awards tickets on short notice?
 

The few times I've gotten award tickets, availability has been very limited. What is availability like if I wait just a few days before I want to leave? I would have a few days flexibilty as well as a few cities flexible. Will the airlines give you an award ticket just becuase there are seats available on a flight? What about getting an award ticket the day before or day of flight? Of course this would have to be for a round trip, so even if I got a lst minute ticket, would there be no availability for me to return 2 or 3 weeks later? Anyway, my next trip may be to Belgium and England in April or May 2004. (I may will relocate by then, so don't want to plan) Also my miles are with DL and NW.

Best to phone up your airline and ask how many revenue seats are available for the day of travel (this is if it's only a few days out) If there are a lot of seats available you might get a ticket depending on your status.

I assume you are trying to get standard awards. (The non-capacity-controlled awards for approx. double the miles are always available, as long as there is an empty seat.)

If you are flexible on dates and cities, I'd say you have a decent chance at getting something. Another big one is class-of-service flexibility. If you have enough miles and are willing to fly either F or Y to get where you want to go, you'll increase your chances somewhat.

Call and ask. On SEVERAL occasions I have gotten last-minute award tickets on the actual day of departure. I am of the opinion that some airlines open up more award seats as it becomes apparent that certain flights will have alot of unsold seats. Be aware that last-minute bookings may involve "expedite fees", AA and DL can be as much as $75.

Or just fly Southwest, where every award is a Standard award. No capacity controls. You can walk up to the counter with your award and get on the next flight.

I've always had really good luck getting tickets when I've needed to for the same day or the next day (normally these are due to family emergencies, funerals, etc). The airlines seem to really release a lot of their excess inventory in that time frame, from what I've seen. I don't think I'd try it on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, though (i.e. there need to be at least a decent number of empty seats).

However, even this isn't ironclad. A few years ago I booked a flight using miles (At the saver award level) from San Jose->Lima, Peru the day before the flight, and it turned out that both legs were oversold. If I hadn't been in a hurry (the reason I was on the flight in the first place), it would have been a nice bonus...

Personally, I think this is the best use of miles, since even the bereavement fares are pretty expensive, compared to what you can get with an advance purchase...

Dan

We've done this a few times with Northwest; quick weekend getaways that really hit the spot for us because we were able to take off on a lark. Usually we pick several places that would be fun and then just check availability. It's kind of a "mystery weekend".

Which makes sense if you are a) flying primarily domestic routes, and b) willing to put up with flying WN.

Given that the OP mentioned his future travel to Europe in 2004, the former may make WN largely a non-option.

Mike

Spend some time doing sample bookings now. If you are thinking about trying to book tickets - say - 10 days out....then see what you can get 10 days from today. Do that a few times and you'll get a flavor for how things work. Your flexibility (dates and destinations) should certaily be in your favor.

Remember also - with DL/CO/NW - you can mix and match. For example, fly to east coast on one airline, across the Atlantic on another, and return home on the third....it helps to do your homework on all 3 websites! Good luck.

I have done this several times on AA and once with short notice on UA. AA is diffently the best at award redemption on short notice, really anytime. The expedite fees are a pain, I am waived from those, but my wife is not. Our strategy is to use her miles when we plan ahead and mine when we need a short notice ticket on AA.

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dallasflyer, Let's put the fun back in FlyerTalk!

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

And definitely use Galileo to check out what awards are available. Access Galileo at http://www.aeroplan.de/ap_rb_galileo.htm (don't have the link to Bedelman's site in English handy right now though).

I'm using Galileo to watch F inventory on a transatlantic award I already have booked. I want to switch flights, and am watching the inventory on the flight I want. I check it every day (only takes 30 seconds), and will change as soon as the seat opens up.

I got an e-mail from Smarter Living & down in the mail, they quoted this thread on FT.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MeLike2Travel:
[B]And definitely use Galileo to check out what awards are available. Access Galileo at http://www.aeroplan.de/ap_rb_galileo.htm

If you find it, can you please give me the English link...?

I am waitlisted on a award ticket on AA flight. Position per Galileo is this....what does it mean?

F4 A7 Y7 B7 K7 H7 M7 Q7 G0 O0

Thanks!