You’ve been busy building up your points balance and eyeing a redemption. So when can you get first dibs on a coveted reward seat booked with frequent flyer points? Two factors are in play here – the airline’s booking calendar and the release pattern for reward seats – and it helps to know the quirks of both.
When does the booking calendar open?
The timeframes below are when the airlines open up their calendars for flight bookings. It’s the earliest opportunity you can book reward seats if they are available. In an ideal world, reward seat availability is also released at this time, but this is not always the case anymore.
So even though the Qantas calendar may open 353 days before departure, keep in mind that you still might not find any reward seats for that newly opened date.
| Program | Days before departure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 353* | 300 days for travel on Jetstar 330-339 days for travel on Emirates |
| * Note: If Qantas releases premium cabin reward seats on its international long-haul flights in advance, Bronze members can usually only book them from 297 days out and Silver members from 323 days. Gold members and higher get access from 353 days. | ||
| Velocity Frequent Flyer | 330 | May find Singapore Airlines awards at 331 days |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 353 | May find rewards earlier on Qantas |
| Etihad Guest | 330 | |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 355 | |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 356 | |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 359 | |
| Air New Zealand Airpoints | 350 | |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | 331 | |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | 331 | |
| ANA Mileage Club | 356 | |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 360 | |
| British Airways Executive Club | 354 | |
| Delta SkyMiles | 331 | Sometimes up to 362 days |
| Emirates Skywards | 330 | |
| Finnair Plus | 361 | |
| HawaiianMiles | 330 | |
| Iberia Plus | 361 | |
| Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank | 330-360 | 330 days for domestic flights; 360 days for international ones |
| LATAM Pass | 330 | |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | 359 | |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 354 | May find at 361 days if required miles already in account |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 361 | |
| Royal Jordanian Royal Plus | 362 | |
| S7 Airlines Priority | 330 | |
| SriLankan FlySmiLes | 361 | |
| United Airways MileagePlus | 335-338 | United flights at 335 days; partner flights at 338 days |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 331 | |
This table is based on information collated online and confirmed by searches performed by Point Hacks.
There may be discrepancies in these numbers. If you have had a different experience in researching and booking redemptions, please feel free to share in the comments below.
Usually, the new booking day opens up at midnight GMT (which might be 10:00 am in AEST), but sometimes it can be based on the local time for the airline’s headquarters.
Why is knowing the booking calendar important?
In short, some programs offer a larger window of over three weeks to book seats over other programs. This comes down to which GDS the airline uses (e.g. Amadeus or Sabre). You should look at the calendar of the airline/frequent flyer program you want to use your points with, not the airline with whom you want to fly.
Let’s imagine you want to use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book a Qantas flight. Even though Qantas allows redemptions up to 353 days before departure, you’d have to wait until 330 days when booking through American Airlines because that’s when their booking calendar opens.
Instead, you may want to secure the seat through Qantas (353 days) or Asia Miles (353 days) even though redemption rates are cheaper through American Airlines and Alaska Mileage Plan (331 days).
Similarly, if you want to use your Velocity Points to fly on Singapore Airlines, you may find that a lot of the seats have been already booked by Singapore’s own KrisFlyer members. That’s because they have access 355 days before departure compared to Velocity’s 330 days.
When do reward seats actually get released?
This question is trickier to answer as it’s always evolving. Broadly speaking, we’re seeing three different types of release patterns now, but airlines do sometimes combine various strategies.
1. Release seats every day far in advance
Many airlines still release premium cabin (e.g. Business Class) reward seats on the day bookings open. The non-exhaustive list below has been checked by us in August 2024, looking ahead as far forward into 2025 as possible.
For Velocity partners, that includes:
- Virgin Australia
- Singapore Airlines
- Qatar Airways (excluding peak holidays)
- ANA (though a very limited number)
For Qantas partners, the list includes:
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- China Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines (though a very limited number)
Economy seats are usually easier to find far in advance with most airlines.
2. Release seats closer towards the travel date
Airlines use reward seats as a strategy to offload ‘distressed inventory’ (i.e. unsold seats) closer to the date of travel. These generally won’t be helpful to those planning a holiday, though you might be able to swap a previously booked seat for a newly released one in a higher cabin if everything lines up.
It’s better for those who can be spontaneous in their holidays or have an urgent need to travel. Usually, these last-minute releases include a decent number of premium cabin seats.
An interesting example is Lufthansa First Class redemptions. Miles & More members can book them from 359 days out. However, partners like MileagePlus, KrisFlyer and LifeMiles only get seats 15 days before departure.
For Velocity partners, the list includes:
- United (from 1-2 months before departure)
- ANA (from 14 days before departure)
- Etihad (premium seats are only released from 30 days before departure)
For Qantas partners, expect last-minute seats from:
- American Airlines
- Sri Lankan Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
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3. Releasing seats as batches
Qantas is using this strategy more over the last few years. Instead of reliable daily releases of premium seats, the Red Roo now releases large chunks of seats in batches (often every few months).
The downside is these are quite unpredictable, so it’s hard to plan a trip around it. But the good news is that when these releases happen, Qantas usually opens up a lot of Business Rewards (sometimes up to 5), so it’s easier to book a family in Business Class if your dates work.
Qatar Airways also does this to a lesser extent throughout the year, so it’s worth checking via the Virgin Australia website often.
Stay up to date with reward seat releases by subscribing to our reward seats alert newsletter →
Summing up
Knowing when each airline opens up its calendar for bookings is handy. Though it’s never guaranteed, you’ll have a better chance at getting first dibs on reward seats. Remember to check with the program you want to use points with, not the airline you want to fly.
Personally, most of my trips are still booked as far out as possible. Out of the main airlines connecting Perth to the rest of the world, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways are the easiest for us to get two Business Rewards to Europe or similar every year, as long as we book almost 330 days in advance (using Velocity Points).
I am living this scenario right now.
I need 3 tickets 2 adults 1 child HKG- PER anywhere from the 3-6th of Jan 2025.
I am an Asia miles member and have been checking daily since January. No awards available across January in any class have been made available.
I am hoping they do a batch release in October after the sale ends…. Their website says they don’t have blackout dates and business has over 20 available seats each flight in the period I am looking at
Is there any reason why i cant see any available flights from Sydney to Dubai on the QFF page from 22 May 2025 onwards? Its September now and nothing is showing? Are we still waiting for the next batch to come out?
Are you also able to share at what time of the day the airlines release their flights to their website? I am assuming it’s something lovely like 2am!
If you collect Aadvantage miles then a good strategy I have often used it to book the best flight (although perhaps not the ideal one) you can find around the time you want to travel using these points. Then if you have other miles currencies like Star Alliance, continue to search for the optimal flight on all alliances and partnerships.
The Aadvantage advantage is that you can put flights on HOLD status for up to 5 full days (24 hours if less than 2 weeks from departure) without redeeming points and paying taxes (which are reasonable for Aadvantage). Furthermore, if you have to commit and redeem and pay taxes, these are fully refundable with no penalties upon cancellation.
This strategy has enabled me to have a backstop booking whilst finding a better one with, for example, ANA using LifeMiles, and then cancelling the Oneworld booking with no penalties.
Realise this has not been updated in almost a year. Wondering does this guide apply to Reward seat availability of domestic US flights with United booked through Virgin Australia? The Velocity days before departure date says 330 days; is that only for Domestic AU or international flights, or also the domestic US flights as well?
Hi Everyone.
I am trying to find business class rewards seats to the USA over the December/January period at the end of this year.
I realise this is going to be quite a challenge given this will be the Xmas holiday period however, searching at the end of last year for the ‘2023/2024 Xmas period, there were some reward seats approximately 1 month out from traveling.
Does anyone have any experience searching for these reward seats? I am currently using seats aero subscription for my searches however, when I do a full year search, business class reward seats are only available from within a month of traveling.
For clarification, I’m looking for Velocity reward seats. Thanks again everyone!
Hi, have been looking at flights to London as far out as June/July 2024. Currently I don’t see any Qantas flights available for reward seats (only China and Japan air), nor do I see any business class reward seats on the codeshare airlines. I’ve been checking and updating my search daily and all the new flights that pop up for new days don’t have rewards. Surely it cannot be the case they are scooped up or am I missing something?
I am looking for redemption on QR Business ( using Avios) from Doha to Sydney for the period 10/11/12 June (flexible). I cannot see any availability for Sydney but also no availability for the other four cities. Surely not every business class redemption in all of Australia is unavailable ??
Hi Jay, reward seats for June have been available for over 10 months. With limited Business reward availability, it is quite possible that all seats into Australia are exhausted for that period.
Hi, thanks for the guide. I have one question, I am looking at booking 4 seats using Qantas FF point for a China Airline flight in 3 months’ time. For the specific date, I could only get 3 seats, and I am wondering if Qantas would release seats in phases? ie, if I book the 3 seats for now, is it likely for Qantas to release further seats down the track?
Hi Lee, there’s no guarantee that Qantas or other partners will release more seats later on. Sometimes they will, but we can’t really say with any certainty, unfortunately. Also, partner airlines are responsible for releasing seats to Qantas. So in this case, it would be up to China Airlines to release more seats, not Qantas themselves.
Glad you’re writing on these matters. Just wondering if it might be possible to create a grid, in which you not only talk about which airline is releasing seats, but via which program.
E.g. I am trying to book Finnair from DFW to HEL and I’m finding that 361 days may be about right, but I think it’s available earlier than that directly from Finnair than via OneWorld …
Also, I have a feeling they’re releasing their economy seats before their premium ones …
All / any feedback gratefully received.
Great info but you mention the details on specific timelines is anecdotal. Did you actually approach any airlines direct for this info or do they consider this type of detail confidential?
The comments section used to be quite interactive . Does anyone monitor these forums anymore ?
Hi Matt – have you, or other Pointhackers, found that the lower Tier you are the less Premium seats the airline offers you? For example I went from BA Silver to Blue and my “feeling” is that now I seem to rarely (if ever) see Premium (Biz/ First) points flights any more. Regards Trevor
Hi Matt,
The Rewards Booking calendar seems to have been replaced with one where I can’t see where the business class rewards seats are available on unless I click on every date.
What happened to the old calendar as per your leading screenshot?
I’m assuming you’re referring to the Qantas website. In that case, be sure to select Use points in the search box. Then it should open a monthly calendar and ensure that Business is selected under Search Travel Class. Let me know if you have any other issues.
Hi Matt,
Have booked one way to Europe (Melbourne – Rome) using QFF points on an Emirates flight, but am still waiting on the flight back to Melbourne to be available (Dubai – Melbourne). It’s now passed the expected release date by nearly two weeks, and flights around the date have become available but this date has not. As of the last few days, flights have begun releasing on the predicted schedule again.
I have been told by a Qantas service member that nobody on the flight that I am looking to book has booked with flights as of yet, and also had another service member contact Emirates, who said they haven’t released the flights to awards yet, but will, at an unspecified time.
Is this unusual practice? Have you seen/heard of this before? Do you think the flight will eventually be released?
I can’t really provide too much more information on this case other than saying that given that the dates around your ideal date have availability, I would shift your plans a little and secure one of those seats.
Thanks for the details re using points to secure seats.My recent experience using velocity points was with Singapore Air to Russia vie Singapore then returning from Munich to Sydney, again via Sinapore. all Business class.
As a first time user of reward points I made contact with Velocity to ask what time of the day seats were released.
Answer was midnight, some 330 days out.
My next question was , midnight were? Sydney, Auckland or New York.
They were not able to answer that question.
Result was I obtained all four sectors without difficulty.
Everything in this guide worked for booking my flight on points business class Perth-Milan (Qatar) for Europe July 2020. However flights back don’t seem to be as predictable ? Are Emirates released daily at 12 GMT 334-330 days out ? Qatar 360 ish days out at 12 GMT ? Any insight would be appreciated. I know my return flight hasn’t been released yet but I’m logging in daily to try see the pattern of release so I know when to try get my return flight. Thanks in advance!
Hi Jessica, glad you got the flights over booked. To be honest, we don’t have info on the exact hour that the seats are released. I’m guessing you’re using Qantas Points, which means Qatar awards should be released at 353 days and Emirates at 330-339 days.
Matt – I was of the understanding that the release of award fights is made at midnight GMT – hence you can start looking around 0800 in WA, and then add whatever is relevant for the east Coast with or without daylight saving…
I’m trying to book a flight back from Dubai to Melb in Mid July 2019. I have noticed that when trying to search through QANTAS that it only comes up an error and no flights can be found. I have also tried this search through multiple cities in Australia and the same thing happens. You say earlier that these flights become available 330 days from departure but we are currently 264 days, does anyone know the reason for this and also when can we expect to see these flights available?
Perhaps try using a different internet browser.
HI Matt,
Thanks for that bit of advice but have now tried using Chrome, Firefox and explorer all with no luck. Any other ideas or thoughts?
Unfortunately not. Perhaps something to chase up with Qantas IT.
Great article and site – all super useful. My question is this…we’re planning to use points for a round the world biz class tix on Qantas/BA in Oct ‘19. However, on the basis we’ll be away for a month, I’d love some advice as to whether I should book each segment individually as it becomes available (353 days) rather than waiting for the final segment to become available and then booking the entire trip in one go and hoping all the flights are available?
For an answer/s to that, I would recommend reading both this guide and its comments.
Is there a trick to booking with QFF points for flights from HK to Melb with CX ? it seems that beyond roughly 2months there isn’t availability (even in economy) ? Does CX release at particular dates. I would like to book Business for 2 ppl HK to Melb on 3rd Dec with CX.
Not really, unfortunately. Cathay Pacific has really tightened up their award availability of late. Perhaps try looking for connecting flights through Sydney, Brisbane or Adelaide?
The definitely tightened up. I looked at Tokyo -> Melb, wow so many free spots :-S
I tried to find just one Business Class award seat on Cathay Pacific for the second half of January (off-peak travel period) and there was not one from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth—that’s very poor. If using Qantas Points to Asia, alternatives could be flying Qantas to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka or Manila; Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur; Emirates to Singapore or Bangkok; or Japan Airlines to Tokyo, and then connecting to wherever you need to go.
I managed to secure an Emirates business class flight to Rome at the beginning of July for a flight at the end of March 2019. I had a big advantage though, I’m travelling alone and I think this helps. Thank you for this information, I’m always chasing points and, like you say, using them for international flights is by far the best value.
I dont know how, but i managed to book 4 business class SYD-FRA on CX with qantas points 360 days in advance. I called them and said that i see the 4 tix in inventory, but cannot book it. The lady said its because it is too early, but i insisted that it is there and she manually book it for me. This was for high peak season in December, within 30 min of CX releasing those tickets… so, sometimes it is possible?..
That’s great!
Hi Matt
Great help with all things points!
To clarify, i want to book for Europe from Australia for this time(JUNE) 2019 using Qantas points. There are some flights available but it seems from your table Emirates flights will come available in July as they are a month behind? And guessing there are more Emirates reward flights than most others? (SYD – Rome Early JUNE 2019).
Qantas will preference Emirates results over most of their partners, yes. Technically, Emirates seats should appear at 330 days before departure but I’ve seen up to 333-335 days, so try to get in a little early. Use this tool to calculate dates.
Any idea where this calendar is? I used to acces it via flight search and then use classic reward search. Now only shows the day I selected.
This guide may be the one you are looking for.
what is if want to use my qantas frequent flyer points on a Jetstar flight – how many days before my departure date will they be released. Thank you 🙂
They should be released around 300 days—I’ve added that into the table. However, we would recommend using your Qantas Points for travel on Qantas or other partner airlines rather than on Jetstar.
Hi Matt
I want to fly Melbourne to Europe using Velocity points, preferably with Etihad A380 business class.
Is it best I book this seperately, as I think the A380 only flies from Sydney? Also what’s the chance of snagging 3-4 reward seats in business this way? (Ie 1 year ahead?)
Etihad releases only max 2 ticket per flight. Etihadguest shows very clear availability. Have to book as soon as the calendar opens, as you can book pretty much on any day. You will have to fly 2pax, then next day another 2 pax. If you wait like 15 days after calendar opens – your chances become slim for any day availability. Good luck!
Does Qantas gold/platinum change this at all?
Yes, in the table, it states, ‘Reduced to 308 days for Bronze & Silver members on some long-haul flights’, meaning that Gold and Platinum members get preference on these routes.
Just redeemed a pair of first class return seats from Syd to Chc on Emirates A380 for May. It’s the best kep secret and worth taking advantage of before the final A380 service across the Tasman inevitably stops.
If you want to use your Qantas Points to fly on Emirates, you can book up to 353 days before departure (according to the Qantas calendar)—you don’t have to wait until Emirates opens its calendar up at 330 days. That gives Qantas members a headstart on Emirates’ own Skywards members!
My experience is that I can only see Emirates award flights up until around the 333 day mark, rather than 353 as suggested here. Is this because i’m only QF Bronze?
Thank you.
Nope, you’re right! Please see response to Sergey in comments.
Partly incorrect – you can’t use Qantas points (353 days) to book Emirates seats before the 330 days mark as Emirates reservation system cannot handle anything over 330 days.
You’re right. Even though the Qantas flexible date calendar can show availability in excess of 330 days, when you click on the individual dates, the award space is phantom. Thank you for pointing this out. I have updated the guide to clarify.
If I am using Qantas Points (but only have Silver status), will I be able to see Emirates Business or First class award seats 330 days in advance (in line with the Emirates timing) or 308 days in line with Qantas Frequent Flyer rules?
What about other One world partner airlines (using Qantas points) as a Silver qantas member?
That’s a great question! I have updated the table to show that the restriction is for long-haul flights on Qantas, so regardless of status, Qantas members should have access to the same Emirates inventory at 330 days.