which airline has decent award availability 'except' when you need it?
 

I'm not talking about lack of award availability. That award goes to DL and India's version of it (9W). I am talking about airlines with decent availability except when you need it. For me its Turkish Airlines.

I'm actually going to go AS here. Quite a few times when I have all the other flights mapped out, the last short haul AS segment fails me... when there is plenty of award space on all the other flights except the one I need...

I needed them only once, but they seemed to be good to me.

As we are discussing mileage award availability, please follow the thread to the MilesBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Delta.

They have it, but they want like 30% premium on the point redemption

I suppose it's a pretty tough question to find a universal answer, depends on what routes, times of year, how many seats, class of service...or luck! I've had more trouble with AA than any other.

I've found that DL has the BEST availability overall, but has the WORST availability at the LOW level. It's all in how you look at it.

I would say the SkyPesos effect is applicable here also. They'll have it, it'll just cost you enough to redeem for a round-trip to Mars on another airline. :D

10k UA/CO 700 mile redemptions = serious cash savers. I just booked $727 tickets for 20k round trip.

If you spend more then 12.5k on domestic one way redemptions with UA/CO/AA you are likely flying first class.

You can spend 12.5k on a one way redemption with UA/CO/AA! DL one way award redemptions do not exist at these levels!


DL is just incredibly good at making you work hard for your redemptions and then sucking the miles out of you all in one easy swoop for them. DL may have stronger partnerships in SE Asia, better international first class products, or better IFE, but unless you fly business out of a DL hub held captive then you won't be earning enough miles to get there with DL.

You will become more accustomed to paying 40-60k r/t domestic coach with Delta.

DTW-LGA can be 40-60k with Delta, meanwhile someone on UA/CO may spend 20k. How does this make you feel?

Delta is great when not using Delta. Thankfully I'm based out of a place where AF flies :)

JL tends to be a bit annoying for me. Often there's a really nice flight from Narita back to the US available, and there's no availability on PVG-NRT/HND or something like that. Not nearly as annoying as DL though.......thankfully Skydong are very very cheap so the annoyance isn't as big of a deal as others make it out to be.

Folks, As mentioned in the OP, DL does not qualify as it holds the award for worst award availability at any time. I am more interested in airlines that have availability the day before or after the flight you want or the flight before or after you want. There needs to decent overall availability.

Delta is the worst airlines to use their miles.
When I try to use it, most of the times it costs double or triple the miles.

Alaska and US tend to have great bargains that are seldom available.

AA & UA seem best in that order.

The only reason Spirit's ff program is around is to make SkyPesos look good.

Unless you ask Mod to modify your title, you would continue to receive DL as the answer every 3 posts! Just sayin. ;)

When I want to book an award in/out of a tiny regional airport, it seems like all the airlines let me down.

Really - when did Virgin Galactic get regulatory approval for that LHR-MARS route? Their lounge over there covered with Premier Pass? Any ATMs in the airport for money exchange?:D

Surprisingly, for me it's UA. When I book international awards, I often have a tough time getting availability on the domestic feeder flight out of MCI (or at least in the class I'm trying to book).

Chris

always DELTA

USAir by a mile.

do you really mean WANT or NEED? The two are distinct.

how so?

USAir has exact same availability as United, Air Canada and all other Star memebers. Yes, they dont have a functioning website - but the availability is ALWAYS there if you know how to find it and are willing to pay the phone fee.


For me, Delta is the absolute pits.

I believe the poster meant that when s/he needs on US metal it is never available while it is available the flight/day before or after.

:) I really really considered it. During the height of starnet I almost hated it. But I'd like to see how they handle this under new management and then change it.

Anyway what's the connection to my name and DL?

Ditto...........
 

Skypesos stink ~

What's the difference?

I think someone else mentioned something similar. Maybe that's because there is not much competition on these kind of routes.

I think Happy meant the title of your post, not your Flyertalk handle

I think it's British Airways. I have 100K on a credit card offer x 2 years and can't use it. One can get 1-way tickets, but no round trips. or, the awards are available, but the fees are outrageous - you might as well buy a sale ticket.

think so too!

on the other way around, united/aa are quite good with saver award

Delta

Correct makes sense. Mods please change to "which airline has decent award availability except when you need it."

British Airways has some of the best award availability for any airline. I've seen 8 or 9 seats available per flight on multiple days (even on routes with multiple flights per day). Yeah, there are fees, but that should be known before you get BA miles ... there are no fees for some airlines, while certain routes, the miles are a great way to get into otherwise out-of-budget business & first class seats.

+1 for Oneworld. An entire month with no availability on the route I wanted. I keep burning through my *A miles and accumulating Oneworld miles.

Disagree... AF has much better award space than BA. Anyone who disagrees with me should take a look at IAD/IAH-CDG and to a lesser extent ORD/DTW-CDG...

agreed..... delta is the worst, by far...

Agreed! As a Diamond Medallion and SUCKER :(...Delta is by FAR the hardest AIRLINE to redeem awards on. I don't care about your damn awards on AF...I'm in BOS and IAD so I have AF all day. I'm not trying to go to Europe every time so everyone needs to stop justifying that their is space because AF has space. What about to the Caribbean or Latin America or SE Asia...

Anyways, Delta will RIP you off for a 30% premium like another poster mentioned!

Oh and I did find a 25k R/T domestic award. Except it wants me to leave @ 6:15am in the morning and then layover for 9hours to catch the connecting flight in the evening...RUN N TELL DAT, HOME BOI!

I've been clear with colleagues who fly, that they should choose a Star Alliance Airline carrier, United or US or LH out of BOS or IAD and don't make the same mistake that I did :(.

That is the reason why you see 8 or 9 seats per flight on multiple days! Read the BOLD! Fees are really only known within the Flyertalk community. My mom would be led to believe she could redeem a free ticket after flying so many miles, yes including paying taxes but she wouldn't expect there to be $500 in fuel surcharges!

Maybe but Im guessing that the reason the poster said BA is that it is not available when s/he needs it. I also agree that BA has good availability but there are times when it does not.

Those who have issues with Avios miles needs to consider to use them on AA domestic.

The original question is a bit confusing.

If I need an award on a specific flight, I've almost always gotten it on any of my airlines. By the very definition of "need", that likely means a flight departing within hours or maybe a day or two of my reservation, might entail phone or expedite fees, probably involves paying the 2x "rulebuster" award level, and would otherwise have a cash-cost of at least 1.5 or 2 cents per mile I'm using for the award.

But even within this, when I've needed a flight, I've had the best luck on AA. This has only been maybe two or three flights in my life, but they've been domestic U.S., 25k each way F awards. Maybe this is because they still have an e-500 system in place...by the time I realize I need a specific flight on UA, chances are that F is already full of upgraded elites.

For a more loose definition...flights I want, where I have flexibility across a few days and maybe even specific airports or routing but desire the standard-level awards, I have generally had better luck on AA and UA than US or DL.

To me, the "need" and "want" scenarios are very different. I'd say my greatest frustration in the "want" awards has been DL because I frequently do find award availability from the U.S. gateway city onward. It's the crappy little MCI-ATL (or whatever) flight that has no seats at the standard award level, even when that's a random off-peak Saturday, Tuesday, or Wednesday six months in advance. :mad:

US doesn't frustrate me as much because I don't tend to redeem much on US metal. Star Alliance is generally okay for me. Not great, but okay if I have flexibility.

The original question is confusing, and in any case the answer is usually "it depends" as in it depends on the type of ticket: Y/F, domestic/international, peak winter/summer, etc. We'll assume you are asking about the lowest "saver" award levels, not the mid-tier or anytime awards.

In general AA has the best availability across-the-board domestic but still can't get me to Mexico at Xmas. AS never seems to have saver awards to Mexico when I need them or on any dates remotely close. UA has been surprisingly good at domestic F seats but tougher for Y and impossible for TATL or TPAC in C (on UA metal). UA and AA probably come closest to finding seats close to my preferred date on the fare calendar. UA and WN (RR 1.0) do very well on last minute bookings, which are useful for bowl games and funerals but not for school vacations.

I don't think I really have an airline that comes "close but no cigar" Either there is availability within a couple of days of when I need it or there is nothing the entire month.