One of the best ways of booking your perfect award trip is to plan far in advance. While most airlines continuously release new award seats throughout the year, it’s always best to book as soon as you have set dates for your trip. Additionally, most loyalty programs are quite flexible when it comes to award bookings, often allowing you to cancel them with minimal fees. It’s better to have a ticket booked than to leave points idling in your account.

A quick note: when we say an airline “releases seats,” we mean it makes them available in the booking system for purchase. From the very moment a seat is released, it’s possible to book it using miles or points.

This guide will help you answer the question of how far in advance airlines (such as Lufthansa) release award seats? How far in advance can you book an award flight?

There are however two important things to consider:

  1. Different airlines release award seats at different dates.
  2. Different frequent flyer programs show seats at different dates.

For example, if you’re using United MileagePlus to search for First Class seats, you’ll only find awards up to 337 days in advance. However, as a member of SAS EuroBonus, you can book awards even further ahead. This is especially crucial when it comes to highly sought-after awards.

Fortunately, AwardFares makes searching for these awards much easier by allowing you to search across multiple frequent flyer programs simultaneously.

Award Release Dates: How Early Can You Book?

By Frequent Flyer Program

Here are the number of days in advance that some popular frequent flyer program award search sites will show. Dates are updated automatically.

Frequent Flyer Program Days in advance Date from today
Air Canada Aeroplan 355
American AAdvantage 331
Alaska Mileage Plan 330
Aeromexico Rewards 330
United MileagePlus 337
SAS EuroBonus 360
Delta SkyMiles 331
Air France-KLM Flying Blue 359
JetBlue TrueBlue 331
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 331
Virgin Australia Velocity 331
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles 331
Etihad Guest 330
GOL Smiles (Brazil) 330
GOL Smiles (Argentina) 330
Azul Fidelidade 330
Avianca LifeMiles 360

By Airline

Star Alliance

So, how many days in advance do Star Alliance airlines release award availability? Here is a list of the number of days in advance you can earliest find award space using AwardFares for all Star Alliance airlines. Dates are updated automatically.

Airline Days in advance Date from today
Air Canada 360
Air China 361
Air India 337
Air New Zealand 355
ANA 355
Asiana 361
Austrian 361
Avianca 355
Brussels 360
COPA 330
Egyptair 360
Ethiopian 331
EVA Air 360
LOT 361
Lufthansa 360
Lufthansa (long-haul Business) 1 85 180
Lufthansa (long-haul First) 2 30
Singapore Airlines 355
South African Airways 358
SWISS 300
TAP 361
Thai 3 339
Turkish 354
United 337

Notes:

  • (1) Lufthansa long-haul Business partner redemptions are currently released 85 days in advance.
  • (2) Lufthansa long-haul First partner redemptions are released 30 days in advance. Members of Miles & More can book up to 180 days in advance.
  • (3) Aeroplan and EuroBonus limited to 180 days in advance.

SkyTeam

Airline Days in advance Date from today
Aerolíneas Argentinas 330
Aeroméxico 330
Air Europa 330
Air France 4 359
ITA Airways 5 330
China Airlines 330
China Eastern 330
Delta Air Lines 330
Garuda Indonesia 330
Kenya Airways 330
KLM 359
Korean Air 330
Middle East Airlines 330
SAS 6,7 330
Saudia 330
TAROM 330
Vietnam Airlines 330
XiamenAir 330
Virgin Atlantic 330

Notes:

  • (4) From some users’ experience, availability on certain routes/code share flights gets released anywhere between 305 and 359 days in advance.
  • (5) ITA Airways announced it will leave SkyTeam and join Star Alliance. Date is undefined.
  • (6) SAS releases 2 Plus awards within Europe at 330 days, and 4+ at 300 days.
  • (7) SAS left Star Alliance and joined SkyTeam on September 1st, 2024.

Oneworld

Airline Days in advance Date from today
Alaska Airlines 330
American Airlines 331
British Airways 355
Cathay Pacific 360
Finnair 362
Iberia 360
Japan Airlines 360
Malaysia Airlines 354
Qantas 353
Qatar Airways 361
Royal Air Maroc 330
Royal Jordanian 8 (Economy) 330
SriLankan Airlines 360
Fiji Airways 330
Oman Air 300 - 330

Notes:

  • (8) In Business Class, redemption can start as early as 180 days, but there’s no official statement from the airline. Typically, they also get released close to departure date.

Other Airlines/Programs

Airline Days in advance Date from today
Southwest 180 - 240
Frontier 180 - 240
Spirit Airlines 330
Emirates Skywards 328
GOL Smiles (on GOL flights) 330
GOL Smiles (on partner airlines) Varies, up to 330 -

Search for Award Availability

AwardFares is the easiest and fastest tool to find available award flights. In a matter of seconds you can search across multiple dates, routes, and even frequent flyer programs!

With the Gold and Diamond tiers, you have access to premium features such as unlimited daily searches, alerts, seat maps, flight schedules, and more!

Learn More

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