Cathay Pacific frequently releases five Business Class and one First
Class award seat on its flights between the United States and Hong Kong 11 months out.
The first leg was in United economy as there was no domestic First
Class award seat available (I monitored award space but it never opened up — more on that in the Anatomy of an Award post).
If by the time the trip starts and a first
class award seat hasn't opened up so my partner can be with me in first, I'm SOL, right?
Despite that, there wasn't a single saver level first
class award seat on either flight.
Even then, I'm not seeing much more than seven / eight - ish days out of the month with a First
Class award seat through January 2018.
If you're flexible with dates and can stomach possibly getting your second first
class award seat just in the week prior to when you fly, I'd recommend American miles, which you can earn cheaply with Citi AAdvantage credit card signup bonuses and / or BankDirect.
Availability: Typically Singapore only releases 1 suites
class award seat in advance, although occasionally you'll see 2 award seats available close to the date of departure.
A while back I had locked in a British Airways A380 first
class award seat, which I hadn't fully decided whether to actually fly...
The rest of my ticket was on Delta (Yes, I actually found a DL Biz
Class award seat to SYD).
They regularly release one first
class award seat on their Airbus 380 flights between Singapore and Sydney / Melbourne.
Typically Cathay Pacific, for example, releases only ONE First
Class award seat per flight until a few days before the flight.
Finding a first
class award seat isn't always easy, but you can find them if you book well in advance of your flight.
Tickets on Delta Airines are pricey; a business
class award seat to Europe, for example, will cost you 125,000 miles per roundtrip.
This is more than many airlines charge for a business
class award seat on the same route.
Or you could get a United first -
class award seat, which is going to cost you 160,000 miles per roundtrip but has better availability.
Let's try to find a first
class award seat on American between New York and Sao Paulo, Brazil sometime in May.
So you might want to spring for a business
class award seat.
A business
class award seat cost 72,250 miles and 68,000 miles from New York and L.A. respectively, so the difference is not that big.
Domestic business awards are double the price of economy, so you could get one business
class award seat for 50,000 United miles.
Etihad also presents a wealth of opportunities, including Etihad's own first class redemptions, redemptions on American at the old, pre-devaluation levels, as well as the cheapest transatlantic business
class award seat redemption in the world.
Don't get bummed if you can't get a business
class award seat to your final destination there.
A first
class award seat on Qantas isn't easy to find, but we'll show you how to give yourself the best chance and what to expect on this amazing flight.
The key thing to note is that sometimes all of the economy saver awards sell out before all of the business saver awards do — and the price of the economy award tickets are then actually higher than a business
class award seat on the same flight.
Don't get bummed if you can't get a business
class award seat to your final destination there.
And depending on how you like to use your miles and points, you can get terrific deals booking Business and First
Class award seats worth thousands of dollars.
Finding first
class award seats on Cathay Pacific is getting tougher and tougher as the airline keeps limiting the number of available bookings made through partner airlines.
You're probably wondering why we haven't included Qantas as one of the best options for booking their own first
class award seats.
Simply put, if you want to experience this product, there is no other way to get this award ticket, other than transferring your points to Singapore — because Singapore doesn't release its first
class award seats to its partners.
I've got an extra incentive to check out the new Premium Economy cabin when I'm on board as I suspect Cathay Pacific Premium Economy may be what I'll be booking the next time I can't find Business
Class award seats to Australia.
I can find 3 Business
Class Award seats in both directions on all three new routes with relative ease:
However, I lucked out and was able to book two business -
class award seats using United Airlines MileagePlus miles.
In fact, Lufthansa requires fewer miles than United to book the same business class and first
class award seats.
Though Delta isn't known for offering a generous amount of award space to its partners, I was able to find four first -
class award seats available in August from Denver to Maui via Los Angeles and Seattle using the online award search engine for Alaska Airlines, which you don't even need an account to use.
Premium
class award seats on Asiana flights and some Star Alliance partner flights are notably cheaper when bought with Asiana miles rather than United MileagePlus miles.
Business
class award seats on Qantas are tough to find, but worth the effort.
While I wouldn't call award availability on Thai's first international A350 route «wide open» it's definitely reasonably easy to find Business
Class award seats.
On the United website I found business
class award seats at 130,000 miles available for my round - trip to Dublin.
As I was playing around with the British Airways Search tool, I noticed that there are as many as 6 business
class award seats available for travelling to India next week.
Many have complained about the lack of business
class award seats open on Finnair, so the offerings in J class may not be as solid as I first imagined.
Feeling pretty good about my guess, I confirmed that there were economy
class award seats available.
AAdvantage miles offer the cheapest rates for economy and premium
class award seats to Tasmania.
Let's assume you need two business
class award seats for a flight between Los Angeles and Paris — the most popular European travel destination.
If you are scrambling to lock in awards at old rates, you might be having trouble finding Etihad business / first
class award seats even though Etihad shows availability.
Premium
class award seats can be difficult to find on many airlines, particularly those offering exceptional services like Asiana's First Suite Class.
The airline releases more business
class award seats at the saver redemption level than economy seats.
On the airlines» websites, I searched for economy -
class award seats on nonstop between Salt Lake City and Chicago for every day in June and July.
Flying first class is a great way to begin your honeymoon, and several airline first class seats work very well with couples, even though it can be tough to get two first
class award seats on the bsame flight unless you plan far in advance.
Sure it's still tough to get 2 first
class award seats on their A380 from US destinations to and from Asia.
The problem Cathay Pacific is experiencing is high demand for its first
class award seats from those with AAdvantage miles, with these seats often booked soon after the award calendar opens, leaving no award availability for its own Asia Miles frequent flyer members who may seek to book just a few months before the date of departure.
Sure, it might seem a little early to start thinking about your summer 2016 Euro trip, but when there's business -
class award seats available during peak season, it's worth planning far in advance.