The new strategies you need to find reward availability in 2025

[AFF Editor]

It wasn't that long ago that the common advice for securing frequent flyer reward seats was to book as far in advance as possible - generally 11-12 months out, or as soon as the airline puts the flight on sale.

Nowadays, many airlines are only releasing award availability much closer to departure... in some cases, merely weeks or even days out from the flight. This means that, to secure reward seats, frequent flyers also need to change their approach to looking for them.

We've put together this article which explains how award availability release times have changed in recent years, and the new strategies you need to find them:

Finding Reward Seats in 2025 Requires a New Strategy

Airlines have changed the way they release reward seats, holding them back until much closer to departure. To maximise your chances of finding reward seats in 2025, you also need to change your mindset.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

@WilsonM and I also discussed this topic in detail in the latest episode of our Travel Pointers podcast, which was just released this morning:

Travel Pointers Episode 7 - How to Find Reward Flight Availability in 2025

In episode 7 of the Travel Pointers podcast, Matt Graham and Wilson McTaggart share their best tips for finding reward flight availability in 2025 - including the airlines and routes with the most Business Class availability.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Has the way you search for reward seats changed in recent years?

 

[luxury-lizard]

I agree totally with this assessment -unfortunately, it really doesn't work for myself (and Mr LL) and many other leisure travellers. We usually take at least 2 intentional trips per year of about 4-6 weeks each and need (well mostly prefer) to book land arrangements a long time in advance (or else in many cases many properties will be fully booked). One notable exception is Singapore Air for now anyway.

The other trend (not mentioned in this article) is variable pricing of awards - totally useless for most of us - better to just purchase the tickets.

We've enjoyed the hey-day of frequent flying awards in the pointy-end (RIP US Air, now useless LifeMiles, etc) but the party is over. We've had to accept we need to go with paid tickets going forward - too bad international airfares have skyrocketed since Covid. So instead of looking for award seats we now look for good deals (ie sale fares which still pop up - my observations is around the Black Friday sales and early February).

 

[kpc]

I agree totally with this assessment -unfortunately, it really doesn't work for myself (and Mr LL) and many other leisure travellers. We usually take at least 2 intentional trips per year of about 4-6 weeks each and need (well mostly prefer) to book land arrangements a long time in advance (or else in many cases many properties will be fully booked). One notable exception is Singapore Air for now anyway.

The other trend (not mentioned in this article) is variable pricing of awards - totally useless for most of us - better to just purchase the tickets.

We've enjoyed the hey-day of frequent flying awards in the pointy-end (RIP US Air, now useless LifeMiles, etc) but the party is over. We've had to accept we need to go with paid tickets going forward - too bad international airfares have skyrocketed since Covid. So instead of looking for award seats we now look for good deals (ie sale fares which still pop up - my observations is around the Black Friday sales and early February).

I think the days of FF seats in the pointy end are just about gone and agree with the content of your post...We have (esp +1 when I travelled J for work) flown in the pointy end for 15+ years on points but it is now reached the point where you fly where the seats are available as opposed to whers you really want to go....i know most of the tricks but it is now getting impossible; the novice has next to no chance!

 

[levelnine]

Good article/podcast.

It really is a case of Australia simply becoming more like the US, as is the case with many things in the frequent flyer world.

AA and UA have confined their award releases at lower prices to close-in dates for a considerable amount of time now. DL offer basically no lower-priced award seats, and instead fix their points values against the cash price. Qantas is merely following a hybrid of these two approaches — close-in award releases on lower demand routes and fixed price awards (ie classic plus) on higher demand routes.

As is the case in the US, what it means is that only the points whales get the luxury of being able to schedule their holidays in advance. The masses are confined to paying cash or flying last minute.

For example, a points whale could book a set of classic plus seats on their preferred dates with Qantas in business class then cancel them when last minute classic availability opens up on Qantas or a better airline. A regular person is never going to have the luxury of having enough points to do that.

 

[Human]

I think the days of FF seats in the pointy end are just about gone

I think I would change that sentence to "...the days of FF seats in the pointy end using Qantas or Velocity points are just about gone", especially when it comes to booking 11 months out.

There's plenty of availability still via Asia Miles, Qatar Avios, KrisFlyer etc.

One thing hasn't changed over the past few years, apart from the fact that it's more true now than ever: the very best strategy of all when it comes to finding seats is having points in a flexible points currency so that you can transfer the points into whatever programme has availability.

 

[levelnine]

There's plenty of availability still via Asia Miles, Qatar Avios, KrisFlyer etc.

One thing hasn't changed over the past few years, apart from the fact that it's more true now than ever: the very best strategy of all when it comes to finding seats is having points in a flexible points currency so that you can transfer the points into whatever programme has availability.

I agree.

But for the vast majority of people, it's going to be tough to rack up enough points to fly long-haul J on these programs more than once every couple of years.

All but the points whales are caught between a rock and a hard place in this brave new world.

 

[Human]

My points strategy changes continually, but this is it at the moment:

Accumulate Qantas points for Australian domestic and trans-Tasman travel and for travel overseas between origin and destination cities that are not in Australia (via Oneworld and Qantas' other partner airlines).

Accumulate Velocity points for very occasional domestic/short-haul international redemptions as required, but mainly for transfer to KrisFlyer.

Accumulate AmEx Membership Rewards points for transfer to Qatar Avios (in preparation for a 2026 Europe trip) and, possibly down the track, to Asia Miles or whatever has availability (in preparation for an envisaged 2027 North America trip).

Where AmEx isn't accepted, accumulate CommBank Rewards points for transfer to either Velocity or Qatar Avios, as required.

Opportunistically apply for Visa/Mastercards where the sign-up bonuses are good and the exclusion period has ended.

 

[Tiki]

Even with access to Avios it's still really hard to get a J seat reward. Last year I booked QR J to IST in Sept and traveled in Feb. Now I was looking for this Sept and Oct and not finding anything in J from BNE. The VA/QR partnership hasn't done much for reward availability in J. The older I get, the harder it is to manage long haul in Y especially overnight. The new VA flight arrives 23:00 in DOH and online connections to IST/SAW are available in the morning so at least I can lie down somewhere and sleep if I get stuck in Y. I can't afford to pay for tickets, My points come from Woolies, Coles and US credit cards but the latter are getting harder with the higher minimum spends. I'm retired and can't get Aussie cards, just hanging on to my existing cards. My game is basically over except for shorthaul Pacific Island flights which are manageable in Y.

 

[craven morehead]

Following

 

[Human]

Even with access to Avios it's still really hard to get a J seat reward.

It's hard (especially if you're looking to travel in the peak northern Summer, June-Sept), but having access to Avios makes it a whole lot easier.

Case in point: I'm looking to book MEL-IST. 360 days out, Qatar has plenty of availability to Privilege Club members using Avios:




But if I try to use Velocity, 330 days out, it's a very different story:

So having access one month earlier than Velocity makes a definite, tangible difference to availability.

 

[elanshin]

It wasn't that long ago that the common advice for securing frequent flyer reward seats was to book as far in advance as possible - generally 11-12 months out, or as soon as the airline puts the flight on sale.

Nowadays, many airlines are only releasing award availability much closer to departure... in some cases, merely weeks or even days out from the flight. This means that, to secure reward seats, frequent flyers also need to change their approach to looking for them.

We've put together this article which explains how award availability release times have changed in recent years, and the new strategies you need to find them:

Finding Reward Seats in 2025 Requires a New Strategy

Airlines have changed the way they release reward seats, holding them back until much closer to departure. To maximise your chances of finding reward seats in 2025, you also need to change your mindset.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

@WilsonM and I also discussed this topic in detail in the latest episode of our Travel Pointers podcast, which was just released this morning:

Travel Pointers Episode 7 - How to Find Reward Flight Availability in 2025

In episode 7 of the Travel Pointers podcast, Matt Graham and Wilson McTaggart share their best tips for finding reward flight availability in 2025 - including the airlines and routes with the most Business Class availability.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Has the way you search for reward seats changed in recent years?

You're missing the biggest (almost requirement) now in 2025. 3rd party reward seat search and alert tools.

They're common, doesn't cost very much and is widely used. If you're not also using it, you basically have just conceded advantages to others that are using them.

 

[drron]

With those Velocity examples did you tick the Reward Seats available tag. You have to look at every available flight but at present I usually find at least 1 flight with QR or SQ on doing that.
So at present I haven't changed my habits and at 78 I suspect I won't.

So that for me means basically pointless me looking for QFF awards on flights I want. I am regularly finding J awards through Velocity at 331 days out and AA at 330 days out on SQ and QR. The routes I am looking at are Australia to SIN or BKK. Then from Asia to Europe. I prefer to use AA for the Europe flight as less points and "taxes". Also they may have first class seats also available for little more than J awards.

I at this stage don't change my points to SQ as so far find flights to SIN through Velocity for less points than if I switched the points to SQ. Nearly always out of BNE but once out of SYD and once out of DRW.

 

[Human]

I prefer to use AA for the Europe flight as less points and "taxes". Also they may have first class seats also available for little more than J awards.

I'm intrigued. I've known about the advantages of AA (no pun intended!) for a while but I've never really known how to accumulate AA points easily. What strategies do you use for accumulating AA points?

 

[flyguy77]

You're missing the biggest (almost requirement) now in 2025. 3rd party reward seat search and alert tools.

Requirement?

I'd say these tools are more part of the problem and I personally wish they would crack down on them.

Making something extremely limited easier to find for the masses/lazy was always going to cause issues.

 

[drron]

I'm intrigued. I've known about the advantages of AA (no pun intended!) for a while but I've never really known how to accumulate AA points easily. What strategies do you use for accumulating AA points?

We both had a large stash when flying to the USA. Plus when I got fed up with QFF I always credited my OW flights to AA until the las 3-4 yers when I credited to BA. If we have to pay for a OW flight in the future it will go to AA along with car rental points. You can also but AA points but only when a discount.

 

[billmurray]

Is there a cheat sheet when each airline typically release reward seats? Both with the airline directly and via partners (i.e, SQ vs SQ via VA)?

 

[elanshin]

Requirement?

I'd say these tools are more part of the problem and I personally wish they would crack down on them.

Making something extremely limited easier to find for the masses/lazy was always going to cause issues.

If you play the game, you need to stay on top of the game. How it evolves means you need to adapt and evolve with it. Crying over spilt milk isn't going to reverse technological improvements.

And honestly I'd rather not go backwards and waste huge amounts of times checking specific routes, with specific dates to see if the actual flight exists. The ability to so multi carrier, multi program, multi route searches saves so much time overall.

There are still ways you can have advantages in the rewards game over the masses with both airline route network knowledge as well other FF programs and their partners.

 

[flyguy77]

There are still ways you can have advantages in the rewards game over the masses with both airline route network knowledge as well other FF programs and their partners.

Nah - Unless there is a crackdown you'll inevitably have a simple AI/Google Flights style product that searches every combination & finds reward seats for people instantly.

In theory sounds amazing, but in reality I can't see how this works for an extremely limited product like Premium Cabin reward seats.

Long term players can see that the 'game' of points hacking is on life-support for a number of reasons - this being one.

 

[zainman]

My approach is to now book wherever the seats are available. That determines where we can go on holidays, otherwise wait last minute and hope for award availability.

It's not just just poor availability either, it's the increase in cost as well. Cash fares are now very competitive I find.

 

[Trippychix]

so the days of rtw over several months are gone