Anatomy of a Reward Seat

Free flights sound great in theory- but one tricky part of navigating them is to find an open reward seats that fit your travel dates. This is something I always caution people getting excited about applying for cards and earning free flights. It’s never guaranteed that your exact dates, times and locations will be available for a reward seat. So reward travel does require some flexibility. Here’s my best advice to learn about how to make reward seats work the best for you.

1. Plan as far in advance as you can. Generally most reward seats on major airlines like United and American Airlines open up around 11-12 months before the travel date you’re looking for. People often laugh at me when I’m talking about planning a trip that is over a year out. But I have to do this if I want to be able to have the best chance at getting the seats on the days I want and be ready with all my information the day the seats open. Since I love planning the trips this is never a problem for me- I already have my dream destinations mapped out and am happy to start researching them over a year before we’re planning to go. Some rewards seats may last for a month, even 10 months, while others may disappear within 24 hours. The safest bet is to book the day they become available.
2. DO NOT BOOK ONE END OF THE TRIP BEFORE THE OTHER. Obviously your outbound flight will become available before you return flight. But DO NOT book the one right away without having the return available. You never know exactly which dates will offer reward seats and it would be a shame to find out there are no seats available on your return date and you’re already locked in to your departure flight. Usually you can notice some trends in availability. However, this isn’t an exact science- some dates just won’t ever have any seats available no matter what kind of patterns you’re noticing.
3. The more reward seats you need, the tougher it is. If you’re trying to plan a trip for you and your five best friends to all travel for free on the same flights, that might be tough. Airlines limit the number of reward seats they offer on flights. I’ve never had a problem booking two seats for myself and my husband, but I have heard of people getting frustrated when trying to book for their families. Again, book as far in advance as you can so that chances are higher of more seats being available
4. Have some flexibility in your dates if possible, even a day or two. When my husband and I booked our trip over Thanksgiving we were ideally thinking of leaving the weekend before and arriving back the weekend after. However, flights on those dates just never opened up. Instead, we’re leaving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and returning the Monday after.
5. Holiday travel can be nearly impossible- How many people are looking at the exact flight you are considering on October 2nd? Probably a few. How many people do you think are looking for a flight home right before Christmas? TONS more. Airlines are smart about this and know they will most likely be able to sell out of seats around the holidays. This is where you REALLY need to be flexible in dates as chances of you getting the perfect flight to be home for Thanksgiving day probably are next to nothing. Your best chance at using your miles for free flights will be for vacations outside of holiday time travel.

This is a very basic introduction to how rewards seats work on flights. And of course there are exceptions. I’ll be explaining more of those details over the next few months.