Knowing which airlines will “hold your seat” during the time it takes for the points to be transferred can make all the difference.
It’s a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Do you transfer miles and then book the mileage award ticket or book the award and then transfer the miles?
The problem with the first approach is that by the time the miles transfer from your credit card account, the award space may be gone. The second approach is fine if you have the miles on hand for the award, but what if you don’t?
Many airlines won’t let you reserve an award seat unless you have all of the miles necessary in the carrier’s loyalty mileage program. So while you’re scrambling to buy or transfer the miles from a credit card, the award space may vanish—leaving you with miles that you forfeit, as they can’t be sent back to your credit card account. It occurs all too often—to those that don’t know any better.
First we’re going to look at the Transfer-Time Friendly (TTF) credit cards, and then we’ll look at the Hold-Friendly Airlines (HFAs). On page 4 you can see a cheat sheet that has it all “at a glance.”
Know Your Hold-Friendly Airlines (HFAs)
The key is focusing on the carriers that will hold an award,even if you don’t have the necessary miles in the carrier’s loyalty mileage program to book it—yet. In effect, these carriers are giving you a Time Loan (the time to get the miles into your account), either by buying or transferring the miles, while they hold the space.
Of course, you can always create a portfolio of mileage programs with enough miles in each so that you can book on a moment’s notice. That’s an option for those of you who have amassed a fortune in miles, but there are still pros and cons to this approach, which I’ll be covering in a future piece. For now, I’m going to focus on how to be nimble enough to nail a mileage award, even though you don’t have the miles in many programs at your fingertips.
Know Your Point-Transfer Friendly (PTF) Credit Cards
American Express Membership Rewards: The website states that “the average transfer time is 24 to 48 hours with many airlines.” However, in my experience, transfers occur the same day with some major airlines, among them Air Canada, Air France, All Nippon, British Airways, Delta, Singapore Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.
Chase Ultimate Rewards: The website states that “the average transfer time is one business day, but can take up to 7 days.” In my experience, however, transfers have been completed the same day with British Airways, Korean Airlines, and United.
[aside headline="Multi-Airline Credit Cards (MACs)" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]
Long-time FCF members know that one of my 10 Commandments is “Carry Multi-Airline Credit Cards (MACs)”. The three major MACs are any American Express Card (that includes its Membership Rewards program), the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and the Star wood Preferred Guest card. The great advantage of these cards is that they offer points-to-miles transfer options with numerous airline mileage programs, which increase your availability, comfort, and route options immensely. Star wood has the most airline transfer partners at 28, Amex Rewards has 17, and Chase 4. Here is a list of the major airline transfer options.
Starwood Preferred Guest:
Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska, Alitalia, All Nippon, American, Asiana, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Southern, Delta, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa (and other Miles & More affiliated airlines), Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, US Airways, and Virgin Atlantic.
American Express Membership Rewards:
Aero Mexcio, Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, All Nippon, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, EL AL Israel Airlines, Hawaiian, KLM, Iberia, Singapore Airlines, Virgin America, and Virgin Atlantic.
Chase Sapphire Preferred:
British Airways, Korean Airlines, and United.
[/aside]
Star wood Preferred Guest: Yes, the hotel program that’s lucrative for air travelers. Its website indicates that “transfers take an average of two to four weeks to U.S. carriers and four to six weeks to international ones.” In my experience, the times are actually a lot less—two to five days. My last transfer to British Airways took five days.
With Delta, both Amex Rewards and Star wood posted the miles the same day, while with Air France the Star wood posting took two days, and Amex Rewards sent over the miles the same day. In my experience Star wood gets miles the same day to Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon, Singapore, and Thai Airways. Otherwise, it took two to five days to post to many other airline’s mileage account.
The Hold-Friendly Airlines (HFAs)
Eleven major carriers allow you to hold a mileage award seat, even though you don’t have the miles in their account: All Nippon, American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Hawaiian, Korean, Thai, United, and Virgin Atlantic.
All Nippon: Will hold award space for flights it operates only if the member has “some miles” in the account, which means some prep work is required on your part if you fly All Nippon.
How to Work with All Nippon: Step one: Transfer 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points (the minimum required) to the airline’s ANA Mile age Club program, so you qualify for an award-space hold when you are ready to book.
Step two: Check for award seat availability by calling All Nippon (800-235-9262), request a supervisor, and ask for a two hour courtesy hold, so you have time to do the point transfer from Amex Rewards and get a confirmation number.
Step three: Initiate the point transfer from Amex Rewards, making sure to get the transfer confirmation number.
Step four: Call All Nippon’s mileage desk back and give them the Amex Rewards transfer confirmation number.
American Airlines: Holds free award space for five days for flights booked online for AA, Alaska Airlines, and British Airways. Awards on other partner airlines such as Qantas and Japan Airlines must be booked by phone, with award space held (up to 5 days)—or not—at the reservation agent’s discretion. So make sure to ask for a supervisor if you have a stingy agent, or hang up and hit redial.
British Airways: As a rule, award reservations are not held unless you have miles with BA. But if you book award space by phone and ask for a supervisor you can, depending on inventory, receive a hold time of one week without having miles in your account. I got a five-day hold on a New York-Paris Business Class ticket this way. The award hold is only available on BA flights.
Cathay Pacific: Hold time varies by agent and route; on my last award reservation, I booked my Cathay Pacific flights in mid-July for travel about two months later (my departure date was Sept. 4). My award space was held until Aug. 28. The award space hold is only available on Cathay Pacific flights.
Delta: Holds seats up to 48 hours on both Delta and partner flights. Among those partners are Air France and KLM, neither of which holds space unless you have all the miles required in your Flying Blue account. Air France and KLM awards can be booked online with Delta, whereas all other partners have to be booked by phone.
Emirates: Awards booked by phone are held up to three days for Emirates flights. Booking space on Emirates partners is more roundabout: Emirates has to request the award space, and then once the partner airline confirms the space, the hold period is up to 48 hours.
Korean: Holds free award space on Korean flights, but it varies by reservation, and we can’t seem to find out how that’s determined. I made a Los Angele's Seoul reservation on July 3 for travel in mid-October and my ticketing deadline for free award space was Aug. 17, one of the longest award space holds I’ve ever encountered. Also, no partner award hold offered.
Thai Airways: Hold time for flights on Thai is 72 hours, but you can ask for an extension. Last time I booked, I got a week’s extension. No partner award hold offered.
United: All I can say is “thank you” for keeping Continental’s Fare Lock option, which, for a small fee, gives you a hold-time of 72 hours or 7 days. On my last Business Class booking, a 72 hour hold cost $6 and a 7 day hold $10. (Fare Lock fees vary by route.) On partner bookings—among them, All Nippon, Asiana, and Lufthansa—United holds award space for 24 hours for free when booked by phone.
Virgin Atlantic: Holds award reservations for Virgin flights from 24 to 72 hours based on inventory and the agent, but it’s available only by calling the mileage desk (800-365-9500). For partner flights, hold times vary by airline and route. For example, my partner flight with Virgin Australia using Virgin Atlantic miles, Los Angeles Sydney, was 24 hours.
Putting it all together: Point-Transfer Friendly Credit Cards + Hold-Friendly Airlines = Score!
Simple, actually, when it’s all layed out. Use the chart below to zero in on the airlines you want to fly which hold free award space and carry the MAC that will work best for you.
Airlines to Use for Holding Free Award Space While Credit Card Points Transfer
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="1223 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]