Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Booking awards for Olympics

We're looking at going to Sochi (AER) for the 2014 Winter Olympics and would love to fly first or business to Russia on an AS partner with miles. Flying out of PDX.

Right now the options are pretty limited to fly into Sochi - almost everything is through Moscow. I have this feeling that award flights into Moscow are going to get blacked out around the Olympics... as I bet a lot of people are willing to pay full fare.

Does anyone have experience booking awards around around large international events like the olympics, world cup, etc.? Did you have to do anything special or can I just call 330 days in advance to book the tickets?

We're looking at other options too, like trains etc from nearby cities. I don't think we're going to try to get an award all the way to Sochi, and will just shoot for r/t PDX<->SVO.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

There are FlyerTalkers headed to London on business class awards. A robust search strategy, implemented diligently, will serve you well.

Sochi is about 900 miles from Moscow. I think you'll want to get a little closer than SVO/DME. No doubt there will be service - both typical low cost carrier and charter - from the major European capitals.

Delta miles (for flights on Aeroflot) or UA/US miles (for *A carrier Turkish) may be more useful than AS miles for this destination.

We're looking at going to Sochi (AER) for the 2014 Winter Olympics and would love to fly first or business to Russia on an AS partner with miles. Flying out of PDX.

Right now the options are pretty limited to fly into Sochi - almost everything is through Moscow. I have this feeling that award flights into Moscow are going to get blacked out around the Olympics... as I bet a lot of people are willing to pay full fare.

Does anyone have experience booking awards around around large international events like the olympics, world cup, etc.? Did you have to do anything special or can I just call 330 days in advance to book the tickets?

We're looking at other options too, like trains etc from nearby cities. I don't think we're going to try to get an award all the way to Sochi, and will just shoot for r/t PDX<->SVO.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

I'm having this issue for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! I plan on beginning my research early in 2013 though.

My son and I leave tomorrow on BA in F with the new flat-bed seats on two award tickets. BA allows bookings earlier than the normal 330 days, something like 350 days. And yes, I'm paying a few hundred in 'fuel surcharges'.

But really, two First Class tickets into Heathrow during the Olympics.:):):) I feel very fortunate.

And as AS Board room members, we are excited about spending time in the British Airways Concorde lounge at LHR.

The key is to book early.

My son and I leave tomorrow on BA in F with the new flat-bed seats on two award tickets. BA allows bookings earlier than the normal 330 days, something like 350 days. And yes, I'm paying a few hundred in 'fuel surcharges'.

But really, two First Class tickets into Heathrow during the Olympics.:):):) I feel very fortunate.

And as AS Board room members, we are excited about spending time in the British Airways Concorde lounge at LHR.

The key is to book early.

I agree - book early and be flexible. I'm jealous of MapMan's F tickets - we're in CW and felt fortunate to get those. What we did was jump on what we could find, which was tickets from DFW-LHR (even though we're in Los Angeles). I kept my eye on availability from LAX (basically checking every day), and was able to switch flights on both legs, so that now we're flying LAX-LHR round trip.

For flying from PDX, I'd take a look at availability out of SEA, YVR, SFO and DEN.

The last two Olympics, I have booked premium award tickets only to reinstate them because of amazing revenue ticket prices. Business class for under $1800 from the west coast to London this year. The fuel surcharges are half that amount on BA and the mileage swing is almost 150,000 (redemption plus amount earned). The airlines don't sell nearly as many premium class tickets as normal during the Olympics.

The last two Olympics, I have booked premium award tickets only to reinstate them because of amazing revenue ticket prices. Business class for under $1800 from the west coast to London this year. The fuel surcharges are half that amount on BA and the mileage swing is almost 150,000 (redemption plus amount earned). The airlines don't sell nearly as many premium class tickets as normal during the Olympics.

Indeed. The BA sale last month for ~$2,000 from the West coast in J was incredible (+ a $650 voucher brought the total price down to $1,350!).