Anyway, there's no doubt that Cathay Pacific isn't quite as generous about
releasing first class award space as in the past.
They're also reasonably good about
releasing first class award space, though it's not as much of a guarantee.
Well, given recent events, including Lufthansa no longer
releasing first class award space in advance, that competitive disadvantage isn't as major of a point anymore.
Since then Lufthansa has full - on stopped
releasing first class award space more than a couple of weeks before departure, eliminating quite a few redemption opportunities in advance.
United miles are still more valuable for travel to Europe, though not by a huge margin anymore, ever since Lufthansa stopped
releasing first class award space in advance.
Cathay Pacific is notorious for
releasing First Class award space a few days prior to departure.
Unlike airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, Emirates does not have a regular schedule for
releasing first class award space to their partner airlines.
One important point to remember when using United miles to book this flight is that Lufthansa only
releases first class award space to its Star Alliance partners 14 days before departure.
Recently, the blogosphere exploded with the news that SWISS appeared to
release First Class award space to Star Alliance partners.
One important point to remember when using United miles to book this flight is that Lufthansa only
releases first class award space to its Star Alliance partners 14 days before departure.
I would aim for flying ANA, though they only typically
release first class award space between late January and mid March for most routes, at least in advance.
@ eponymous coward — My biggest fear with airlines eliminating first class is that for the most part, airlines don't release as much business class award space as
they release first class award space, since they actually sell business class.
Lufthansa usually
releases first class award space no more than 14 days in advance, so I was pretty excited to book first class yesterday, November 1, for 15 days in advance, November 16.
Not exact matches
As is the case with
first class, Korean Air isn't as stingy as many airlines are when it comes to
releasing business
class award space.
One of the best parts of Korean Air is that they actually
release enough
first class award space for several people on some of their flights.
But Lufthansa doesn't
release award space to partners further than 2 weeks in advance (at least that seems to be the pattern the last few years) so there were no other viable
First Class options.
Unlike Lufthansa
first class award space, which is only
released to partners about 2 weeks prior to departure, business
class is available long before that.
Although some carriers don't
release a lot of business or
first class award space in advance, they usually
release at least a few seats.
I happen to know that Etihad can
release First Class awards on this route at any time but they're also prone to
releasing award space close to departure.....
As is the case with
first class, Korean Air isn't as stingy as many airlines are when it comes to
releasing business
class award space.
Booked SWISS
First One day back in November 2017 SWISS
released partner
award space in their
First Class cabin.
Usually, SWISS guards its
First Class space closely,
releasing award... [Read more...] about Aeroplan - Swiss Fiasco Illustrates Risk of Credit Card Points Transfers
Japan Airlines offers one of my other all around favorite
first class products in the world, and they're pretty good about
releasing award space last minute as well.
Note that
first class award space may continue to be
released as it gets closer to the flight, so don't give up after you've checked 14 - 17 days out.
While they used to also
release a lot of
first class award space, that's no longer the case, though you can still occassionally find two
first class award seats.
They
release tons of business
class award space, so lock that in 11 months out, and then as the departure date approaches you can lock in
first class award space.
But the real key to easily snagging Cathay Pacific
first class award space is understanding just how much
award space they
release as the departure date approaches.
First Class award space — denoted by «Miles 114444» on the calendars below — is excellent on the route within one week of departure with up to four
First Class seats being
released.
Yesterday I wrote about a discovery that shocked me: American Airlines is
releasing consistent MileSAAver
award space on its flagship and newest plane — the 777 - 300ER — in Business
Class and
First Class between Los Angeles and London.
On some routes, Etihad
releases tons of
First and Business
Class award space as departure approaches.