Tag Archives for award availability.
Cathay Pacific just announced the return of first class service to New York starting March 31, 2024, with their flights CX830 and CX831 offering the Boeing 777-300ER forward cabin.
What’s more, first class award space is available using Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’ that offer doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Their QSuite is a fantastic hard product, and service and food in the air are outstanding.
A month ago award space opened wide up. It went away, but on a handful of routes it is back in a big way.
All of a sudden Point.me has improved what they’re offering to let you search more than one date and even more than one destination at once using their new ‘Explore’ feature.
Right now there’s especially good availability on the New York JFK – Frankfurt route and to a lesser extent Houston – Manchester in business class. And at times there’s even award space for whole family, not just for a couple.
Award space on these Airbus A380 flights is wide open for two passengers on many flights. But it’s currently available only to members spending Etihad Guest points and not partner miles (like American AAdvantage and Air Canada Aeroplan). However Etihad’s miles are very accessible.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’ that offer doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Their QSuite is a fantastic hard product, and service and food in the air are outstanding.
Right now there’s amazing award availability at the end of the booking window. Specifically you’ll find 2 business class award seats across late August and beyond. You can use this for travel from the U.S. to Doha and onward to the Mideast, India, the Maldives and even to Africa.
Singapore Airlines is offering business class award space between New York JFK and Frankfurt over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and then most days in 2024 through end of the schedule.
Over the past couple of weeks British Airways has seemed to limit partner access to awards. The space available to its own Executive Club members is much greater than that which is offered to those in partner frequent flyer programs. And this has taken both loyalty program members and executives in partner programs by surprise. Discussions are ongoing.
JetBlue’s award travel has been restricted, offering low value for their points and making transfers from credit card programs unattractive. However, the partnership with Qatar Airways now allows for point redemption for JetBlue flights, with a distance-based award chart and wide availability for transatlantic business class bookings.
Air Canada has sued award search website Seats.Aero in Delaware court for pulling award availability from its website. They claim (1) trademark infringement for use of its marks, and (2) violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for accessing its systems without authorization.
There may be a real problem for Air Canada here, but their legal claims appear weak – and certainly bad from a public policy standpoint. They have deeper pockets, though, and sometimes that’s enough to prevail.
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 »
