Knowing which airlines will “hold your award seat” during the time it takes to transfer points can make all the difference.
In the travel world’s minute-by-minute changes to availability, it’s nice to know that some things have staying power. One of the travel world’s perennial chicken-and-egg problems: Do you transfer miles and then book the mileage award ticket, or book the award space and then transfer the miles?
The Problem…
The drawback in the first approach is that by the time the miles transfer from your credit card account to your airline mileage account, the award space you were looking at may be gone. The second approach is fine, if you have the miles needed in your mileage account. But what if you don’t?
I’ve written about this tricky question for years, but recent changes have made me take a second look. Three airlines that once held award space while points were being transferred no longer do; but three other airlines that didn’t hold award space now do so.
Note: This piece is not about the lowest mileage award rates or the best availability or other related issues; it’s about holding award space in a mileage account (with either no miles or very few) while points are being transferred into miles—so you get the seat you want.
Many airlines won’t let you hold a mileage award seat unless you have all of the miles necessary in your mileage account. While you’re scrambling to buy or transfer the miles from a credit card point’s account, the airline award space may vanish—leaving you with miles that might have to sit there till your next award search, as transferred points are a one-way street: Points can’t be sent back to your credit card account.
First we’re going to look at the Hold-Friendly Airlines (HFAs), and then we’ll look at the Point-Transfer Friendly (PTF) credit cards. On page 5, 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 seat, even if you don’t have the necessary miles in the carrier’s loyalty program to book it. In effect, these carriers are loaning you the time to either buy or transfer the miles needed.
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 hundreds of thousands of miles, if not millions; there are still pros and cons to this approach. For now, I’m going to focus on how to be nimble enough to nail a mileage award, even though you don’t have an extensive airline portfolio.
Here are the major HFAs: Air Canada, Alitalia, American, British Airways, Delta, Emirates, Korean, Thai Airways, United, US Airways, and Virgin Atlantic.
Air Canada: Will not hold award reservations, but the representative will stay on the line (800-361-5373) while you transfer miles (either online or by phone) for flights on Air Canada. (No partner award hold offered.) But for this you must have an Amex Membership Rewards account as the transfer is almost instantaneous.
Alitalia: Will hold award space for flights it operates only if the member has at least 1,000 miles in the account. So before you try to book, transfer 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points or Starwood Starpoints to the airline’s MilleMiglia program. When you are ready to book, check award-seat availability by calling Alitalia (800- 223-5730), request a supervisor, and ask for a 72 hour courtesy hold (on my last JFK-Milan Business Class booking Alitalia gave me a 14-day hold), so you have time to do the points transfer. (Points posted almost instantly on my last transfer from Amex Rewards.)
American: Usually holds free award space for five days for flights booked online for AA, Airberlin, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Hawaiian, and Qantas. Awards on other partner airlines, such as Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific, must be booked by phone, with award space held (up to 5 days) or not at the reservation agent’s discretion. Make sure to ask for a supervisor if you get an uncooperative agent, or hang up and hit redial.
British Airways: Award holds are only available on BA flights, and as a rule, you need to have miles required for the award in your BA account. But if you book award space by phone and ask for a supervisor you can—depending on inventory—receive a hold time of about a week when transferring from Starwood. I got an eight-day hold on a New York-London Business Class ticket this way. With Amex Rewards, BA does not offer a hold because the transfer is almost instantaneous. For a Chase points transfer, BA does not offer a hold because miles are usually posted the
same day.
Delta: Until Sept. 8 it will hold seats up to 48 hours on both Delta and partner flight awards. 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. See page 14 for the post Sept. 8 policy.
Emirates: The hold time for awards booked by phone varies for Emirates flights. On my last booking, an A380 in Business Class, I was given a 24 hour hold. Booking space on Emirates partners is more roundabout: Emirates has to request the award space, and then once the partner airline confirms the space, you have a hold of up to 24 hours. (This is all done while you are on the phone; on my last partner booking I was on hold 30 minutes waiting for the partner confirmation.)
Korean: Holds free award space on Korean flights, but it variesby reservation; that’s been difficult to determine. I made a Los Angeles-Seoul reservation on July 24 for travel Sept. 9 and my ticketing deadline for free award space was Aug. 6. No partner award hold offered.
Thai Airways: Hold time for Thai flights is one to two weeks when booked by phone, but it varies by reservation, and I can’t seem to find out how that’s determined. I made a Los Angeles- Bangkok reservation on July 22 for travel Sept. 3 and when I called on Aug. 13—three weeks later—the reservation was still on hold. This is one of the longest award space holds I’ve gotten. No partner award hold offered.
United: The “Fare Lock” option, which, for a small fee (cost varies by route), gives you a hold-time of 72 hours or 7 days on United flights. On my last Business Class booking, a 72 hour hold cost $9.99 and a 7 day hold $14.99—a great deal! On partner bookings—among them, All Nippon, Asiana, and Lufthansa—it gets a bit tricky because the hold time is up to the agent and depends on the partner and the route. (Maximum is usually 24 hours for a reservation made by phone for free.) Award hold fees and hold time also vary by partner and route when booked online. To avoid the online partner hold fee: Check partner award availability online and then call United to book the space, unless you require a longer hold, in which case book online and pay the fee.
[aside headline="How PTF Credit Cards Can Compensate for Hold-Unfriendly Airlines (HUAs)" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]When a credit card transfers points quickly to airlines that are not hold-friendly, the risk of availability changing decreases significantly. This is especially true if you are looking at flights, dates, or routes with “wide open” avlability, in which case the risk, with a Point-Transfer Friendly credit card, is very low.[/aside]
US Airways: Holds seats 72 hours on both US Airways and partner award flights. (Including such partners as All Nippon, Lufthansa, and Singapore.)—That is, at times, 48-hours more than United offers at no fee—The only downside (if any) is that all partner awards have to be booked by phone (800-428-4322).
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, the hold time for my partner flight with Delta using Virgin Atlantic miles on New York-Atlanta was 72 hours.
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 occurred the same day with many 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 (if not hour) with British Airways, Korean Airlines, and United.
Starwood Preferred Guest: 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, (for some airlines), Starwood gets miles the same day to Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon, Singapore, and Thai Airways, and takes two to five days to transfer them to some other carriers. For example, my last transfer to British Airways took five days.
In experiments I’ve run with Delta, both Amex Rewards and Starwood posted the miles the same day, while with Air France the Starwood transfer took two days to post, and Amex Rewards transferred the miles the same day.
Putting it all together: Hold-Friendly Airlines + Transfer Friendly Credit Cards = Score!
Simple, actually, when it’s all laid out. Use the chart below to zero in on the airlines you want to fly that hold free award space and carry the Multi-Airline Credit Cards (MACs) that work best for you.
Multi-Airline Credit Cards (MACs)
Long-time FCF members know that one of my 10 Commandments is “Use 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 Starwood Preferred Guest Amex card. The great advantage of these cards is that they offer points-to-miles transfer options with numerous airline mileage programs, which increases your availability, comfort, and route options immensely. Starwood has the most airline transfer partners at 28, Amex Rewards has 17, and Chase 4. Here is a list of the major airline transfer partners.
Starwood Preferred Guest: Aeromexico, Airberlin, Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska, Alitalia, All Nippon, American, Asiana, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, China Southern, Delta, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian, Japan Airlines, KLM, LAN, Lufthansa (and other Miles & More affiliated airlines), Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, United (bad exchange), US Airways, and Virgin Atlantic.
American Express Membership Rewards: Aeromexcio, Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, All Nippon, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, EL AL, Hawaiian, KLM, Iberia, Singapore Airlines, Virgin America, and Virgin Atlantic.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: British Airways, Korean Airlines, United, and Virgin Atlantic.
Airlines to Use for Holding Award Space While Credit Card Points Transfer
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