O.T...Help Needed?

[dmk]

I knew the answer to this question last year but have forgotten it now. I am most probably having a "senior moment".:D

How far in advance do most airline companies allow you to book for reward travel (using your air miles)?:confused:

[mahdnc]

I knew the answer to this question last year but have forgotten it now. I am most probably having a "senior moment".:D

How far in advance do most airline companies allow you to book for reward travel (using your air miles)?:confused:

330 days--the same for buying a ticket.

[Host Anne]

330 was the same number I was going to post. I'll never forget it when I tried to book a reward ticket about five or six months out and everything was booked solid. The Delta agent told me, "well you know you can book a reward ticket 330 days out." My question was who knows where they want to go 330 days ahead of time!!!! Well, we do now. That how we book our cruises! By the way, how did they come up wiht 330???? Anybody know?

[flagger]

By the way, how did they come up wiht 330???? Anybody know?

The system "saves" 35 days from being booked. It is to keep you from booking say December 2006 travel when you really wanted December 2005 travel. Also the flight schedules for that particular month need to have been flown and "cleaned" from the system.

 

In other words, you want to fly from say BOS-PHL on December 31st, 2006. Well the people flying on that date in 2005 still need to fly. Hope that makes sense. The extra four or five days is to give it time to be archived.

[mahdnc]

My question was who knows where they want to go 330 days ahead of time!!!! Well, we do now. That how we book our cruises!

 

Because we almost always book our cruises 12+ months in advance, we have always taken care of our FF reservations 330 days in advance to try to get the right flights (non-stop, good departure/arrival times, etc).

 

The biggest problem with the 330 day rule is that you cannot get your entire booking done until 330 days before your RETURN flight date. This means that it is possible for all the FF seats to be gone for your outbound flight by that time. In the past there were work arounds that you could do but with all the fees that are out there now for rebooking and making your reservations thru the phone, you have to either pay a fee or take your chances when you book on-line.

[Lsimon]

I've run into two additional problems. Apparently the 330 days is not a "firm" time frame. A year or two ago on American I found the flight had been on sale a day or more, when I called in on the 330th day out, even though I'd been told the day a few weeks earlier. It is also unclear what time of day the flights come online. I've called at 1AM, flight not available then seats gone at 6AM. This is all for tickets to popular destinations at popular times - like Chicago to Fort Lauderdale on weekend flights during spring break. I've more or less given up on getting such tickets lately.

 

On the other hand, I have had agents hold the outbound seat (something they don't normally do with frequent flyer ticketing) until 8 days later when the return flights came up.

 

I've also been "lucky" in that the few times I've succeeded in booking that far in advance I still got bad travel times, but the airlines inevitably change the flights around well before the flight date. If you can come up with a reason the rescheduled flight is totally unworkable (like an original 1PM flight moved to 7AM on cruise debarkation day) I've gotten more favorable times than the original flight since the shift wasn't my fault. There are always seats available months out, just not the free "anytime" FF seats.

[mahdnc]

On the other hand, I have had agents hold the outbound seat (something they don't normally do with frequent flyer ticketing) until 8 days later when the return flights came up.

 

That was one of my prior work-arounds for FF tickets--I've had ticket agents allow me to book the outbound flight on the 330th day for my FF ticket and they held it until I booked the return flight on its corresponding 330th day. That was with USAir and United--and it was on the phone which is not free anymore. I don't think the on-line system allows you to book that way.....

 

I have a Constellation cruise booked which sails exactly one year from today out of Ft Lauderdale so I, too, will be trying to book one of those popular ORD-FLL flights during the popular holiday travel period.

[dmk]

Thanks to you all for the information:)

While were on the topic of booking reward air miles, has this ever happened to you? You decide to book business class ( executive class etc?) instead of economy and you can only get business class seats on the way out and not on your return trip.:confused:

I just called Air Canada (eh?) and they told me this in relation to a flight I want to book. They said business class seats might open up closer to the flight date. If not, we should check at the gate of the return flight. She said there are often business class seats flying empty and we could have the ticket agent put us in those empty seats.:rolleyes:

What are your thoughts?

[Host Walt]

Thanks to you all for the information:)

 

While were on the topic of booking reward air miles, has this ever happened to you? You decide to book business class ( executive class etc?) instead of economy and you can only get business class seats on the way out and not on your return trip.:confused:

 

I just called Air Canada (eh?) and they told me this in relation to a flight I want to book. They said business class seats might open up closer to the flight date. If not, we should check at the gate of the return flight. She said there are often business class seats flying empty and we could have the ticket agent put us in those empty seats.:rolleyes:

 

What are your thoughts?

This is a common "offer" and in my two cases we wound up going business outbound and in "coach" (no business seats available) with a business class ticket on the return. One exception. On a connection from FLL/ORD/LAX, we both went coach FLL/ORD but United had one business class seat available when we checked in for our last leg in Chicago so my wife got the good seat and I got coach. The FA was nice enough to comp me one adult beverage, however.