A Comprehensive Look at How To Book Flights With Miles

AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.

It’s pretty frustrating to save miles for a big trip, only to discover that you can’t use them to book the flights you want. One of the most common problems faced by beginners is understanding which flights are actually available to book with miles — and when paying cash might make more sense.

In this post, we’ll explain how award availability works and how to find and book your next flight with miles like a pro.

What Is Award Availability?

Award availability — sometimes called award space — refers to the seats that you can book with airline miles or points instead of cash. Folks who are new to traveling with points and miles often don’t realize that their award options can be much more limited vs paying cash.

Depending on the frequent flyer program, you may see tickets for sale with cash but no open award space on that same flight — even if the plane is far from full. In addition, some seats may require such a high amount when booking with points that paying cash is the better option.

a plane passenger reads documents using the overhead light during a night-time flight

Why Is Award Availability Limited?

Airlines would rather sell seats for cash than let someone book them with miles. That's why they carefully manage award availability and pricing.

Some frequent flyer programs use fixed award pricing based on factors such as the regions you're traveling between or the distance you fly. Others use dynamic pricing, where award rates can vary significantly based on factors such as demand and the cash price of the ticket.

For example, in a region-based award chart, it might cost 25,000 miles to fly round-trip from New York to Los Angeles. It doesn’t matter whether the cash price is $100 or $500; it would still cost the same 25,000 frequent flyer miles for that flight.

With dynamic pricing, however, award rates can vary dramatically from one date to the next. For example, American Airlines may charge significantly different prices for the same route depending on when you travel.

An American Airlines award calendar for nonstop flights from JFK to DEL.

Airlines also actively manage the award availability on each flight. If they expect to sell out the cabin with cash fares, award space may be removed for that flight. On the other hand, if a flight is expected to depart half-empty, the airline may allow passengers to book additional seats with miles.

Since the award price doesn’t change with demand in fixed-price programs, there are usually more travelers who want to spend miles than available award space. As a result, you can use your miles for a small subset of the flights you can book with cash. Knowing how to find these seats and the best award redemptions is key to maximizing your miles.

Frequent Flyer Programs vs. Airlines

Before we cover the types of award availability, it’s important to understand the difference between frequent flyer programs and airlines. Both play a role in determining which flights you can book with your miles (and when you can book them).

For example, consider American Airlines AAdvantage^®, the frequent flyer program of American Airlines. You can redeem AAdvantage miles for flights on American Airlines and many AAdvantage partner airlines, including Oneworld alliance partners.

The inverse is also true: You can use points or miles from partner programs like Cathay Asia Miles or British Airways Club to book flights operated by American Airlines.

When booking a partner award, the airline operating the flight determines how much award space to make available to partner programs.

Partner Award Space Is (Mostly) Universal

Generally, award space an airline releases to one partner is available to all of its partners. For example, if Lufthansa has two economy award seats from Austin to Frankfurt available through Air Canada Aeroplan, you may also be able to book them through Avianca LifeMiles.

However, the cost in miles and taxes and fees can vary depending on which program you use. And since many airlines have removed their award charts, it can be difficult to know how many miles an award “should” cost.

Different airline programs, different award rates

Consider this Lufthansa economy flight from Austin (AUS) to Frankfurt (FRA). Here are the comparative costs of booking through three different programs:

United MileagePlus: 44,000 miles + $5.60
Air Canada Aeroplan: 42,500 points + $56.96
Avianca LifeMiles: 37,000 miles + $26.70

While airlines often make the same award space available to multiple partners, they may offer more availability or lower-priced awards through their own frequent flyer programs.

Not All Award Space Is Available to Partners

Airlines may offer many award options to members of their own frequent flyer programs, but not all of those seats are available to partners.

For example, American Airlines switched to dynamic award pricing for its own flights. Under this system, award prices vary by flight and date. Here's an example of what you might see when booking a flight between Los Angeles and Paris:

American Airlines award search results between Los Angeles and Paris

Not all of these flights would necessarily be bookable through American Airlines' partner programs. Generally, you'll need to find award space American has released to partners before you can book the same flight with miles from a program like Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or British Airways Club.

United gives us another example. In the screenshot below, the economy flights labeled “Saver Award” may be available through partner programs, while the higher-priced premium economy and business-class awards may only be available through United MileagePlus.

Airline tickets from Washington Dulles to Tokyo.

United no longer publishes an award chart, so prices vary. Something else to note: the above flights show “Cardmembers pay” prices. That's because United elite members and co-branded credit cardholders can see extra award space on its own flights.

Special Award Availability

There are exceptions to the general rule that partner award space is available through multiple programs. Some airlines reserve certain award seats for members of their own frequent flyer programs.

In this situation, a person with Singapore KrisFlyer miles might be able to book the nonstop flight from New York to Singapore, but someone redeeming United miles might only have access to a connecting itinerary (or maybe no flights at all). Saver availability on the nonstop flight costs 117,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles in business class.

Singapore Airlines flight from JFK to SIN for 117,500 miles in business class

On that same date, United MileagePlus (below) is only offering that route with a connection, and it isn't even bookable in business class.

This is why flexible points can be so valuable. If one program has access to award space another doesn't, transferable points give you more options for booking it.

When Can I Book With Miles?

Airlines usually start selling tickets up to a year before departure. If you plan that far ahead, searching when the schedule opens can improve your chances of finding award space.

For award tickets, the program whose miles you plan to use and the airline you want to fly can impact how early you can book your flight. Generally, frequent flyer programs let you redeem miles once the operating airline opens its schedule for sale.

Things are simple if you want to use United miles to fly United Airlines. However, it becomes more complicated when your itinerary includes partner airlines.

Booking windows for partner awards

Cathay Pacific, British Airways, and American Airlines open their schedules at 360, 355, and 331 days in advance, respectively. So, if you want to use British Airways Avios or Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to book an AA flight, you'll have to wait until American releases that flight for sale 331 days before departure.

comparison of booking date availability for Asia Miles, American Airlines, and British Airways when booking award flights

The reverse can also happen. If you want to use American AAdvantage miles to book a British Airways flight, you'll have to wait until American's booking window opens, even though British Airways may have released the flight earlier. By then, some award space may already be gone.

Before You Start Your Search

Before you start looking for award seats on specific dates, make sure you're considering all of your options.

Award redemption partners

If you have a specific destination in mind, start by seeing which airlines fly there and which points or miles you can use to book them. For example, you can book 50 different airlines using Aeroplan points.

A great place to start is Flightconnections.com. For example, the following airlines fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (HND): ANA, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Japan Airlines, and United Airlines.

Map showing the airlines that fly Los Angeles to Tokyo

From there, you can determine which programs can book those airlines and compare your options.

Know the pricing

Each frequent flyer program sets its own award ticket pricing, and there can be big differences. Knowing which programs offer the best rates can help you prioritize your search.

If you have several types of frequent flyer miles — or transferable points like American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, or Citi ThankYou Points — choosing the right program can save you points and money.

Check out our guide to award pricing for a full breakdown.

Know the mileage program sweet spots

One thing to keep in mind is each mileage program's strengths. For example, Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards can be a great way to book short American Airlines flights, with some awards starting at just 4,500 points plus taxes and fees. On the other hand, if I want to fly from the United States to Australia or New Zealand on an Oneworld carrier, American Airlines miles are better than Alaska Airlines miles.

Our guide on the best mileage program sweet spots highlights some of the best redemptions across different programs and how to earn the miles you need.

AwardWallet also has destination-specific guides, like our article on the best business-class redemptions to Europe.

How To Find Award Space

Airline websites don't always show all of your award options, so sometimes you need to know where else to look. Check out our complete guide on how to find airline partner award availability.

Thankfully, several award search tools make it easier to compare availability across airlines and programs. Here are a few popular options:

Here's a screenshot from one of the tools (PointsYeah) showing award options for a booking from Chicago to London:

Another screenshot from Seats.aero shows how you can quickly search a wide variety of dates and routes for economy, premium economy, business-class, and first-class availability between the U.S. and Europe:

Seats.Aero listings of bookings from the USA to Europe.

Final Thoughts

Award availability is one of the most important concepts to understand if you want to maximize the value of your frequent flyer miles. Here are the key things to remember:

Not every flight available with cash will be available to book with miles — or at a reasonable award price.
Most airline miles can be used to book flights with partner airlines, not just the airline associated with the program.
Airlines decide how much award space to make available to their own members and partner programs, and availability can differ between the two.
The program you book through can affect the award price, availability, and how far in advance you can book.
Airline websites don't always show every option, so you may need to search elsewhere or call to book.
Award search tools can make finding available seats much easier.

Armed with this knowledge, you are far ahead of most people who are competing for limited award space. It takes some time to learn, but the investment will pay big dividends.

Did you learn something new from this post? Is there another topic you'd like to see us cover in a beginner's guide? Let us know in the comments!

Page Contents