Hi all, I have been playing on seatsaero and looking at official airline sites to see when they release seats to plan ahead so I can be ready to book in June for travel in 2027. It looks very sad. Most airlines aren't releasing saver seats in J, not even in PE. I have always found 2-4 J seats by booking a year out. Those days are over. Now it looks like it is better to book seats last minute. What are you guys doing differently this year?

update: I pretty much searched west coast airport, ORD, IAD, and canada airports to europe, asia, and middle east. I just wanted to see how many seats they released at 1 year out. I don't have much luck (except for Qatar) unless it is non savers or have crazy fees or needs lots of miles (SQ).

  • I can’t provide insight without knowing where you’re looking. It’s definitely more competitive but east coast vs west coast and Asia vs Europe vs anywhere else is all very different

    parent

    Can you provide insight from west coast to Europe? not much luck to CDG 1 year out.

    parent root

    Unfortunately I’m not west coast and west to Europe is significantly harder than east to Europe.

    But either way Europe these days is not schedule open, it’s pretty random. Depending on how much work you want to do, check every day or sign up for a mass award alert service like straight to the points

    parent root

    thanks! I have subscription to seataero but I am wiling to do the work and check every day too.

    parent root

  • You need to be more specific. What’s your destination? What airlines are you looking to fly? What airport are you trying to fly out of?

    parent
  • parent

    Thanks! I will note that and that could be my back up. Do you know if they release more throughout the year ?

    parent root

    I don’t think so

    parent root

  • If you are looking at award redemptions at release, it is not an accurate portrayal of availability for summer. You are looking at peak season for travel due to Christmas, New Years then Ramadan in February and Eid al-Fitr in March. IMO - you are extremely early and either haven’t researched this topic or are conflating award space availability in the spring with the summer.

    parent

    Gotcha ! Good to know. I will keep checking periodically to see if it gets better. Then I will go bat crazy checking around May. Thanks for your insight !

    parent root

  • You're a bit early. For departures in June 2027, you'd probably want to start looking for flights in June/July 2026. Check the Award Release Date chart to see how far out seats release for each respective program. You mentioned having seats.aero so here's their handy chart (for Aeroplan as an example): https://seats.aero/tools/releases?source=aeroplan

    parent

    I started checking now for January seats to learn the patterns of airlines. Since i need at least 3 seats in June, I always try to look earlyyyy.

    parent root

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    parent

  • FlyingBlue is easy if you use the monthly calendar trick (leave dates blank and scan by month), and they often quietly release 2-4 J seats early. Finnair Avios has been more consistent ex-US/Canada to Europe, while BA is a worst-case fallback if you accept higher fees & taxes. For Asia/Middle East, Avianca LifeMiles and Aeroplan are still worth monitoring since they occasionally unlock partner saver space before others.

    parent

    Thanks! I do see BA charges more points and taxes. I will have to keep checking flying blue starting in June. They do not release seats early anymore.

    parent root