Travelers are facing plenty of doom and gloom lately with war overseas and the resulting skyrocketing airfare – not to mention the usual summer disruptions and headaches getting into Europe. But there's at least one trend that will make you feel a lot rosier about travel: Some of the rarest, hardest-to-book business class seats have been cropping up lately.
This month alone, our team of Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal analysts found five different award alerts for business class space I would describe as ” incredibly rare.” In fact, some are so rare that I can't remember ever finding award space before, period. So why now?
We've been searching for award space on these routes for the better part of a decade, so we're pretty clued in to what makes these deals special. So now that the dust has settled, I wanted to dig into these rare deals, what makes them so rare, and then consider why this is happening in the first place.
Hawaiian First Class … From JFK!
What makes it so rare: Flying nonstop in business class from New York to Hawaii on points is tough!
Hawaiian First Class award availability isn't a rarity. We typically find solid availability once a month or more, but that rarely (if ever) includes availability on the long-haul flight from New York City (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) in first class. Until just a few days ago, when we found this gem.
This peak season availability over Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and through the winter was bookable from just 95,000 Alaska miles or 98,000 American Airlines miles each way – well worth it for the 11-plus hour flight over to the islands. It's not on Hawaiian's fanciest 787 Dreamliner, but a lie-flat seat and some elevated service from Hawaiian's attentive flight attendants still makes it an incredible deal.
LATAM Biz Class to Peru … From LAX!
What makes it so rare: Flying down to Peru from LA!
Like the Hawaiian deal above, there's nothing particularly rare about LATAM business class award space: We find it all the time from places like New York City (JFK), Miami (MIA) and even Orlando (MCO). But LATAM business class availability on the nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) to Lima (LIM) is almost unheard of!
To book this rare space, our west coast subscribers could throw Virgin, Finnair, or Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, easily the best of the bunch – especially booking roundtrip, as it would be just 85,000 miles total. And with all the transfer partners connected to those programs, getting the points you needed to lock in this rare lie-flat redemptions was a cinch.
Qatar QSuites from JFK … During Peak Season!
What makes it rare: Peak season availability just six months from now!
If you've hunted for Qatar Airways QSuites availability before, you know it's gotten incredibly difficult to book. Your best chance is usually to be ready to book almost exactly a year in advance – plus, log on and search early in the morning to snag the award space before someone else does.
That's what makes this Qsuites availability from New York (JFK) to Doha (DOH) so powerful. We sent this deal out in July for availability in December and January (peak season for many of Qatar's routes) – giving travelers a rare chance to book Qsuites outside of the year-ahead window.
Finnair Biz Class to Northern Europe … Using AA Miles!
What makes it so rare: Bookable with American!
Finnair business class was one of my favorite lie-flat experiences ever and at a great price of just 62,500 Finnair Avios each way, too! But you can get an even better deal when those same seats are bookable with American Airlines AAdvantage miles for just 57,500 miles each way and just $5.60 in taxes and fees when departing the U.S.
Unfortunately, seeing that award space when searching via AA is exceedingly rare … but, as it turns out, not impossible!
Plus, when you book with American (just like with Finnair), you also get connections all over Northern Europe for that same 57,500-mile price tag. Connect on to Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and even into Germany for the same rate! It was a stunning flight deal bookable from Miami (MIA) to go see Santa or the Northern Lights in Finland and beyond!
Starlux Biz Class to Taipei … & Beyond!
What makes it so rare: The “Beyond” part!
Starlux business class really impressed us and has established itself as one of the best ways to fly to Asia, period. Award space from Los Angeles (LAX) and Phoenix (PHX) pops up every now and then to fly to Taipei (TPE), and you can book it from 75,000 Alaska miles each way – a sweet redemption!
But Starlux rarely offers onward connections to the rest of Asia to travelers booking via partner airlines like Alaska … until now.
The ability to fly Starlux to TPE and then onward to places like Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore for a total of 85,000 miles each way is ultra rare. Spend a few hours in Starlux's stellar Galactic Lounge on your way to vacation? Why not!
An Educated Guess: What's Going on Here?
Award space comes and goes seemingly at random, but it almost always has to do with supply and demand. When seats aren't selling like airlines hope, they offer up cheaper points and miles rates and – most importantly – offer those seats up to be bookable with their partner airlines.
That's become harder and harder over the last few years as points and miles have gone mainstream, as Americans have racked up record numbers of points, and as airlines start to rethink just how much they want to give away to travelers redeeming points. The fact that we're seeing these ultra-rare redemptions now, of all times, stands out even more.
Take, for example, coveted routes like New York (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) or Los Angeles (LAX) to Lima (LIM). Award space bookable through partner airline programs is almost never available – or if it is, it's maybe only one seat on a single day. So when that space opened up for two passengers or more on several dates, our jaws dropped.
So why is this happening? We don't know … but we have some theories.
My guess is war in the Middle East and the ensuing explosion in flight prices has led many travelers to skip over their usual travel plans and – most importantly – led some companies to think twice about sending their employees on the road. Those business people with expense accounts were usually the ones gobbling up these expensive business class seats abroad. The airlines don't want those seats to go out empty, so they're suddenly deciding to make these flights bookable with points.
Who knows! But whatever the reason, it's travelers like you and I – who want to use their hard-earned points and miles to book that fancy flight abroad – who win!
Bottom Line
In July, we've found five incredibly rare business class points and miles deals – many of which we haven't seen in years … or ever.
From Qatar's Qsuites, to some perfect ways to book Finnair business class, and flights that never have business class award availability, this new trend is an exciting one!
