10 Essential Tips for Booking an Award Trip in 2025

If you’re dreaming of your next adventure in 2025 and looking to maximize your frequent flyer miles, you’ve come to the right place.

In this blog post, we’ll cover our top 10 essential tips for booking the perfect award trip. From understanding the latest airline alliance updates to leveraging award charts effectively, these practical pointers will turn you into a savvy award traveler, helping you score that dream itinerary without breaking the bank. Let’s dive in!

How to Book an Award Trip in 2025 (10 Tips)

1. Start Early—but Be Ready for Last-Minute Opportunities

Award seats are highly sought after and tend to be available well in advance. For the best availability, start planning your trip between 11 and 6 months before your intended departure date. This window offers more options for dates, times, and airlines.

Make sure to check out our detailed guide on when different airlines and frequent flyer programs release award seats:

Don’t Forget Last-Minute Seats!

In 2025, airlines continue the trend of releasing award seats at the last minute. If you’re flexible and it’s not peak season, consider planning your trip just a few days before departure. First-class seats, in particular, often become available close to the flight date due to cancellations or unsold inventory.

2. Stay Updated with Award Chart Changes

Airlines frequently update their award charts and policies. In 2025, several airlines have revamped their award pricing models, switching to dynamic pricing or adjusting mileage requirements.

Understanding the current award charts is crucial before you book. Knowing how your airline calculates point usage can help you maximize your value and avoid unpleasant surprises.

We regularly publish articles on the best redemptions and sweet spots for each frequent flyer program. Stay tuned and sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news in your inbox.

Here are some examples:

3. Use AwardFares to Find Hidden Opportunities

Our tool, AwardFares, is the world’s fastest and most intuitive search engine for award flights, supporting multiple frequent flyer programs. Instead of spending hours manually searching different routes on airline websites, AwardFares helps you find available seats in seconds.

It’s an invaluable tool for travelers aiming to get the most out of their miles, whether you’re an experienced frequent flyer or just getting started.

Try AwardFares for free without an account, and access premium features and unlimited searches by upgrading to our Gold or Diamond tiers.

4. Be Flexible with Dates and Destinations

Flexibility is key when booking award travel in 2025. If you can adjust your travel dates or are open to different destinations, you’ll have a higher chance of finding available award seats. Traveling during off-peak times also often requires fewer miles or points.

Using AwardFares Timeline View to Find Dates

When you’re flexible with dates, AwardFares’ Timeline View is an extremely useful feature. It provides a simple and intuitive way to see award availability over time, showing you how many award seats are available each day for your selected trip.

To use the Timeline View:

Enter your origin and destination airports.
Select the travel dates.
Choose the cabin class you’re interested in.

AwardFares will display a timeline of award availability for your chosen route, color-coded for easy interpretation. It’s an excellent way to identify the best dates for your travel.

AwardFares Timeline View (2025)

Using AwardFares Map View to Discover Destinations

If you’re flexible with destinations, the Map View feature helps you explore available award seats from or to a given airport or city.

AwardFares can search between continents, award zones, or metro areas, making it great for discovering new travel opportunities.

To use the Map View:

Enter your origin or destination airport.
View the map displaying available routes and award seats.

AwardFares Map View (2025)

5. Understand Airline Alliances and Partnerships

With the ever-evolving landscape of airline alliances in 2025, staying informed about partnership changes is essential. Many airlines are part of global alliances like Star Alliance, Oneworld, or SkyTeam, allowing you to use your miles on any airline within the alliance.

Additionally, airlines often have individual partnerships outside of their alliances. Knowing these partnerships can open up more award seat options and routes.

6. Consider One-Way and Multi-City Tickets

Booking one-way tickets or multi-city itineraries can offer more flexibility than traditional round trips, especially for complex travel plans. Different airlines may have better availability or pricing on various segments of your journey.

Using one-way awards allows you to mix and match airlines and alliances to create the perfect itinerary.

7. Leverage Stopovers and Open Jaws

In 2025, more airlines are allowing stopovers and open jaws on award tickets. This means you can:

Stopover: Stay in a city for more than 24 hours before continuing to your final destination.
Open Jaw: Fly into one city and depart from another.

These options let you explore additional destinations without using more miles. Be sure to check your airline’s specific policies, as terms can vary.

8. Contact the Airline Directly

For complex itineraries or if you’re having trouble finding availability online, just call the airline’s award booking line. Experienced agents can:

Access award availability not visible online.
Help you figure out the best way to use your miles.
Work around issues like married segments.
Provide insights into upcoming availability.

If you receive a negative response, remember the HUACA technique: Hang Up And Call Again. Different agents may provide different solutions.

Read our full guide about Married Segments.

9. Split Up Large Travel Groups

Traveling with a group? Splitting up your booking into smaller groups or individual tickets can increase your chances of finding award seats.

Handling Family Groups

If you can’t find award seats for your entire group, consider combining award tickets with paid tickets. Prioritize using miles for the most expensive tickets, often international or premium cabin flights.

Also, take advantage of family accounts, now supported by many frequent flyer programs in 2025. These accounts allow you to pool miles, making it easier to reach award thresholds faster.

10. Set Up Alerts for Award Availability

AwardFares’ Alerts feature notifies you when award availability opens up for specific routes and dates. This tool is invaluable, especially if you’re targeting high-demand flights or premium cabins.

To set up an Alert:

Log in to your account.
Select your origin and destination airports.
Choose your travel dates (wide searches can cover ±1 day).
Select your preferred cabin class.
Set the number of passengers.
(Optional) Apply additional filters like airlines, aircraft, or specific flight numbers.

Once set up, you’ll receive email notifications when availability matches your criteria, ensuring you never miss an opportunity.

AwardFares Alerts (2025)

BONUS TIP: Always Have a Backup Plan

Despite your best efforts, you might not find award seats on your ideal flights. It’s wise to have a backup plan, whether that’s:

Flying on different dates.
Using alternative airlines or routes.
Combining award tickets with paid tickets.
Considering nearby airports.

Having flexibility ensures you can still embark on your adventure, even if it means adjusting your original plan.

Become a Pro Travel Hacker

Imagine flying to Paris in a lie-flat business class seat for the price of an economy ticket. On average, AwardFares premium users get 3x-7x more value from their points, regularly booking $5,000+ flights at a fraction of the cost.

AwardFares is the easiest way to find the cheapest and most convenient award flights across multiple frequent flyer programs. It takes just seconds and a few clicks to get started. You can create an account and try it for free here.

For access to even more powerful features like unlimited daily searches, alerts, seat maps, and flight schedules, explore our Gold and Diamond membership tiers here.

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