I'll continue
monitoring award space on this route in First Class to have a better mental model of the cheapest way to fly the fanciest commercial airplane.
For $ 25 per flight (on select, but most, airlines I'll
monitor the award space in either economy, business or first class, or a specific seat assignment or fare code.
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).
Not exact matches
I kept
monitoring it to see how it trended as the dates got closer and although economy
award space still hasn't opened up I suddenly saw wide open availability to Europe at saver levels the entire months of July and August: All summer!
@ AsiaFlyer — Not quite as reliably, but Cathay Pacific is fairly good about opening last minute business class
award space within Asia, so I'd keep
monitoring.