of days in the charts below.
You also need to calculate the time zone that the headquarters of the airline or points program is located in. Not all programs release awards at midnight, but you could do a few tests on the timing before your big award redemption.
OneWorld Airlines
Calculating these dates is an imperfect science due to the different time zones and release times for each program.
OneWorld Alliance
|
|
|---|---|
| Airline | Award Seat Opening Time |
American Airlines
|
331 Days |
British Airways
|
355 Days |
Cathay Pacific
|
360 Days |
Finnair
|
361 Days |
Iberia
|
361 Days |
Japan Airlines
|
360 Days |
Malaysia Airlines
|
361 Days |
Qantas
|
353 Days* |
Qatar Airways
|
361 Days |
Royal Air Maroc
|
360 Days |
Royal Jordanian
|
361 Days |
S7 Airlines
|
330 Days |
SriLankan Airlines
|
361 Days |
* Qantas does not release award seats on their own long-haul flights in premium economy, business class, or first class to non-elite members, partner airlines, or their own Silver elite members (lowest elite tier) until 297 days before departure. This gives elite members a 56-day head start on those hard to find long-haul awards. However, you can still use Qantas points to book partner flights 353 days in advance (e.g., using Qantas points to book Japan Airlines 353 days out).
** Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles will release their cheaper saver level awards at 353 days.
*** Japan Airlines waits to release their domestic flights until 330 days until departure. This would be relevant if you were trying to book a connecting intra-japan flight (e.g. New York to Tokyo to Sapporo).
SkyTeam Airlines
SkyTeam Airlines
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Airlines | Award Seat Opening Time | |
Aeroflot
|
361 Days | |
Aerolineas Argentinas
|
330 Days | |
AeroMexico
|
330 Days | |
Air Europa
|
353 Days | |
Air France
|
359 Days | |
Alitalia
|
331 Days | |
China Airlines
|
355 Days | |
China Eastern
|
365 Days | |
Czech Airlines
|
361 Days | |
Delta Air Lines
|
331 Days | |
Garuda Indonesia
|
331 Days | |
Kenya Airways
|
336 Days | |
KLM
|
359 Days | |
Korean Air
|
361 Days | |
Middle East Airlines
|
357 Days | |
Saudia
|
354 Days | |
TAROM
|
361 Days | |
Vietnam Airlines
|
330 Days | |
Xiamen Air
|
361 Days | |
Star Alliance Airlines
Star Alliance Airlines
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Airlines | Award Seat Opening Time | |
Aegean
|
250 Days | |
Air Canada
|
355 Days | |
Air China
|
355 Days | |
Air India
|
331 Days | |
Air New Zealand
|
350 Days | |
ANA
|
355 Days [328 Days for Partners] | |
Asiana Airlines
|
361 Days | |
Austrian Airlines
|
355 Days | |
Avianca [LifeMiles]
|
360 Days | |
Brussels Airlines
|
360 Days | |
Copa Airlines
|
330 Days | |
Croatia Airlines
|
355 Days | |
EgyptAir
|
355 Days | |
Ethiopian
|
328 Days | |
EVA Air
|
360 Days | |
LOT Polish
|
355 days | |
Lufthansa
|
360 Days | |
SAS
|
330 Days | |
Shenzhen Airlines
|
361 Days | |
Singapore Airlines
|
355 Days | |
South African
|
335 Days | |
SWISS
|
339 Days (Economy) and 300 Days (Premium) | |
TAP Portugal
|
360 Days | |
Thai Airways
|
340 Days | |
Turkish Airlines
|
356 Days | |
United Airlines
|
337 Days | |
ANA requires you to book a round-trip flight when using their points. So when the calendar opens up for your departing flight, you also have to wait 355 days until your return flight date. However, ANA does not charge change fees, so you could book a one-day trip at the start of the calendar and then change your return flight to the correct flight (assuming award space).
Tips for Booking All Nippon Airways (ANA)
One of the most popular programs to redeem points is All Nippon Airways, which is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards.
If you are trying to book at the start of the award calendar, follow this trick.
ANA releases award space to their own points members 355 days in advance at 9 AM Tokyo time or 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. (For partners, you have to wait until 328 days.)
But if you are trying to book an award online in the United States at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the 355th day, you won’t see the ability to book the award because your computer will show that you are 356 days from departure.
The way around this is to (1) call the ANA 20 minutes before 9 AM Tokyo time to factor in wait times, or (2) use a virtual private network (VPN) set to Japan and clear your cookies to book an award online.
You have to book ANA awards with their miles as round-trip flights, but you can make changes to your award for free as long as you keep the same routing.
This is important because you can’t book your return flight until 355 days before departure, so if you were booking a two week trip, you normally would not be able to book the entire trip until 341 days before departure.
But a great way to bypass this rule is to wait until the 354th day and book a one-day round-trip flight, and then move your return flight for free when the award calendar opens up.
This ensures your highest chance at award space, because if you wait until the 341th day, the award space you’ve been tracking could be gone.
Independent Airlines
You can book awards on several independent airlines that are not apart of an alliance but have partnerships with several other airlines.
For example, Etihad has partnerships with American Airlines, ANA, Asiana, Royal Air Maroc, Virgin Australia, Oman Air, and Czech Airlines.
Southwest and JetBlue are both unique in that they release their calendars in batches every few months instead of each day. These programs are also revenue-based, which means that the cash price of the flight directly affects the number of points required to book the flight.
| Independent Airlines | ||
|---|---|---|
| Airlines | Award Seat Opening Time | |
Aer Lingus
|
330 Days | |
Air Tahiti Nui
|
331 Days | |
Alaska Airlines
|
330 Days | |
China Southern
|
365 Days | |
El Al
|
362 Days | |
Emirates
|
331 Days | |
Etihad
|
330 Days | |
Fiji Airways
|
352 Days | |
|
Garuda Indonesia
|
331 Days | |
Hainan Airlines
|
362 Days | |
Hawaiian
|
330 Days | |
JetBlue
|
6-8 Months [330 Days for Partners] | |
LATAM
|
330 Days | |
Southwest Airlines
|
6-7 Months | |
Virgin Atlantic
|
331 Days | |
Virgin Australia
|
330 Days | |
Airlines That Release Additional Seats Periodically
Airlines will release additional award seats periodically throughout the year depending on the demand for cash bookings. People also cancel or change awards, which also opens up award seats.
Plus many airlines open up award space at the last minute, usually within 14 days of departure. The airlines with the most last-minute award space are:
- Lufthansa
- SWISS
- Emirates
- Etihad
- Cathay Pacific
- Japan Airlines
- United
- Austrian
- ANA
A good way to track when award seats come available is Expert Flyer, which you can use to set up email alerts for specific flights. It costs either $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, and covers most airlines except Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Stingy Airlines with Award Space
Some airlines release award seats to members of their own frequent flyer program instead of their partners. A few notable examples are:
Lufthansa First Class– Only Miles&More members can book Lufthansa First Class more than 15 days before departure. Lufthansa will then release first-class awards to partners around day 15.
Singapore Airlines– Singapore Airlines restricts most of their premium long-haul award space to members of the KrisFlyer program.
Air France/KLM– Air France and KLM offer some award space exclusively to members of the Flying Blue program. Plus, Air France First Class can only be booked by Flying Blue elite members.
The Verdict
Airline award space can be unpredictable, but your best shot at securing the perfect flight is at the start of the calendar when most airlines release a set number of award seats per flight.
You should try to research flights a few days in advance of the calendar release date so that you can be ready to book when the time comes (e.g., using British Airways’ online system to see Qatar Airways award space before American Airlines’ calendar opens up).
Plus, sometimes it is worth using an airline’s points that have early access to flights, even if it costs more, to secure that hard to find seat.
