Originally Posted by
flguy
Great information thanks for the reply. I will use that number and i can wait until 1 or 2 weeks out. Most of the time i dont even have a return ticket until 3 days before i want to come home
Oh if you're someone whose really flexible, then you should be fine. Just keep checking that availability on the QF calendar. What's great about the QF tool vs BA is the QF tool let's you take the whole month, and filter by the class of service you want. In addition, the award tool shows other AS partners like EK, and OW partners Alaska has which can be a big plus. What route, and class of service are you looking for, if you don't mind me asking?
Keep in mind, they almost never release two F seats together, especially on flights to/from the US. So if you and a companion want to both travel F, best way to do it is to book the one available F seat, and then book the second seat in J on the same flight. There's a good chance another F award seat will open later on that flight (route depending). Especially if you don't care THAT much about sitting together. Also if the J cabin is empty you can always downgrade yourself so you guys are in the same cabin together.
Interesting fact for others, I've found many times they will release an F seat on another flight, after an F seat is booked, and taken out of the inventory. Strange... not sure why. For example, I wanted the 00:15 departure out of LAX-HKG, but that flight was not available. The only thing in F was the 9:35 departure which is my least favorite flight to Hong Kong because then I have to get up at 3am to make it to LAX to catch the connection. Anyway, I booked the award at 9:35am flight. As soon as my booking was confirmed, an F seat opened on the 00:15 flight! This is a consistent anomaly, and I'm not sure why it is.