Last minute award seat?
 

How likely is it to get an award seat 1 to 2 days before you want to fly. Does anyone have either bad or good experiences doing this.

It's of course difficult but not impossible. I was able to get three seats three days ahead a few years ago to attend a funeral. With hopesyou'll get what you need!

I had Delta call me with a BizElite seat 2 days before a transatlantic flight that I had been on the wait list for. I have actually had to get a seat short notice, but I've always been cleared on wait list seats for long hauls.

Last month I used miles on Continental to fly EWR-GIG with only a 2 days notice. The date I wanted on the return was not available, but once I was in Rio the agent at the Ticket Office outside my hotel changed it without a problem.

I got 2 reduced award FC tix on AA the day before Thanksgiving for the turkey-day weekend. They were more than happy to help out since there were seats and, I quote, "we need to charge the $75 expedite fee since that is how we make our money". I assume she meant her department.

Cheers,

'toad

In November I was able to get a saver award on UAL with less than 2 days notice SJC-BOS and back. Last week Scott the Flyer got a saver award 1st class ticket with about 14 hours notice SFO-BOS and return. He is 1K, I am PE.

On UA I think short notice is the EASIEST way to get an award ticket. They open up almost all the seats then.

QL, do you use your miles mostly for last minute travel?

I have done so in the past, on AA last year, with great success, and also a bunch of times on US last year, again last minute, with great success. A $2800 ticket (transcon in C) cost 40,000 or 45,000 miles and is a good deal that way I think.

The UA web site now lets you book award travel and I checked on avails for the next few days on IAD-SFO, a busy market, and I could book if I wanted to.

Question for a different thread: does anyone use the "standard" awards and not the "saver" or "planaahead" awards?

Hmm, how late can you book tickets using miles without incurring fees? I heard something about AA charging a fee if you claim a miles-based award ticket within 48hrs of the flight time.

This is one of the reasons I like to have a stock of AS miles. If you need a last minute ticket, they will check all their partner airlines, NW, AA, TWA, CO, BA, KLM, CA, and Quantas until they find what you want, and they usually do.

However I do also maintain a NWA account with the minimum 25,000 miles I need a year to keep them from capping my credit card and I prefer to use that for last minute trips to send employees to job sites...i.e. to buy a ticket that normally costs $300 to $400 but costs $2,800 because they need to go today and have no Saturday stay.

My UAL miles always seemed to get used up for foolishness like upgrading to the PIP! Aaaaah, what fabulous foolishness. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I think many of the airlines charge "processing fees" if you book award travel near the last minute. In some cases, I think this maybe as far as 21 days in advance! Its ridiculous, really. When E-tickets were not an option, this made some sense...need to expedite paper tickets and such, but now it is just a way for the airlines to make money.

I believe CO waives this last minute fee if you take an Eticket rather than paper- at least they did a year or two ago. I don't think you have to be an Elite member either, but each of the three ticketed members of my family were all CO Silver at the time (then 2nd tier), so I can't say for sure.

I've never been charged a "late" processing fee by United, and I've redeemed tix for myself and friends with a day or two, and even same day, notice.

One of the things I like about Northwest is the ability to check availability and book award tickets on-line. I just went to their site and checked MKE-HNL (award) availability for tomorrow and seats were indeed available. My understanding is that Northwest charges no extra fee for last minute tickets if you use "E" tickets.

richard, I use my miles exclusively for international upgrades and international first class award tickets.