Originally Posted by
1KSpouse
We are planning a trip at the end of May to Italy - arriving in Rome departing in Venice. There are currently no saver awards in Business or Economy. This is much later than we would normally book a trip so I was wondering if anyone has experience looking for frequent fliers 3.5 months before departure.
If we do have to buy tickets can anyone recommend how early we should look to get the best fares?
UA (and other partners) will release inventory if it appears that they're not going to be able to sell them. That can happen at any time -- if the flights don't sell well, UA will typically open space. It's common to see saver award space -- especially economy -- on the day of departure for flights that have more than a handful of empty seats. Check regularly.
Based on your screen name, I assume that you're booking the awards from an account with UA status, which will give you the broadest possible availability.
As for paid fares, this is about the time I would start looking. The best prices are generally found somewhere between 100 days and 2 weeks before departure. There's no single best time to buy airfare; if there were, the airlines would raise prices on that day so it wouldn't be the best anymore.
. I'd check every few days, and I'd specifically be keeping an eye on inventory, not just the fares. The more seats they have in the discount fare buckets, the better the chances are that they will eventually publish a sale fare and/or open up award inventory.
When you say there are "no" seats -- are you including connecting itineraries? Are you flying from a small airport with once-daily service? Are you not willing to consider partner flights? Do you have any flexibility on dates? As one example, I see 30K availability every day in late May from AUS-FCO, although admittedly some of the routes are fairly inconvenient.