The Easy Guide to Finding Airline Award Space

I’ve been advocating for services like ITA Matrix, Award Nexus, and ExpertFlyer for years. I’ve even built my own tools like the Award Maximizer to help compare prices and guide you through the award travel booking process. However, it might help to have a quick summary of this information in one place rather than several individual posts.

Be sure to brush up on Omar’s basic strategy for booking award travel. It’s not enough to just visit a website and search from point-to-point. Sometimes it takes some coaxing to make the space appear, and then you can piece it together.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Aeroplan is an independent organization that was spun off from Air Canada years ago, and Air Canada will soon replace them with a new in-house loyalty program. But for now Aeroplan remains a good way to search for its own award space as well as space on other Star Alliance carriers such as United and Lufthansa.

Generally there are few issues with phantom award space–instances where an award might appear available online but cannot actually be booked. What Aeroplan is not good at are itineraries with connecting flights. You might benefit from starting your search by looking for each segment one flight at a time, but that’s good practice with every program.

First and business class awards for travel on Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380 are not possible with Aeroplan miles. Look at using Singapore KrisFlyer miles instead.

Use the Aeroplan website to find award space for Air Canada and these partner airlines:

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Air France and KLM operate a single loyalty program–Flying Blue–for both airlines. You can also use it to book travel on a variety of SkyTeam partners. It may work better if you’ve been having travel using Delta’s website. However, not all partners are visible online. Non-alliance members such as Copa, Japan Airlines, and Bangkok Airways will need to be researched through other means.

You can use the Air France (Flying Blue) website to find awards for Air France, KLM, and all other SkyTeam alliance members:

There are also some non-alliance partners that cannot be researched on the SkyTeam website. Instead, look these up on some of the suggested sites below and then call Flying Blue to book:

• Comair — search on British Airways
• Copa Airlines — search on United Airlines
• GOL Airlines — search on Delta Air Lines
• Japan Airlines (JAL) — search on British Airways
• Malaysia Airlines — search on British Airways

There are some carriers that cannot be researched online at all, so you will need to call Flying Blue to find award space and book:

• Air Corsica
• Air Mauritius
• Bangkok Airways
• Jet Airways
• Twin Jet
• Ukraine International Airlines

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Long-time readers know that I have a fond relationship with Alaska Airlines after 11 years living in Seattle, and they continue an independent streak forging separate relationships with each of their partners rather than joining a single alliance.

Sometimes that creates difficulty finding the award you want or predicting what the price will be. In other ways, however, it means some very generous routing rules and low prices compared to what other partners charge for the same flight. One of my favorite redemptions is booking first class on Cathay Pacific for just 70,000 miles. That’s nearly half what you’ll pay with American AAdvantage, and you’ll get a free stopover.

You can find award space for Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, and almost all of Alaska’s partners directly on their website:

There are only two airlines that cannot be searched for on the Alaska Airlines website:

• Cathay Pacific — search on British Airways
• LATAM — search on British Airways

Yes, you can use the Alaska Airlines website to search for travel between two cities outside the United States. There’s no requirement that you have to begin travel in the U.S. I just checked and was able to easily find business class awards on JAL between Shanghai and Tokyo.

Each of Alaska’s partners has its own award chart, and some of the awards you might expect to find are missing. This means you’ll get a negative result, even if you know the airline flies that route or there is an award available through a different partner.

For example, British Airways does not have a published award using Alaska miles for travel wholly within Europe; there is only an award for travel from the U.S. to Europe. That means you can book a flight from New York to London to Paris, but you cannot book a single short segment from London to Paris by itself. You can still book such awards using American AAdvantage, British Airways Avios, and a variety of other programs — just not Alaska Mileage Plan.

Bottom line: be familiar with the award chart. Check it before you start searching, because the flight you want to book might not be an option with Alaska miles. At least two partners, Cathay Pacific and LATAM, are not available at all on Alaska’s website due to a compatibility issue. Just search for award space on the British Airways or Qantas websites, then call Alaska Airlines to book it by phone.

Alaska Airlines also has a partnership with Singapore Airlines, but it is still not yet possible to redeem Alaska miles for travel on Singapore Airlines. Finnair was another recent addition that took many months before award travel could be booked.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a member of Star Alliance (and thus a partner of United Airlines) and has a very accurate search tool. The only issues are that it’s a little complicated to use–at least that’s my general impression. The award travel rules are so complex that understanding them can be tricky. For example, ANA requires you to book round-trip awards, which means you also need to search for round-trip awards.

Besides ANA, you can find award space for most Star Alliance carriers on ANA’s website:

Like Aeroplan, you may not be able to book some business and first class awards on Singapore Airlines. Non-alliance partners will not be searchable at all on ANA’s website. Check out these other websites if you need to find award space and then call ANA to book:

• Air Dolomiti — search on Lufthansa
• Air Macau – call ANA
• Etihad Airways — search on Etihad (look for a “Guest” award
• Eurowings — search on Lufthansa
• Garuda Indonesia — search on Air France (Flying Blue)
• Jet Airways — call ANA
• Philippine Airlines — call ANA
• Virgin Atlantic — search on Delta Air Lines

American Airlines AAdvantage

Despite improvements in recent years to Delta, United, and even Alaska Airlines’ websites, I am still disappointed by the quality of the American Airlines award search tool. It’s not even as comprehensive as the results you can get from British Airways and Qantas. Only a few partners are available online in addition to American Airlines:

Note that American only allows you to redeem miles on Hawaiian for travel within Hawaii–not to the mainland–and to other Pacific destinations. In general the limited number of partners means you will have difficulty finding and booking longer itineraries that include connections on multiple airlines.

I strongly recommend you use another site, such as British Airways or Qantas, if you are traveling anywhere other than North America or Europe. This includes travel on:

• Cathay Pacific
• Japan Airlines
• LATAM Airlines
• S7 Airlines
• Sri Lankan Airlines
• Qatar Airways

Still more partners are not members of the Oneworld Alliance and can’t be found using the British Airways website. You’ll need to either call American Airlines or search other sites if you want to find award space for these carriers:

• Air Tahiti Nui — search on ExpertFlyer
• Cape Air — call American Airlines
• Etihad Airways — search on Etihad Airways
• Jet Airways — search on Jet Airways
• Seaborne Airlines — call American Airlines

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways’ Executive Club program issues Avios (not “miles” or “points”) and is one of the best ways to search for award space within the Oneworld alliance. It includes a few carriers that American Airlines leaves out, and recent improvements have removed the annoying messages that used to prompt you to fly British Airways–even on routes that they didn’t operate. I’m also a big fan of the Qantas website, which is more difficult to use but has a nice calendar feature.

You can use British Airways to search for award space on British Airways and these partner carriers:

Award space on non-alliance partners is not available on the British Airways website. I recommend searching elsewhere, and once you find the space you want you can call British Airways at 1-800-452-1201 to book; they should waive the service fee. You can find partner award space on these websites:

• Air Lingus — search on United Airlines
• Alaska Airlines — search on American Airlines

Remember that British Airways uses a distance-based award chart and prices each segment separately. That means adding connections will cost more than booking non-stop. However, it also means you can add as many connections and stopovers as you want.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles is one of the more difficult programs to utilize because it requires transferring points from other programs and uses a less common distance-based award chart, similar to British Airways. But it still has several good values if you plan to fly on Cathay Pacific (and extra award space). You can also search on the Asia Miles website for a few other carriers:

You’ll need to search for award space for other partners on another website or call Asia Miles for assistance:

• Aer Lingus — search on United Airlines
• Air China — search on Aeroplan
• Air New Zealand — search on Aeroplan
• American Airlines — search on British Airways
• Bangkok Airways — call Asia Miles
• Gulf Air — call Asia Miles
• Japan Airlines — search on British Airways
• Jet Airways — call Asia Miles
• LATAM — search on British Airways
• Malaysia Airlines — search on British Airways
• Royal Brunei Airlines — call Asia Miles
• S7 Airlines — search on British Airways
• Sri Lankan Airlines — search on British Airways

Delta Air Lines SkyMiles

Delta is one of the most popular domestic U.S. carriers, even though I don’t think very highly of its loyalty program. Keep min mind that you will never find international first class award space when you search with SkyMiles since the program doesn’t offer those awards; another program like Air France/KLM Flying Blue might provide better results.

However, like Flying Blue you can use the Delta website to search for award space on all SkyTeam partners as well as a few others non-alliance partners that are specific to SkyMiles:

There are also two partner airlines that you can’t find on Delta’s website, but you can search for them through other means:

• Air Tahiti Nui — search on ExpertFlyer
• Czech Airlines — search on Air France (Flying Blue)

Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank

Japan Airlines (JAL) is like American Airlines in that you can only use JAL to search for a few airlines besides itself. It’s interesting that they aren’t all Oneworld Alliance members. They include:

• Air France
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Dragon
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates
• Qantas

Award space for most other partners will be found on the British Airways or Qantas websites, after which you can call JAL to book them by phone:

• Alaska Airlines — search on American Airlines
• Bangkok Airways — call Japan Airlines
• China Eastern — search on Air France (Flying Blue)
• Finnair — search on British Airways
• Iberia — search on British Airways
• Jetstar Japan — call Japan Airlines
• Korean Air — search on Air France (Flying Blue)
• LATAM — search on British Airways
• Malayasia Airlines — search on British Airways
• Qatar Airways — search on British Airways
• Royal Jordanian — search on British Airways
• S7 Airlines — search on British Airways

Korean Air SkyPass

Korean Air SkyPass is not as convenient as it used to be since it ended the opportunity to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to miles. However, you can still get miles through other means. The program has enough value that it is worth keeping mind. Also, you must book through SkyPass if you want to travel in Korean Air first class–this challenge has the upside that award space is more available.

Besides Korean Air, you can use the SkyPass website to search for award space on several partner carriers:

Remember that you can also search for many of these partners on the Delta or Air France/KLM websites if you are trying to compare availability or are worried that one of them isn’t showing all your options. Note that if any part of your journey includes a partner airline, you’ll need to search for a SkyTeam award.

Some partners aren’t displayed on Korean Air’s website, so you’ll need to search for them in another place and then call Korean Air to book:

• Alaska Airlines — search on American Airlines
• Emirates — search on Alaska Airlines or Qantas
• Etihad — search on Etihad (look for a “Guest” award)
• GOL — search on Air France (Flying Blue)
• Hawaiian Airlines — search on American Airlines (does not work for mainland-Hawaii flights)
• Jet Airways — call Korean Air

Be aware that you can ask Korean Air to put your award on hold after you find award space. Take advantage of this before you transfer miles from another loyalty program since many transfers are one-way and irreversible. If you are booking travel for anyone other than yourself, those people must be family members.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

I’m a big fan of the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program and regular transfer miles there from a variety of other programs. It used to be that their website would not display award space on other carriers. However, recent improvements mean that you can now find award space on the Singapore Airlines website for all carriers:

* Non-alliance partners may not be available through the online search tool, but there are plans to add them. Until then, try calling KrisFlyer to book these airlines.

You can also use other sites if you prefer, such as United or Aeroplan to find award space on most Star Alliance partners. It used to be that there was a discount for booking Singapore Airlines award travel online (instead of by phone), but this is no longer the case.

United Airlines MileagePlus

I first started my journey to elite status with United Airlines, earning Premier Silver the first year and Premier 1K shortly thereafter. They remain one of the easiest ways to search for award space on United and Star Alliance partners, but they do sometimes suffer from a problem with phantom award space:

Finding award space on Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines is difficult. I recommend you use Jet Airways’ own site for the former, and use Aeroplan to find award space on the latter. You can then call United Airlines to book those awards. Like Aeroplan and ANA, you may have difficulty booking first or business class awards on Singapore Airlines.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The biggest issue with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is that you can’t search for partner awards on their website. You can only use it for travel on Virgin Atlantic. Partner awards will need to be found elsewhere, and you can then call Virgin Atlantic to book by phone, at 1-800-365-9500. The award chart is still a good one for some purposes (and we’re even looking into adding it to the Award Maximizer soon).You can search for Virgin Atlantic on its own website, but here’s how to find award space for Virgin Atlantic partners airlines:

• Air New Zealand — search on United Airlines
• All Nippon Airways (ANA) — search on United Airlines
• Delta Air Lines — search on Air France (Flying Blue)
• Hawaiian Airlines — call Virgin Atlantic
• Jet Airways — call Virgin Atlantic
• Malaysia Airlines — search on British Airways
• Singapore Airlines — search on Aeroplan
• South African Airways — search on United Airlines
• Virgin Australia — search on Delta Air Lines

Note that rules for one-way travel are not the same for Virgin Atlantic and its partners. Normally one-way tickets cost half as much as round-trip if you fly on Virgin Atlantic. If you fly on a partner, the prices could be half, or they could be more. Each partner has different prices, much like Alaska Airlines and its partners.