How Far Ahead Should I Book A Flight? | Airtiks
To book an award flight, it is good to always have some valuable tips within your fingertips so that you can book without much stress.
Uber is very cheap when compared to a taxi, and you can use it to get free rides by using your credit card rewards or frequent flyer miles to book award flights. As with everything in life, some research goes a long way, and, in this case, you can get quite a lot of value from your points and miles for award flights.
Here is a step-by-step guide to booking award flights:
Check Your Points Balance To start off, review your points and miles balances with various reward programs. Go to the profiles within the frequent flyer programs of American Airlines, Delta, United and other airlines and check the number of miles available. Go to the credit card section of your bank, or to the issuing organization, to see how many points one got through sign-up bonuses, spending regularly, etc. Write down how many miles, points or cash each program gives. This will help you gauge roughly how many award flights you can potentially get your hands on.
Pick a Destination Then, it's time to think where you would like to go when using your award redemption. This may be quite a fun and exciting part—to come up with dream destinations! Are there specific regions that you wish to explore but could not afford to do so, Then name them, and other reasonable target destinations may include wishing to visit friends and families within the country or internationally. Regardless of whether it is a short haul or a long-haul, decide on a destination with these factors in consideration: award availability and number of points required.
Search Award Availability All the airlines have an award flight search and booking inquiry Section on the homepage of their website. You can use them to check whether or not there are award seats on your preferred airlines and on the dates you plan to travel. I recommend searching for nearby airports and +/- days from your preferred dates if the award availability is not available for you at first. Take advantage of reward program features like United's Excursionist Perk to insert a one-way flight for free to an existing round-trip award reservation. Make note of the flight numbers and routes that have available awards.
Understand Award Prices Prices of award flights can be categorized based on factors such as the destination and the time of the year, among other considerations. International long-haul flight require the greatest number of points, while Domestic economy-class short-haul flights require the least. Always check the award charts to know how many miles, points or cash the flights of your desired will be. Next, compare the price to the cash price and check for cost increase or whether the convenience is worth it.
Transfer Points If you do not have enough points in a particular airline programme, try to transfer from the point-earning credit card or hotel chain. Most of the flexible point systems, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points, offer the possibility to transfer the points to airlines and hotel chains. This is in case you want to transfer your credit card rewards to an airline; you need to confirm if your credit card program has the airline you want as a transfer partner. Determine the time span for transfers and start the process of exchanging points.
Book Award Flights Finally, let's move on to the part that probably interests you the most: the booking of the actual awards flight! Return to the airline website and hunt for the award-availability flights that you have jotted down earlier. Choose specific seats in case the airline permits it for award travel booking. Enter passenger details accurately. Save the flight details and have your account number of your frequent flyer with you. Instead of paying cash for points/miles needed, make use of the points or miles required for the completion of the booking. E-tickets are convenient too and one can print or save them for future use.
Add Waitlisted Segments If the desired flights offered award tickets as waitlisted or if they were not available, then you should check again nearer to the date of travel. I am a fan of using award flights and would like to suggest that many airline providers release award seats a few weeks or days before flying when paid passenger tickets are not sold out. Advanced use of waitlisting is allowed to be automatically put into the confirmed lists when there is an availability of award seats due to the cancellation.
Taxes and fees shall remain the main concern when entering these markets. There are some pitfalls that should be considered when dealing with award flights and the tickets: the taxes and carrier-imposed fees have to be paid even if the passenger booked the flight with the help of the awards. This is usually from $5 to $100 depending on the airline company, airport charges, and destination fees. To cover these other expenses besides the points or miles for a hotel stay, factor it into your budget.
There are such credit cards that compensate for such costs.
That brings us to the next concept: "aan Award Ticket Upgrade. In carrying out the booking of award flights, it is somewhat standard to be assigned to the economy cabin, though you can always pay the additional points or miles to be booked in a higher class like business or first class. Airlines permit upgrades where the availability of awards exists in those preferred, yet expensive, cabins. Focus on the promotions mostly tailored for the elite members of this class of fliers.
That brings you to the procedure of acquiring and booking award flights using the credit card points or frequent flier miles. Make reward travel mean a chance to travel to a new and exciting place without having to pinch your pockets too hard. Just a little effort and preparation can go a long way in making the trip extraordinary and enjoyable by exploring new places and moments to cherish.