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Planning travel can be complicated, especially if you’re trying to redeem miles & points. Award availability is often limited, and there are lots of moving parts. In that sense, being able to hold an award reservation for free before ticketing can be extremely valuable. In this post I wanted to recap the frequent flyer programs that still let you hold award tickets, as it’s an opportunity that has become increasingly rare.
In this post:
Airline award space can disappear quickly, especially first & business class award seats over peak periods. There’s huge value sometimes in just being able to place an award ticket on hold for some amount of time prior to ticketing.
There are several reasons this could come in handy:
Back in the day a vast majority of frequent flyer programs allowed award tickets to be placed on hold for some amount of time before ticketing. Unfortunately nowadays it’s rather rare.
Which airline frequent flyer programs allow award ticket holds nowadays? Below I’ll recap the programs that allow holds, for how long award seats can be placed on hold, and how you can request a hold.
Let me note that the policy is generally based on the program you’re ticketing through, rather than the airline you’re actually traveling with, in situations where you’re booking partner award travel.
With that in mind, the following airline frequent flyer programs allow award ticket holds:
As you can see, American AAdvantage wins by a long shot here, for allowing award holds of up to five days directly online. All other major airline programs only allow award holds by phone, so this is a significant advantage, in my opinion.
Let me also note that for the airlines that only allow award ticket holds by phone, it’s very much a case of “your mileage may vary.” That’s to say that some phone agents will allow holds without issue, while others say it’s not possible. Even when they do allow them, it still seems to come down to the agent as to how long holds are allowed. So never count on those holds being possible 100% of the time.
If I missed any airline frequent flyer programs that allow award holds, please let me know in the comments section.
Back in the day I valued programs that allowed award ticket holds immensely. While I still think it’s valuable, a couple of things have changed that make this a bit less important than in the past, in my opinion:
This certainly doesn’t cover all situations, but for many of the best programs, locking in important award segments is less costly than it was in the past.
Understanding airline hold policies can be incredibly valuable, given how fluid award space is. Unfortunately so few programs allow this nowadays, and American AAdvantage is really the star, as the program allows five day holds directly online.
With some airlines having eliminated change and award redeposit fees, combined with a 24 hour refund policy, this isn’t quite as important as in the past. But still, there sure is value in this, especially if you’re transferring points from a partner.
What has your experience been with airline award ticket holds? Any programs I missed?
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I’ve had phone agents hold award reservations on Korean, while awaiting Chase transfers (back in the day).
Singapore has held an award when I needed to transfer points before. I asked for 24 hours on the phone not wanting to push them, and the agent offered me 72 which was generous. YMMV
Recently used 5 day holds on AA.com for a 2023 trip to Europe that had lots of moving parts, dates, cities. The website hold feature was invaluable as I made several tweaks along the way before finally getting the best combination of dates/flights. Would have been exhausting doing it all by phone.
AA gets picked on often, but the on-line hold functionality makes their program more valuable (at least to me.)
I’ve called in and asked KLM to hold inventory in the past and the answer was they need to be in account prior to booking
Couple of months ago emirates held 2 award tickets for me and my partner
I have never had this good luck with EK
Is there a way to be notified of replies or comments to a specific post? i dont see this feature anymore. please help
Finnair allows Platinum members to hold awards for up to 24 hours
In other news, Akash (Akasa) Airlines joins the growing list of domestic Indian carriers.
Last month Qantas Premium VIP team flying domestically held my award flights for 5 pax for 3 weeks awaiting for my Qantas Amex points to roll into my account . I wasn’t aware they or I could do that
Award reservations by EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands allow holds as well, whether directly booked via their website or by phone. The ticketing period is set by the operating airline of the itinerary.
I like the new video ads on the website. Very cool.
I’ve heard that ANA may also hold award bookings for a few days.
As stated in the article, this is one area where AA is actually quite good. I don’t need to place an award on hold, because I can cancel bookings online for free.
The benefit of having a ticket on hold (AA at least) is that you do not pay fees ‘n taxes until you decide to go ahead.
Getting those refunded for a cancelled ticket can be difficult and time-consuming (Alaska MP being a notable exception.)
Tangentially related is Delta’s deal with AmEx where you can “borrow” miles for an award redemption and then “earn” them by spending later in the year. To the extend that you haven’t “earned” them back after the six-month period, then you will be charged 2.5 cents per remaining mile. I’ve never tried this, so I’m not sure how easy or useful it is in practice.
Aeromexico Clubpremier does not technically allow holds, but if there is standard award availability, their travel shops in Mexico can create a reservation and ticket it within 15 days. Although most transfers from partners are instant, there are certain times it becomes useful.
Emirates typically gives you 72 hours
You must be very lucky. They never hold it even for an hour
AA is very generous in this aspect and I’ve never noticed they were alone in this customer friendly policy. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Here in Brazil we have an interesting scheme with both Azul and GOL airlines. With slight differences, both allow you to reserve an award flight with a small fee (~25 USD per reservation irrespective of passenger count) and pay for it 60 days before departure. If you don’t pay it,…
AA is very generous in this aspect and I’ve never noticed they were alone in this customer friendly policy. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Here in Brazil we have an interesting scheme with both Azul and GOL airlines. With slight differences, both allow you to reserve an award flight with a small fee (~25 USD per reservation irrespective of passenger count) and pay for it 60 days before departure. If you don’t pay it, reservation is cancelled without penalties.
Nice to secure a seat in high demand routes and rack up miles throughout the year.
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The benefit of having a ticket on hold (AA at least) is that you do not pay fees 'n taxes until you decide to go ahead. Getting those refunded for a cancelled ticket can be difficult and time-consuming (Alaska MP being a notable exception.)
Is there a way to be notified of replies or comments to a specific post? i dont see this feature anymore. please help
Award reservations by EVA Air's Infinity MileageLands allow holds as well, whether directly booked via their website or by phone. The ticketing period is set by the operating airline of the itinerary.
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