Tag Archives for award availability.
Two business class award seats are available a majority of days that the flight operates, between its launch October 5 and the end of the published schedule at the beginning of March.
Qantas business class awards are broadly available in November and December between Los Angeles and Melbourne. Getting business class awards US – Australia can be catch as catch can at best, and Qantas is notoriously stingy with space. That’s doubly true during the November – March period.
“Fifth freedom” routes are sometimes the easiest to book on miles, and the most fun to fly. Emirates, the Dubai-based carrier, actually operates two flights between the U.S. and Europe – New York JFK to Milan and Newark to Athens. And the Newark – Athens flight is wide open for awards in business class.
Moreover, while Emirates’ program often charges quite a lot of miles for first class, relatively short distances like U.S. – Europe in business class are quite reasonable. In fact this one is a steal at just 90,000 miles roundtrip and $220.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’. These are revolutionary suites with doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Right now there’s fantastic award availability booking for October through January.
There’s a new award search tool that automates a lot of the hard work in putting together an award redemption, offers fairly comprehensive results, and comes at a reasonable price. You can even try it free with no commitment using promo code VFTW. There’s no benefit to me if you do, but I like the product.
Air Canada business class awards between North America and Australia are wide open most of the time beginning in June through October. You’ll find most dates have availability for four or more passengers flying Vancouver – Sydney.
Singapore Airlines is offering business class saver awards on its non-stop flights between the U.S. and Singapore out of New York JFK, Newark, and San Francisco for at least two passengers through much of the year.
You’ll find the space form now through end of schedule, so you can pick whatever time works best for you and the vagaries of immigration-restricting authorities to visit Southeast Asia.
Right now there’s really good business class saver award inventory on one of American’s lesser-known partners. And even better it’s for a West Coast departure to Europe, which is even harder to get.
Air Tahiti Nui has good award space for two passengers in business class flying Los Angeles – Paris Charles de Gaulle in March, April, July, August, and December at a cost of 57,500 American AAdvantage miles apiece.
United is bringing back Capetown service and making it year-round, with three flights a week starting June 5. And United Airlines is making business class saver awards available for Newark – Capetown non-stop for up to four passengers.
You’ll use fewer miles flying Emirates business class roundtrip than you’d use Delta miles on a business class one way to Europe. And fewer miles than United or American charges, while avoiding the draconian fuel surcharges that American AAdvantage passes along on British Airways itineraries.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
