One of the best ways of booking your perfect award trip is to plan far in advance. Even though most airlines generally release new award space continuously throughout the year, it is always best to book as far in advance as possible. This guide will help you answer the question of how long in advance airlines such as Lufthansa release award seats?

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 to search for first class seats, then you will only be able to find awards up to 337 days in advance. However, as a EuroBonus member you can still book awards more than 337 days in advance. This is especially important to consider when going after highly sought after awards. Luckily AwardFares makes it super easy to find these since you’re able to search across multiple frequent flyer programs at once!

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
United MileagePlus 337
SAS EuroBonus 360
Avianca LifeMiles 360
Air Canada Aeroplan 365

Airlines

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
SAS 3 330
Singapore Airlines 355
South African Airways 358
SWISS 300
Southwest 180 - 240
TAP 361
Thai 4 339
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) SAS releases 2 Plus awards within Europe at 330 days, and 4+ at 300 days.
  • (4) Aeroplan and EuroBonus limited to 180 days in advance.