Best Time to Find Award Travel on January 2 or 3?

Jeff

Level 2 Member
Does anyone have experience with award travel opening up on these dates on any airline? I am looking for a One Way from Rio to San Francisco on January 2. I found one flight option on TACA that is quite grueling and not a great business class product so I was wondering what others experiences were with traveling on these dates?
 

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
It depends on the airline and the ticketing partner. For example, I found EZE-LAX on LAN for January 1 travel on Feb 4 on the BA website. If I were going to use AA or AS miles to ticket I would have to call as neither show it online. LAN availability typically disappears within 24 hours. Right now, I see Jan 5 on LAN for EZE-LAX but no prior days. A friend used Avianca miles and has already ticketed EZE-JFK for a Jan 8 flight.

What miles are you attempting to use?
 

Jeff

Level 2 Member
That is extremely helpful thank you. I found the flights you mention as well and am now considering routing the EZE. It is the best flight I have seen. I have not decided which miles to use so I have been searching the transfer partners for MR, and UR plus I have AA miles as well.
 

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
You could move UR and MR to BA, but that's not a good choice unless you are booking a single segment trip. BA charges by the length of each individual segment. I used BA miles for my outbound, LAX-EZE. Because it is one sector, it was 30K for coach or 60K for business, plus $5.60 security fee. The return will have something like an $80 fee due to Argentinian fees. I believe it would cost 50K for one way on AA in biz and 45K for one way on AS. Those carriers allow multi segments. You will need to call to book should you choose AA. Just last week, AA waived telephone booking fees for any partner that cannot be booked online. If you see space that suits you, I urge you to grab it. You want to fly back from South America at peak time. Award seats are rare and valuable. I know when my return LAN flight should be available, even to the time of night. I will literally set my alarm that night so I can get online and get the seats I need. I have never done that before, but I have no flexibility on date of travel.

When you are checking availability, also look at LAN from SCL-SFO. You might find award space from GIG-SCL, then SCL-SFO.
 

PWMTrav

Moderator
Staff member
It's passed for 2016, but the day schedules open (usually 330 days out, but depends on the airline) is a good day to look. It works REALLY well for Alaska Airlines bookings.
 
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