jeep1

Question. I am thinking booking lax to Papeete on Air France in feb next year in Y using Alaska miles. Did a dummy booking but could not book seats. Called Air France which turned out to be delta. She said if the seats don't come up right away. They still might come up closer to departure. Or you might have to wait till check in. Anyone had experience don't think I can book with no seats. That's a little long for middle. Thanks in advance

Kieron

The earliest you can book any ticket with Alaska is 330 days out, which as I type this is January 12, 2018.

There's no guarantee the seats you want will ever become available for purchase with miles, but 330 days is the point at which you can start looking.

jeep1

Thanks. Yea I did a dummy booking for Jan. So I saw the seats. Just wanted to make sure we could sit together on plane. But think you would have to wait till check in

brizone

Just hope the Flying Blue folks don't grab all the award seats before the AS window opens.

I don't think you'll need to wait until check-in. Either they will be available to book at all, or not. Your problem here will be award availability, not seat assignment availability. Once you've got it, you should be good to go.

jeep1

Thanks. Yea only need one way. Seat availability looks good. Just worried about being stuck in middle. Husband in another middle 😂

worldtraveller73

I think that you're better to get them at the 330 day mark.

I think that French Polyensia is probably among the worst places for a last minute trip. With limited places to stay (and I'm talking about chain hotels, not the outer islands), I think that the last minute voyages are a little tricky.

ashill

I think your wording is confusing. Are you talking about booking seats (often used as a colloquial shorthand for getting a ticket which entitles you to some seat on the airplane) or reserving seat assignments (ie getting assigned particular seats, like 23A and 23B)? The term "booking" is rarely used to refer to getting seat assignments, I think; hence the confusion.

I wouldn't worry much about seat assignments 11 months out. Seat assignments are never guaranteed and can always change. Certainly worth getting seat assignments if you can, but not worth making a purchasing decision based on it. As others have noted, award availability allowing you to book a ticket will almost certainly be more of a hurdle than getting seat assignments. Seat assignments are also much easier to sort out at a later date than getting a ticket on the same plane.

PV_Premier

this flight (LAX-PPT) isn't a particularly difficult award to get in Y, in my limited experience...though in January it might be a little more challenging. nonetheless, if your dates are a little bit flexible, i wouldn't worry about it too much.

once you get your tickets booked with AS, you can ask them for the Air France PNR and you can use that to go onto AirFrance.com and secure the seats you want.

good luck.

robsaw

Don't seem to be able to book economy seats in advance at all on-line for Economy but may be a work-around using the AF android app. There is a fee for seats prior to check-in.

jeep1

Thanks so much for your replies. Yes I was talking about seat assignment. Sorry about confusion

robsaw

I myself now have an award with AF segment from LAX-PPT and can't select seats (economy) by phone with AF, on-line or using mobile app in advance of the 30h check-in window. Anyone with advice otherwise?

fly747first

Y isn't hard but J is very rare.

robsaw

Looks like selecting seats via the KLM site (USA version) and logging-in with confirmation code/name worked to get economy seats pre-selected on an Alaska award.