Nancy03

Does the amount of frequent flyer miles you would use to fly change from day to day - like airfare does? Another way to ask this is - If I am going to use Miles to fly from Tampa to Hawaii First Class does it matter if I do this 1 year out or 6 months out? Will the number of frequent flyer miles I need to use be the same?

Patrick

Normally yes, it will take the same number of miles. Of course, these days the rules and number of miles required for any award travel can change at any time, so it is possible that if you wait, it may take more miles later on. On the other hand, most airlines will only book approx. 11 months out. I always call American and ask what the exact day is that I can book an award flight for the date I want to be sure to get it. I'm currently waiting until next Thursday, August 21 to book my return flight from Europe next year on July 18 -- that's when the flights are supposed to be available in the system and if tradition holds true, if I wait a few days after that, there will be no award seats available for the day I want.

karens

Nancy - no the amount of miles stays the same. However, I very strongly urge you to make the reservations as soon as possible if you want to use a frequent flier ticket. I have found, on USAirways, that these awards are getting harder and harder to use. Has anyone else had this experience recently?

We wanted to go to USVI for next Easter break, but not a single flight was available, and I called 10 months in advance. Then I tried Ft. Myers, FL and even there I couldn't get any seats.

I understand Hawaii tickets go very fast. The airlines only allow so many seats per flight for frequent flier awards, and I do wonder how many that is. Does anyone know this?

Karen

Patrick

Ooops, I forgot to mention that many airlines do offer specials from time to time for award claims using fewer than usual miles. Of course, there is no quarantee that if you wait for those specials that you will be able to get the flights you want.

Anonymous

A couple of years ago, I got three FF tickets to Hawaii (from Boston) in March for travel in July, so it's not impossible.

Although airlines do occasionally run specials, it's much more likely that their basic mileage requirements wil be raised, so on top of limited availability, that's a second reason to book ASAP.

ChristieP

On American, sometimes a ticket that is during their "peak" season (May 15 through Sept. 15) will require more miles than one during the "off peak" season (Sept 16 to May 14).

Patty

The number of FF miles required does not vary from day to day like airfares. However, a number of FF programs have recently raised the mileage requirement for travel to Hawaii, especially in first class (I think AA recently raised theirs from 60000 to 75000). If you wait to book, you may find that this requirement is raised again. Also if you're planning to use the lower mileage restricted awards, I would do it as soon as the seats are released for award booking as Hawaii is one of the most popular destinations for redeeming FF miles. If not, you could be faced with having to spend double the miles in order to waive the capacity controls. There are times when airlines will offer special reduced mileage awards but you will rarely see this for Hawaii. Has anyone ever seen one?

puddy

They don't change but on at least some airlines, there are two reward levels. For example, Continental has Standard and EasyPass. To go to Hawaii, it is 35,000 miles for Standard and 70,000 for EasyPass, each way. The number of seats under the Standard category is very limited, but EasyPass is either unrestricted or much less restricted... as long as there are seats available, you can use your miles. Delta has the same setup.

I used miles to fly from Newark, NJ to Honolulu this year. The tickets were booked about 6 months in advance. I got lucky and was able to use the Standard level (and got a non-stop flight). For Continental, it seemed like the availability changed periodically, so it may be worth to check the website often or to call and speak with an agent.

RachelG

As stated above, if you are going to use FF miles to obtain a ticket, you need to book as early as possible (the airline will let you book up to 331 days in advance I believe, and the allotted seats for FF miles go really fast). If you are just going to upgrade with FF miles ( a much better use of your miles in my opinion as you will get milage credit for your trip), it is not so much of an issue except to Europe and Hawaii, where you still need to book as early as possible to have the most choices. I upgraded our purchased tickets to Hawaii for January in March, and they already had run out of seats on one of the flights I wanted. I adjusted my schedule a little and still got the upgrade, but that is 10 months early.

Anonymous

I wonder whether the airlines release some ff seats a year in advance, but then add others in later, if the flights look like they won't fill up; in addition to the Hawaii example above, I was able to book 3 ff seats to London in March (or maybe April) for July/August travel.

GoTravel

The airlines release the first block of FF seats almost 12 months out. Then, the closer to the date of the flight, if a flight isn't selling, they will unload more FF seats.

I was recently able to change a flight a week before I flew on FF miles because USAir opened more seats.

The reservationist told me to book what I could and keep calling back to check flights.

The good thing about FF miles on USAir is that you do not get charged for any changes and you can also fly standby for no extra charge.

Patty

The other reason they may release an award seat is if someone else changed or cancelled their award reservation, so it's always worth a try if you can't get what you want the first call. Many airlines will let you waitlist for an award seat. Most of my waitlisted FF flights have eventually cleared, some just one or two days prior so it depends on how comfortable you are with waiting.

Northwest is starting to charge a $50 fee for changes to award reservations, something that I hope other airlines won't copy.

Nancy03

Patty - is the 75,000 miles one way or round trip? And how does one handle travel to Hawaii and island hop?

dfrostnh

I just got one free ticket yesterday for a late Oct R/T from Anchorage but I wanted two tickets. We had to adjust the trip by one day on either end to get a good schedule. I asked to buy a second ticket and was quoted an outrageous price. It turns out that my USAir miles will be almost totally on United, a partner. I would like to point out that this trip would not work on the USAir internet site. The website mileage redemption only seems to work for USAir flights not partners. It was a pain making a phone call since the average wait on hold was 30 minutes. There might be a trip available with partnering that you won't know about unless you phone.

2sweets

I just got off the phone with Delta-we are trying to use miles for a trip to Aruba next summer. The agent told me exactly when I could start trying (331 days from the flight). Also, what I didn't know, was that you could put a 2 week hold on the first flight(to your destination) while waiting for the second flight(back home) to become available. This obviously only works if your vacation is not longer than 2 weeks. But, often, it seems those first flights are gone by the time the second flights are in the system. We did use miles (30,000) to go to Hawaii this summer-booked last Sept for this July and even then, had to be flexible with travel dates/times. But hey, free is good

BeachBoi

Nancy.....It's 75,000 round trip on AA.BUT.....that is using the PlanAAhead award type....If those seats are not available,then you have to go to the AAnytime award type which is 150,000 miles R/T per ticket....First Class to Hawaii is the toughest frequent flyer mileage ticket to get.....choose your date of departure and call at one minute after midnite of the first day you can claim the seats.....Good Luck!!.....S

Patrick

To 2 Sweets: I've known about that two week hold thing a long time, as I am often booking a year ahead for a 2 to 4 month trip to Europe. This year I already booked my flight over for next May and was calling each two weeks to American to extend the hold until it was time I could book my return. But now they've changed their policy. After extending it twice I was told that is the limit, so I had to go ahead and book the return or lose my flight over. So although I'm not planning to return until July 18, they went ahead and booked a return for early June and told me I could change the ticket -- no charge -- when the time was right to book it. Seems like a silly way to have to do it, but that's life with American Airlines.

2sweets

Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the info-it was actually your first post above that prompted me to call-it sounded like you were booking at different times. It is interesting to know about the possibility of extending the hold (I know it is a different airline though)-she didn't mention that-only said the hold would work if your vacation was 2 weeks or less. I'll check it out though. Sometimes, it seems to matter just who you get on the phone.... Thanks again for your info-good luck with you flights.

Patrick

Yes, last year, American's requirements were that I had to call each four weeks to extend the hold on my flight over -- which I did three times for my 10 plus week trip -- before I could book my return. So I was a bit surprised this year when they said I had to call every two weeks (an inconvenience since I was having to call from various places in Europe). Then when they hit me with this "can only extend the hold twice" deal, it seemed even more awkward. The good deal was since they went ahead and booked the flight (with the wrong return date) I no longer had to worry about calling every two weeks to extend the hold.

Nancy03

We are going to Hawaii for 3 weeks next Sept - which is not a busy time for travel to Hawaii. Seems that my options are Book the flight out one minute are midnight on the first day we can Hold it. Then 2 weeks later - either get an extension on my hold or book the flight back (with a wrong return date) and then change the return date one minute after midnight on the date we truly need to come home? Does Delta or Continental extend your 2 week hold upon request?