Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
I've needed to go East Coast more recently, and US Airways is quite easy to get at the moment. If you're very keen to try the A380 then HKG is a better option anyway.
I have also been a lot more focused on the East Coast and Central USA recently. In this case I have a specific trip to the West Coast. My schedule allows me to use any California airport for USA entry which is why the question about A380 arises - I'd be curious to try it if I can, but only if it fits my business needs, so only LAX is an option not HKG etc.
Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
The redemption space gets released at around 01:00 hrs London time daily, so a check first thing in the morning is all you need to do. You may want to also check say LHR to NYC, as a check to see if there is a temporary glitch. If you see nothing to NY then you best leave it a few hours and check again, otherwise check it the next day. I sometimes use Avios.com or AA, it's a bit faster to check on their websites.
For close to departure, then you need to check morning and afternoon, maybe 3 times a day in the final 3 or 4 days.
Checking hourly, goodness, how do people get the time to do that?
2-3 times per week is my normal habit when scouting for UUA on a flight I have already booked, moving to daily in the week preceding the flight. If hourly were needed, I'd translate that as "no availability likely".