Originally Posted by
rufflesinc
EK can also book JL awards but only J, not F, and their calendar opens at 360 days. They will hold them for you, for a long time, at least as long as the 5 days until you can book with avios. Don't even need skywards miles. Once BA window opened, I canceled EK reservation and the seats immediately were available.
It's best to refrain from doing so. It gums up availability for everyone else, and the inventory is not guaranteed to go back to the available pool when you cancel the hold. For example, if others have booked at a higher rate since, the base price inventory may not become available when the hold (or temporary ticket) are cancelled. I have monitored what happens in case of cancellations, and sometimes it may go back to the base price inventory, but other times it doesn't. In other words, it's not a sure thing and not something you can rely on.