SueDoc

Has anyone figured out if there is any rhyme or reason to when (how far in advance, time of day, etc.) frequent flyer seats open up to be booked?

mclaurie

Sue it really depends on which airline, what destination, what class of travel etc. Best I can suggest is post more info here like where you want to go (I know Hawaii is very diffficult. Best option there is use miles for upgrades or be willing to make more connections than necessary.) Flyertalk.com is a message board solely for FF travel. You might find good info there.

DawnCt

Our goal was to flying Maui and leave from Oahu; 2 first class tickets and 3 coach on the same flight on a Friday morning. I set the alarm for midnight 330 days before we wanted to fly. I still wasn't able to get the flights and seats I wanted so I changed the plan. Departure is now on a Wednesday with a return on a Thursday eve. We will fly into Oahu and home from Maui. The first person I reached at Delta was not in the eastern time zone so I called back. I was able to get some segments but not all, in first class for my husband and myself. All the coach seats were available. Right now, 2 and a half months prior to departure all first class segments are satified with the exception of my husband's Maui to LAZ flight. I am still hopeful. I booked our interisland flights on Aloha through United Airlines last fall. I was able to get 4 out of the five tickets with miles. I had to buy 2 segments for one of my kids. The more in demand the destination (Hawaii is big) and the time of year (summer is busy) the harder it is. Persistance usually pays.

Dan

Basically, the airline wants to sell every seat rather than give them away. They will dedicate 2 seats or so on nearly every flight and then a few more on "non-peak" flights. Usually, the higher-level frequent flyers have more access to seats and in many cases the airline will "open" seats for them.

I have always had very good luck booking US-Europe at the last minute. As seats are unsold 2-3 weeks before departure, the airlines open them to FF miles.

vacationdreamer

I have had a lot of luck with American Airlines as long as I was willing to travel midweek - I just reserved two coach tickets from NY to the Big Island and then back from Maui to NY for late August into early September. I basically searched on-line (you can reserve miles tickets on AA's website) and made a list of the options I had, and once I moved my dates about 4 days further than I originally planned I was fine.

In the past few years, I've booked an Australia trip with miles about 5 months ahead of time (with exact weekend days needed b/c it was our honeymoon) and a Carribean trip in the middle of February about 2 months ahead (again with exact days needed, but mid-week).

Compared to what I've heard about other airlines, I have no complaints with American.

HowardR

Two pieces of advice:
1. Call the airline(s) to find how how far in advance you can book with FF miles.
2. Be as flexible as possible with both travel dates.

karens

I called the first day I could and got 4 FF seats PHL to St. Thomas on USAir. Woo Hoo!

I have not had luck even if I wait 1-3 weeks after the first available date. It drives my husband nuts that I plan our vacations so far in advance, but the air fare savings is significant to do it that way. Our PHL to STT flight was listed as $800 on USAir's website.

leonberger

I don't know how we managed this, but we just got 2 tickets to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving week - using our US Airways FF miles!

Wow! I've tried other years (farther in advance) with no luck. Did this one on a lark, because I couldn't get the June dates I wanted.

We're happy - will get to spend the holiday week with my two brothers and their families (who live in LV) and my parents (flying in the same week).

I don't understand the rules (or more accurately, don't want to spend the time decoding the rules!), but rely on luck. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Gayle

TxTravelPro

I have access to the global distribution system and it is quite easy to identify AAdvantage inventory. If there is "T" class inventory, it can be booked using miles.
Any travel agent can quickly scan through dates to find availability. For example, it takes me just a few minutes to check every day in any given month for "T" availability between DFW and HNL. Once I find it for the outbound, I try to find the return.
Get a travel agency to book your trip. Sure, it may cost 25 bucks but it'll save you tons of time!

Mommar

Once I was able to request additional seats to be made available just a few days before the desired flight, so the whole family could travel together on FF miles. We already had FF mile seats on our return but we were on different flights the same day. I wasn't (at that time) very high in the program, so I guess it also depends on whether or not regular inventory is sold out too.

gail

Article in Travel section of NY Times some weeks ago stated that some flights, even at the first opportunity have ZERO seats available for FF. Also stated that to some prime locations at prime times, you will never get a seat - all this was supposedly revealed in an internal memo at an airline. Even if flight is empty - if they know they are likely to fill it, there are limited, if any, free seats going to be available.

Also, seats can open up later if they are not selling. All this is governed by some mysterious computer program with lots of past history statistics.

Also, more elite levels of FF travelers get first crack at some FF seats and are not subject to some of the same restrictions.

On USAir when we booked for last summer, we were told since we wer e booking first class tickets (using more miles) and since my husband had a higher level of FF, that we were not subject to restrictions. Also, our tickets were changeable as to date, time, etc without penalty.

clarkgriswold

Sometimes they tell you there are no seats, then a month later they haven't filled up the plane and suddenly FF seats have opened up. So keep checking.