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Kyle Potter is the executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, covering everything from aviation news to travel deals to in-depth guides on using airline miles. A professional journalist, he joined the comp…
Jackson Newman is our Senior Editor at Thrifty Traveler, where he writes and edits news articles, guides, and other stories. He joined Thrifty Traveler in April 2023 after more than a decade working i…
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If you can and will pay $5,000 or more for a business class flight, you can stop reading this right here. But if you’re like the rest of us – those who rely on credit card points to book lie-flat seats – it’s not always a walk in the park. Even points and miles millionaires are increasingly running into roadblocks when trying to redeem their points for a lie-flat seat.
As travelers have piled up record numbers of points post-pandemic, airlines have gotten stingier with releasing award availability to actually book those top-dollar seats. Some foreign airlines are throttling American travelers altogether, blocking us from booking their best seats. And many once-reliable business class redemptions like EVA Air business class or even Air France business class have become much harder, maybe even impossible, to book in the last year or two.
But trust us: It can be done. Our team is regularly booking business class flights – and our Thrifty Traveler Premium members are doing it every day, too.
If finding a business class redemption is feeling like finding a needle in a haystack, use these tips, tricks, and tools as your magnet.
If there’s one silver bullet for redeeming your miles for a business class seat, this is it: Flexibility is paramount.
If you’re locked in on flying Air France business class from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on May 23, 2026, the odds that you’ll find the seat you’re looking for are slim … to none. When your travel plans are set in stone, you’ve put yourself at the whim of the airline gods. Good luck with that.
But could you …
Any of those moves could drastically increase your odds of finding a business class seat you can actually book with your miles.
No matter where you’re going or when, even a smidgen of flexibility could make the difference between booking something and coming up empty-handed. It’s particularly crucial during peak travel periods – think mid-summer flying to Europe, when finding any business class seats is typically (but not always) a real challenge.
The more flexible you can be, the more likely you’ll find a great deal. But if flexibility is the key, timing it right is the second most important factor.
Read next: The #1 Trick to Saving on Flights to Europe
Type A travelers who want everything booked nearly a year in advance are in luck: Planning far ahead is one of the best bets you can make to fly business class with your points these days.
Airlines put flights on sale 11 months (and sometimes, a full 12 months) in advance, and that’s often when they release award availability, too. It varies from airline to airline … but regardless of which carrier you’re flying or whose miles you’re using, booking as early as possible is often the best way to snag award space to fly business class.
That’s no guarantee, of course: Just because you look as soon as the schedule opens doesn’t mean there will be business class award seats for the taking. Some airlines tend to release award inventory in waves, offloading unsold business class seats later on. Others only do it just weeks (or even days) before departure. And a select few simply don’t release much award availability at all, no matter when you look.
But the trend is undeniable: Earlier is almost always better. So while flexibility can increase your odds, looking and booking far in advance will give you the most options.
That’s increasingly true if you want to score one of the best points deals on the planet: Flying Iberia business class to Madrid (MAD) for as low as just 32,000 points each way. We sent this alert to Thrifty Traveler Premium members a few weeks ago with the heads-up on wide-open award space to book … mainly for availability a full 10 to 11 months in advance.
And if flying the world’s best business class – Qatar Qsuites – to the Middle East or the Maldives is on your bucket list, planning 11 months or more in advance is absolutely essential nowadays. Booking with Avios from British Airways or Qatar itself, you can book nearly a full year ahead of time – even earlier than other programs.
That gives you an edge to book a redemption like Miami (MIA) to Doha (DOH) for 70,000 Avios if you look far enough ahead of time.
… while searching via American Airlines – which only lets you book 11 months in advance – for flights just one month earlier yields this: Absolutely nothing.
Read more: The #1 Trick for Booking Qatar Qsuites Right Now
At the very least, you can always lock in a decent business class redemption using your miles far in advance. Many airlines no longer charge hefty award redeposit fees, which means you can cancel and get those miles back for free (or a small fee) and rebook if something better pops up at the last minute.
And it just might.
Procrastinators, rejoice: There’s still hope. If you’re comfortable getting down to the wire, many airlines only release award inventory to book business class seats just a few weeks before departure. In some cases, you might only see it a few days ahead of time.
Think about it: Airlines would much rather sell a business class seat for a few thousand bucks than offer it up to someone like you or I for just 80,000 points. But by the time they get down to the last few weeks before departure, they start looking at their inventory and realize the odds of filling up a bunch of open seats is getting slimmer by the day. Why not open up some award inventory to travelers booking with miles?
These days, that’s practically your only hope of flying to Japan in ANA business class – especially its excellent new “The Room” business class suites. You’ll rarely find so much as a single seat flying from New York City (JFK) or Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Tokyo anywhere on the calendar, even looking 11-plus months advance…
… but searching within just the next week or two, you’ve got at least a decent shot at finding flights like these – just days in advance!
It’s not quite that bad, but we’ve noticed a similar trend with Japan Airlines business class recently. Finding award space to book these flights to Tokyo for 60,000 American AAdvantage miles many months in advance used to be a cinch. Lately, though, the award space to book this deal six months or more ahead of time has been few and far between.
Lufthansa business class is a solid way to get virtually anywhere in Europe – at least if you book a flight on one of their newer Boeing 787s or A350-900s equipped with “Allegris” seating. Years ago, award space to book these seats was steady. Aside from the occasional flood of availability to book further out, your best bet today is typically booking two weeks (or less) ahead of time.
From Europe to Asia and even Australia, United is notorious for releasing United Polaris business class award availability in the final month before departure. For example, finding business class availability for a trip to San Francisco (SFO) to Tahiti (PPT) is like pulling teeth … until about a month (or less) before departure, when United often makes those awards bookable for 85,000 of its own miles – or just 55,000 points from Air Canada Aeroplan.
Now more than ever, travelers may need some help tracking down business class award deals. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but we’ve got just the thing: Thrifty Traveler Premium.
We’ve designed our flight deal alert service to be a one-stop shop for booking flights – and it’s tailor-made for travelers trying to redeem their points for a lie-flat seat. Every email gives you the heads up when you can book some of the best business class seats in the world using your points, including in-depth instructions, pointers on which credit card points you can transfer, and insider tips from the best seats to select to great restaurants in your final destination.
From flying Emirates business class to Europe to some shockingly good Delta One suites deals bookable with SkyMiles, we send 30 or more award alerts to book premium cabins like this each and every month.
We’re just a bit biased, but we’re confident it’s the best flight deal service on the market – particularly for travelers with a wide-open travel wishlist hoping to book business class seats using points. But it’s not the only solution out there.
Over the last several years, a slew of new tools have popped up with one purpose: Helping travelers like you zero in on that hard-to-find award space to put their points to use. There are more than a dozen, ranging from platforms geared toward beginners just getting started with earning and redeeming points to next-level tools that you need to be a seasoned pro to make use of.
A few of our favorites include:
Tools like these can be invaluable for those times when you have a trip already in mind and want to find business class availability that will work. Some even allow you to set alerts if a specific flight you’re hoping to book suddenly becomes available.
Read more: 10 of the Best Award Search Tools to Use Your Points & Miles
While scoring that lie-flat seat with your points might seem harder than ever, some airlines are simply easier to book than others. We rounded up those easy-to-book business class seats here.
Your best bet for flying business class on points could come down to focusing on an airline that is more generous with releasing that precious award space than others. A few that come to mind include:
Read more: Want to Fly Business Class? These Are the Easiest Flights to Book With Points
If you want to fly business class, you can’t afford to put all your eggs in one basket.
Stop swiping your go-to airline credit card everywhere you go and focus instead on earning transferrable credit card points from banks like American Express, Chase, Capital One, and others. Those points give you the flexibility to capitalize on the next great business class redemption – or several of them.
Case in point: If you’re earning Delta SkyMiles and only Delta SkyMiles, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment with the 400,000-plus SkyMiles Delta routinely charges for a business class redemption. You’re stuck.
But if you’re instead earning points on the *amex gold*, you could transfer them straight to Delta when an outstanding Delta One fare to Taipei (TPE) for 83,000 SkyMiles pops up … or, if not, send them to one of the other dozen-plus airlines or hotel chains that are Amex transfer partners.
Thanks to a (since-expired) 30% transfer bonus to British Airways available at the time, just 49,000 Amex points was all you’d need to book this cozy new Finnair business class seat over to Finland this year.
If booking business class is your goal, diversifying the points and miles you’re earning is absolutely critical. That means you’ll be better served by leaning more heavily on a flexible points credit card like the *chase sapphire preferred*, *venture x*, or the *amex gold*.
So keep your favorite airline credit card in the drawer – you can still get benefits like free checked luggage or priority boarding. But you’re better off focusing on earning other points.
Read next: The Best Airline Miles to Use for Booking Business Class Flights
Sometimes, the best way to book business class is by resigning yourself to using more points than you think you could.
Yes, that’s confusing. Let me explain with an example.
Flying Cathay Pacific business class is easily the best way to get to Hong Kong (HKG) nonstop … or connect onward throughout Southeast Asia. And on paper, booking for just 70,000 AAdvantage miles each way – or, better yet, just 50,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles – is an incredible deal.
But in practice, you can rarely (if ever) actually book those flights using American or Alaska miles. Your only option might be to book with 84,000 miles (or even more) using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
Why? As the ecosystem of travelers flush with credit card points has grown and grown, airlines are increasingly blocking partner airlines from booking their prized seats.
That’s not exactly new: Airlines routinely grant more award space to travelers redeeming their own frequent flyer programs than to their airline partners. Singapore Airlines, for example, practically requires you to use their own KrisFlyer miles to book business and first class award tickets.
Flying Qatar Qsuites through Doha and all the way down to Cape Town (CPT) in South Africa for just 75,000 American AAdvantage miles and under $6 in taxes and fees is one of the best deals in the world of points and miles. But nowadays, you’ll likely be waiting forever for a chance to book it through American. Isn’t it better to book it for 95,000 Qatar Avios (plus $320 or so)?
The same holds true for booking Qantas business class to Australia, EVA Air business class to Taiwan, Singapore Airlines business class around the globe, and many more.
Does it stink to use more points than you need to? Of course. Is that better than booking nothing at all? Of course.
Booking business class with your credit card points or airline miles has been getting harder and harder. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible – not even close.
Focusing on earning the right points, enlisting help from the right tools, and looking at the right time are crucial for scoring that vaunted lie-flat seat. But more than anything else, flexibility is absolutely critical.
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Kyle Potter is the executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, covering everything from aviation news to travel deals to in-depth guides on using airline miles. A professional journalist, he joined the company in November 2018 after five years covering state and national politics for T…
Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
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3 Responses
Kyle, enjoyed your article on this subject. However I am frequently frustrated looking at some of the crazy shell game points transfers you need to do to score these seats. Why are some of these options off the table by simply depositing say Amex points directly with the airline verses having to transfer from one to the next to accomplish this?
Also can you maybe take a deeper dive and show this if it is an option even if you need to use more points?
Also I would like to see you dive into the Amex travel portal verses looking directly at the airline site. It has been my experience that the Amex site usually is always a higher cost in either points or miles. Is that true for the other CC travel portals. Thanks, Steve
I really appreciate Thrifty Traveler’s consistent output of pertinent news, guides, and explanations that enlighten all of us from beginners to hardcore earners and burners. You guys have a ton of great resources to which I can and do refer friends, confident that the topics will be explored and explained in ways that break complex concepts into manageable, digestible info — without being too dumbed down for people already familiar with the industry. Thanks and keep up the good work!!
Adding another awesome Thrifty Traveler link!
Thanks Kyle for another great article on biz miles! I got into this field since 2017 with the sole purpose to fly in biz over the pacific/atlantic. There are only two methods, revenue or miles. You guys are always doing a great job!
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