When redeeming points for frequent flyer reward flights, timing is everything! Once award seats are released, they often sell out quickly. This is especially the case on popular routes and during peak travel periods like school holidays. So, when exactly is the best time to book award flights?

Booking at release vs closer to departure

Many airlines release the majority of their award seats when a flight initially goes on sale. This generally happens around 11-12 months prior to departure, but depends on the airline operating the flight.

This is not a hard-and-fast rule, as some airlines don’t release any award seats when flights go on sale. Others may only release a subset of seats at this time. And in some cases, airlines only release award seats much closer to the departure date – or not at all.

The best time to start looking for award flights is around 11-12 months in advance. This gives you the best chance of finding seats as less time will have passed for other people to snap up the best seats. But you might not find anything straight away. If you don’t find something straight away, keep looking every now and again as you get closer to your departure date.

Keep in mind that the change and cancellation fees on most award bookings are relatively low. So even if you can’t find an ideal award seat straight away, it could be a good idea to lock in something around 11-12 months out. If you find a better award seat closer to departure, you can always change or cancel your original booking.

Initial award seat release times

Here’s an overview of the times that a selection of major airlines begin to release award availability:

A full list of award seat release times by airline is available to AFF Platinum members in Course 5 of AFF’s Frequent Flyer Training.

Some airlines release more award seats closer to departure

Some airlines do release additional award availability a few months, weeks or even days before the flight departs. For example, Emirates often releases extra Business or First Class reward seats just a few days before the flight. But this only happens if those cabins are not yet fully booked.

Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada may also release additional reward seats around 1-6 months out from the departure date. And Lufthansa is well-known for releasing First Class award availability to partner airlines 14 days before departure.

Unfortunately, this is mostly random and you shouldn’t assume airlines will release award seats close to departure. But if you don’t mind taking the risk, setting an award seat alert using a service such as ExpertFlyer or Seats.aero will ensure you are notified if more award seats are released closer to departure!

Qantas award availability works a little differently

Qantas initially puts flights on sale exactly 353 days before departure, at midnight GMT (10am Brisbane time).

You can generally find Classic Reward seats on domestic and short-haul international flights from around this time. But Qantas no longer releases Classic Reward seats on other international flights until closer to departure, if at all.

In recent times, many of the premium cabin reward seats Qantas has made available on its international flights have been randomly released in large batches.

Qantas only releases a small number of Premium Economy, Business and First Class reward seats on long-haul international flights at the initial release date, 353 days in advance. These are initially only made available to Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members at this time.

Qantas Silver frequent flyers get access to remaining seats from 323 days out. But Bronze members will only have access to these seats – if there are any left – from 297 days before departure.

On some Qantas routes such as Singapore-London, Sydney-Bangkok, Perth-London and Perth-Rome, Qantas does not typically release any Business Class award seats awards at all. (There can be exceptions, however!)

Qatar Airways award seats

When to book Qatar Airways award flights depends on your frequent flyer program.

Qatar Airways releases award seats to its own frequent flyers and some Oneworld partners around 355 days in advance. This is good news if you have American Express Membership Rewards points, as you can transfer these to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

Qantas and Velocity members need to wait a bit longer to book award seats on Qatar Airways.

Velocity Frequent Flyer redemptions are only able to be booked up to 330 days in advance, regardless of the operating airline. Velocity reward seats on Qatar Airways therefore become available 330 days ahead.

Cathay members are able to use Asia Miles to book Qatar Airways Economy seats around 249 days ahead, and Business and First seats 119 days out.

Unfortunately, Qantas Frequent Flyer members only get access to remaining Qatar Airways Economy awards around 28 days in advance, and Business and First seats just three days in advance.

What if your outbound flights are available now, but your return flights aren’t?

If you’re booking a return trip using points, a common problem is that the outbound flights will become available before the inbound flights back home. This can be a problem if you’re planning to spend a long time at your destination.

Most frequent flyer programs offer one-way award tickets for half the cost of round-trip bookings. So if you don’t specifically need to book your flights as a return or multi-city ticket, you may prefer to book your outbound trip as a one-way ticket, as soon as the flights become available. Then, book your flights home as a separate one-way ticket later.

If you need to book your flights on the same ticket, e.g. to access a complimentary stopover on round-trip bookings or to access Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward pricing, you may just need to wait until all of your flights are available to book.

Alternatively, some frequent flyer programs may let you add flights to a one-way ticket at a later time while charging you the difference (plus any change fees). If you’re using Qantas points, this can be risky though as you’d need to make changes through the call centre.

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Read more: Reward Seat Release Patterns Have Changed Fundamentally

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.