You can't book international First class, which takes away flexibility when trying to find
premium cabin award space.
The real advantage is that Singapore Airlines makes
some premium cabin award space (Business Class and First Class) available for redemption with its own miles.
According to OMAT, Air China's Business Class hard product is «phenomenal» and he says that Air China is one of the most generous airlines in Star Alliance in terms of releasing
premium cabin award space.
In November I valued US Airways miles at 1.7 cents each, so much like the above the decrease in value accounts for the lack of
premium cabin award space in advance, in particular on Lufthansa.
Unfortunately it's because
premium cabin award space isn't even nearly as good as it used to be.
If you're looking for
premium cabin award space, that's going to be really tough.
If you're traveling as a family, it can be tough to find enough
premium cabin award space for everyone.
The bottom line, all doors have been closed between direct US to AUS
premium cabin award spaces.
Not exact matches
Well, United Airlines may call its domestic
premium cabin «first class», but it codes
award space as business class.
There's no getting away from it, American Airlines is incredibly stingy with its
premium cabin award inventory and the lack of
award space on American Airlines has been a regular grip with frequent flyers for years.
With Ft. Lauderdale's proximity to Miami and most other things South Florida offers this route is a nice bonus for Avios collectors — we suddenly have a lot more
premium cabin space flying in / out of the Miami metropolitan area and that should be good for fares and
award availability (hopefully!)
Well, United Airlines may call its domestic
premium cabin «first class», but it codes the
award space as business class.
British Airways displays
award space in only three
cabins at a time, including
premium economy, so you'll also need to select «first class» if this is your preference.
Because many airlines only release their
premium cabin space to members of their own frequent flyer programs, transferring American Express points gets you access you don't have when you book partner
award flights through your usual frequent flyer program.
While you can't redeem points for Even More
Space seats (
premium economy), you can often buy up to that section of the
cabin using cash after you've made your
award reservation.
Delta seems to add some as the schedule opens but their best
premium cabin international
award availability is much closer to departure, this is one of the reasons for the outcry over Delta's new 72 hour rule for changes / cancellations, since it prevents members from converting medium or high availability to low availability when low
space opens at the last minute).
That was pretty unfortunate, given that Virgin Australia is the airline which releases the most
premium cabin saver level
award space between the US and Australia, making it one of the best uses of SkyMiles.
The American Airlines flights to Hong Kong have virtually no
award space on them on that moment, but I would rather fly Cathay Pacific's
premium cabins than American Airlines» anyways as they are much superior products — read my trip report when I flew Cathay Pacific First Class from New York to Hong Kong.