When does British Airways release Avios reward seats?

Securing those hard-to-get seats means being first in the queue…

…but when do seats actually get released? And what’s the trick to being ahead of everyone else?

When does BA release reward seats?

BA releases a guaranteed number of bookable seats using Avios for every flight. That’s four seats in business class, two in premium economy and eight in economy. There are no guarantees on how many first-class seats will be released.

You can book a seat 355 days ahead of the flight. It doesn’t matter how you want to book a flight (Cash/Avios/Companion Voucher), that 355 day rule applies.

Seats are available to book from midnight GMT 355 days before the outbound flight

What’s a good strategy for getting hard to get Avios seats?

There are two approaches:

• Be the first person to try to book those flights being released. This means getting up early, and hitting the phone. More on this in a moment.
• Use a third party platform for checking Avios availability to setup an alert, and hope that seats become available during the year. The chances are that some seats will become available. It’s common for BA to release reward seats at random times.

If you’re looking to book business class seats to a tricky destination (like Australia) then the best way to secure them is to stay up to midnight, and then call the BA call centre. There’s a reason for this: when you start a booking with them they will place a hold on the seats as they work through your details. If you book online they are not secured until you complete all your details. Minutes can, and do, matter.

The challenge is that the UK call centre closes at 11:59 pm and doesn’t open again until 8 am. The solution is to call their US call center. On most mobile plans it will cost you to do this. You may be able to use Skype to reduce the cost, or make the call for free.

The BA US call center is accessible from the UK on +1 800-247-9297.

Staying on top of Avios availability throughout the year

As BA will release more Avios seats throughout the year, how do you get alerted to when seats become available? There are some great third-party platforms that – at a cost – can tell you when reward flight seats become available. They will send you an email or SMS when they spot seats for flights that you’re interested in.

There’s a caveat with these third-party platforms. If you want to book using a companion voucher, one benefit is that it will open up more availability. Third-party sites can’t see those seats, so you may miss out on opportunities.

What if you want to book other carrier’s seats using Avios?

Avios is the currency of many airlines, and using the BA booking system means you can also access their partner network, for example, American Airlines.

Booking a partner airline using Avios

Firstly, let’s look at booking a flight on a partner airline. To use Avios for those flights, you’ll have to book via BA, either online or via the call center, which means you can only book 355 days in advance of the flight.

However, the partner airline may not release tickets on its own site until later. For example, American Airlines only allows you to book 335 days in advance, so by using BA, you are getting access to flights 20 days before their customers.

I’ve booked a number of partner flights via BA, and it’s a painless process.

Booking with an airline that uses Avios

If you’re looking to use your Avios points to book directly with an airline then you have two options:

1. Book via British Airways
2. Book direct with the partner

If you book via BA, you will be subject to the 355-day rule. If you book via the partner, you will be subject to their rules.

For Qatar, Finnair, and Iberia, you are better off booking directly with the airline, as you’ll be able to see availability five or six days before BA.

With Aer Lingus, I’ve checked a couple of routes, and it appears you can book flights via BA before the 330 days. Typically, EL is less generous with their award seats, so it’s often harder to find Avios seats on their flights.