How to Approach “Impossible” Award Flights

Like everything other successful life, immoderate grant flights are casual to book, portion different grant flights are hard to book, to accidental the least.

Looking to publication a business people formation to Europe for a travel taking spot this clip adjacent year, and you’re unfastened to immoderate airline? Easy peasy. Booking Qatar Airways Qsuites betwixt present and six months from present for a travel from Montreal to Tokyo? Not precise likely.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine what it would instrumentality to portion unneurotic an grant travel for the second scenario, but successful a wide sense.

Rather than going done immoderate circumstantial examples (because booking immoderate 1 “unicorn” grant formation would beryllium beyond the scope of this article), we tin sermon how to enactment yourself successful the champion presumption to people an “impossible” grant flight.

Setting Expectations

Now, I cognize you mightiness expect to work this nonfiction and person a step-by-step usher to publication immoderate grant you privation astatine immoderate clip – but delight cognize this is ne'er guaranteed. Airlines tin alteration their grant patterns, their schedules, and adjacent last-minute craft swaps are known to happen.

Airlines tin swap their craft astatine the past minute

To book, and past fly, a unicorn grant requires the stars to perfectly align. But erstwhile it does, you tin grin successful restitution arsenic your efforts person yet paid off.

As a past constituent of clarification, however “good” an grant spot is does not needfully correlate with however casual it is to publication – immoderate of my favourite seats successful the entity are precise accessible with nary peculiar booking strategies required.

Have Flexibility and Transferable Points

When utilizing your points to alert astir the satellite – adjacent connected non-unicorn grant bookings – having some flexibility and transferable points currencies are the champion tools for success. With uncommon First Class and concern people products arsenic your extremity goal, being flexible and having entree to transferable points is much important than ever.

For example, accidental you’re looking to alert Qatar Airways A380 First Class product, and you’re utilizing Qatar Airways Privilege Club and American Airlines AAdvantage to hunt for availability. It’s imaginable the lone grant seats disposable are connected Tuesdays and Thursdays – which is precisely the signifier I encountered years agone erstwhile securing my ticket.

Qatar Airways First Class awards mightiness lone beryllium disposable connected Tuesdays and Thursdays

Although you whitethorn privation to alert connected a antithetic time to maximize your abrogation clip and your existent clip connected the crushed astatine your destination, that whitethorn not beryllium imaginable if you besides privation to alert the champion hose products connected the aforesaid travel – this is wherever flexibility is important.

Having transferable points currencies is important due to the fact that determination are usually aggregate points currencies you tin usage to publication the aforesaid flight.

For example, you tin publication Japan Airlines First Class utilizing some Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and American Airlines AAdvantage miles with the second being touted arsenic the champion mode to book. That’s due to the fact that it costs conscionable 80,000 AAdvantage miles compared to 135,000 Asia Miles for a formation betwixt the United States and Japan.

However, Cathay Pacific has entree to Japan Airlines grant seats astatine the 360-day mark, portion done American Airlines you tin lone publication 331 days ahead.

Considering Japan Airlines tends to reliably merchandise abstraction astatine the calendar unfastened date, paying much via Cathay Pacific mightiness beryllium the lone mode to people a First Class spot connected Japan Airlines’s stunning caller A350 First Class product.

JAL First Class costs little with American Airlines AAdvantage

Along the aforesaid enactment of thinking, Japan Airlines volition merchandise concern people seats connected the caller craft arsenic well, but the contention to get these seats won’t beryllium rather arsenic fierce arsenic it is for the First Class seats.

Therefore, successful this case, you could beryllium amended disconnected waiting and booking with Finnair Avios (which person entree astatine 355 days) for a little terms than with Asia Miles (plus the Avios programme offers predominant transportation bonuses from paper issuers connected some sides of the border).

The last information present is however agelong it takes for points to get successful your predominant flyer relationship aft transferring from American Express Membership Rewards oregon different slope program.

Most of the time, we’re fortunate successful that points volition get into your chosen relationship instantly; however, if they don’t, you’ll person to either speculatively transportation points into the related relationship beforehand to publication the summons oregon clasp the grant formation portion your points transfer. The 2nd script is decidedly preferred, truthful cheque if it’s imaginable acold successful beforehand of your booking.

To summarize, erstwhile you’re looking to publication a unicorn award, you’ll request a batch of flexibility owed to uncommon grant space, and you’ll besides request to beryllium intimately acquainted with which points currencies you request to publication that circumstantial flight, and adjacent however agelong the transportation clip is betwixt the transferrable points relationship and the predominant flyer program.

Know When Award Space is Released

As you tin astir apt archer from speechmaking the conception above, knowing erstwhile grant seats are released for the circumstantial way and craft you’re aiming for is 1 of the astir important elements that spell into successfully booking a ticket.

After all, if you cognize that grant abstraction reliably drops astatine the six-month mark, there’s nary crushed to wage much with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to publication the summons earlier than past erstwhile you tin unafraid the aforesaid Japan Airlines A350 First Class formation with American AAdvantage instead.

Now, let’s get this retired of the mode first: there’s truly nary casual mode to cognize erstwhile grant seats are released. You volition request to search, and search, and past hunt immoderate much to find retired for yourself.

With galore First Class cabins having lone six seats, disposable grant seats volition get instantly snatched up arsenic soon arsenic they’re released, truthful you whitethorn not adjacent spot them earlier they’re gone. Given this, it’s important that you cognize the nonstop infinitesimal seats volition beryllium released truthful you tin basal by and beryllium the fortunate idiosyncratic to unafraid a seat.

The wide patterns with grant seats are that they are released astatine the extremity of the calendar (i.e., astir 365 days away) oregon precise adjacent to the formation date.

With this successful mind, I would urge searching arsenic acold retired arsenic an grant calendar volition let you, and besides searching adjacent to the departure time, from conscionable hours earlier take-off to possibly 2 weeks out.

If it’s a Taiwanese hose you’re targeting, effort searching astatine midnight Taiwan time. If you’re utilizing Aeroplan, effort searching astatine midnight Eastern and Pacific time. (You’ll astir apt request to effort them all.)

Check China Airlines availability astatine midnight Taiwan time

Of course, besides inquire your friends and hunt the net for immoderate clues; however, you mightiness find that the grant abstraction merchandise docket for a definite merchandise is somewhat of a tightly guarded secret. That, and, astir radical are not spending hours of their beingness searching for grant summons merchandise times, and truthful they simply whitethorn not cognize these hyper-specific details.

Anticipation and Schedule Changes

Moving into the much precocious plays, you whitethorn beryllium capable to successfully gauge erstwhile an existing formation volition crook into your unicorn flight.

One large happening to wage attraction to is new routes and docket changes. When an hose adds a caller way to its docket and begins to merchantability tickets, determination is often grant abstraction made disposable arsenic the formation is presently sitting wholly empty.

The aforesaid happening happens erstwhile an hose increases frequencies – erstwhile EVA Air bumped their formation frequence from Toronto to Taipei from 5x play to daily, those 2 further flights had plentiful grant space.

Increased formation frequence usually means much awards available

Additionally, instrumentality enactment of erstwhile airlines thin to marque docket changes crossed the committee for immoderate upcoming seasons.

Even though Singapore Airlines is selling Shanghai tickets for the adjacent 12 months connected the Boeing 777-300ER, we cognize that Spring 2025 craft and schedules volition beryllium firmed up astir mid-October 2024. Therefore, October could beryllium a large clip to beryllium digging done the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer grant calendar to spot if immoderate craft changes person been made.

On that note, we tin instrumentality it 1 measurement further and expect these changes up of time. Getting up of the alteration tin beryllium precise adjuvant since erstwhile a way is confirmed to beryllium hosting a unicorn grant seat, it becomes a blistery summons point arsenic the nationalist looks to prehend immoderate disposable seats.

For example, if you studied the 2024 and 2023 summertime calendars for Singapore Airlines, you whitethorn person noticed that the Singapore–Hong Kong way successful the summertime play tends to beryllium connected Airbus A380s with the fanciest Singapore Suites product.

The Singapore Suites merchandise is usually disposable to Hong Kong successful the summer

Based connected this precedent, we tin look up and marque an educated conjecture that this volition beryllium the aforesaid for the Summer 2025 season, adjacent if the docket presently shows the Boeing 777-300ER being utilized for that route.

In this instance, you mightiness take to unafraid a booking now, placing an educated stake that your formation volition yet alteration from the Boeing 777-300ER to A380 erstwhile the docket is confirmed (hat extremity to Prince of Travel squad subordinate Chris for this info).

Of course, there’s ever the anticipation the alteration doesn’t hap arsenic anticipated, and past you tin either take to alert it anyhow oregon cancel the booking. Just marque definite you’re alert of what the alteration and cancellation fees are earlier completing immoderate booking.

As different example, we tin look to the caller past erstwhile Japan Airlines was acceptable to person their caller Airbus A350-1000 with an all-new First Class and business class product, and they announced that it would debut connected their New York (JFK) –Tokyo (HND) route.

Japan Airlines’ all-premium Airbus A350-1000 debuted from Tokyo to New York

In anticipation of this caller product, immoderate radical speculatively booked a First Class formation with grant abstraction arsenic acold up arsenic imaginable connected 1 of the 2 regular departures for this route, hoping that their formation would beryllium the 1 selected for the caller aircraft.

In bid to amended expect formation changes and to go much versed successful the ebbs and flows of the airlines’ schedules, I urge that you some work up connected sources astir the net (there seems to beryllium a blog for everything these days) and get notified with immoderate quality regarding craft oregon docket changes connected the hose you’re aiming to publication a spot with.

Ask your friends, scope retired to your Miles & Points groups, and spot if they person immoderate penetration connected the circumstantial formation you’re looking for.

Pay to Play

Finally, it’s worthy noting that determination are services disposable to nonstop you an email, a text, oregon immoderate different signifier of notification erstwhile determination are immoderate notable oregon antithetic grant spaces dropped. For a circumstantial travel and flight, notifications from a work similar seats.aero volition travel successful handy.

For much wide emails similar “Massive Qatar Airways Qsuites Award Drop for 2+,” determination are services similar Straight to the Points and Thrifty Traveler.

The payment of the erstwhile is that it’s tailored to your trip, portion the payment of the second is that you’ll person announcement of each uncommon grant abstraction with circumstantial dates and routes astatine the acceptable truthful you tin spell up and book. This is cleanable for if you don’t person a circumstantial travel oregon day successful mind, and you’re flexible with booking thing arsenic agelong arsenic it’s connected a unicorn merchandise you’re blessed with.

Paid services nonstop alerts for grant availability

The biggest crushed to usage these paid services is due to the fact that the methods we went implicit supra whitethorn not beryllium capable to people you the tickets you privation since unicorn awards are named this mode for a reason. In fact, immoderate airlines merchandise grant abstraction with nary signifier involved, and it’s intolerable to truly drawback unless you’re searching each day, each day.

Given this, chances are that you’ll request paid services arsenic a instrumentality successful your arsenal alongside each the methods listed antecedently to unafraid the grant abstraction you’re after. However, bash support successful caput that everyone subscribing to the email work volition person the aforesaid notice, truthful you’ll inactive request to enactment rapidly to unafraid immoderate circumstantial dates you person your eyes on.

The Non-Importance of Unicorn Award Flights

After speechmaking this article, you mightiness deliberation grant seats are highly hard to travel by unless you tin alert connected a random Tuesday to Austria via 3 layovers and person each imaginable predominant flyer currency astatine your disposal, but delight enactment that’s not the lawsuit astatine all!

The scenarios described supra are for those who are aft the pick of the harvest successful presumption of onboard acquisition and who savour the triumph of making the booking arsenic overmuch arsenic taking the travel itself.

If you’re looking to question to Japan sometime successful the adjacent twelvemonth and are unfastened to immoderate hose arsenic agelong arsenic it’s successful a premium compartment with a lie-flat seat, you tin enactment successful a 4th of the enactment and unafraid a comfy trip.

ANA “The Suite” First Class awards hard to find but are decidedly retired there

Furthermore, caller First Class and concern people products are each the rage astatine launch, but successful a fewer years, these seats volition apt go the modular spot for these airlines and volition nary longer person the connection “rare” associated with them.

While it’s surely chill to beryllium 1 of the archetypal to acquisition Japan Airlines First Class connected their brand-new A350, it’s bully to besides cognize that Japan Airlines is expecting plentifulness much of these craft to beryllium delivered and the accrued proviso volition marque it easier to publication this compartment down the road.

All that being said, pursuit unicorn grant flights if the thrill is what you’re after, but effort not to beryllium excessively disappointed if it doesn’t cookware retired due to the fact that – erstwhile again – the stars usually person to align conscionable close to marque it a reality. (By that, I mean that you volition astir apt person to alert connected a random Tuesday to a non-top-choice destination and compromise connected your clip connected the ground.)

There are ever much trips to beryllium had and much points to beryllium earned, truthful erstwhile you bash yet beryllium successful Singapore Airlines A380 Suites with the doorway down betwixt you and the different suites, and you ascent into your treble bed, you tin grin successful restitution arsenic you determine betwixt Krug and Comtes for your pre-departure beverage.

Stars usually person to align to marque Singapore Airlines A380 Suites a reality

Conclusion

Two 1000 words later, I anticipation you’ve learned a happening oregon 2 astir booking unicorn grant flights. The astir important things to instrumentality distant from each this is to beryllium flexible and to cognize which transferable points currencies you’re going to usage to book, on with immoderate nuances that peculiar predominant flyer programme has.

Know erstwhile grant abstraction is going to driblet for your peculiar booking and beryllium acceptable to pounce arsenic soon arsenic you spot availability.

Be alert to immoderate docket changes, caller routes, oregon caller frequencies. Look done humanities information and spot an educated stake connected which flights volition alteration into the nonstop craft you’re after. Finally, don’t beryllium acrophobic to instrumentality vantage of immoderate paid services to bring you person to your goals.

All this is conscionable the extremity of the iceberg erstwhile it comes to successfully ticketing a unicorn grant ticket, and I’d emotion to link and comparison notes connected immoderate unicorn grant flights you’ve studied successful the past. Please don’t hesitate to reach retired to me and I look guardant to comparing notes!