Airlines Opening Seats To Those Using Points

No one knows.....there is no sense as to what the airlines do. However, calling might help over just looking online. Sometimes the FF desk can "open" seats. Not always, but sometimes. It depends on the flight.

If not, look at cheap flights between those two cities.

My experience with FF miles has been dismal, When I need them (high ticket costs) no seats are available, and when I travel, tickets are so cheap, it is a waste to use miles. As an example, SkyEurope flies that route (Vienna/Amsterdam) for about $100 US or less in June, probably a better value than 20 or 30,000 miles ticket cost. I keep hoping I will use my miles for an odd route, Probaly Peru next year, where seats will be available and the cost would be high.

My experience is on Delta. I have had success on LATE bookings, but the risk is that by the time they open that up it's the "HIGH COST" time to buy. However, that may not be a good indicator with an "intra Europe" flight.

Have you tried calling? Sometimes they can find seats for me?

Richard, try getting seats on one of KLM's partner airlines too. I get United FF miles, but book on Lufthansa...usually have better luck.

I book my FF flights 331 days from my trip. As soon as I can start calling, I do just that. I booked my trip for May last August. I had to wait for the 331 days from the return date.

I understand that you want a particular KLM flight, but if you really want to use your miles, you might need to be a bit more open to something else. Call and be extra sweet to the agent on the phone and see if she/he will help. If no luck, call back and start again.

This last trip did take me quite a few calls, but I didnt' give up, and I got my seats, and I used my miles. Good Luck!

There are so many budget airlines in Europe I wouldnt waste my points on flights but save them for other long haul flights instead of one that is only 2 hours at most. Be very cautious if you consider Skyeurope as I was checking them out and found that they appeared to be having financial difficulties. Air Berlin, Easyjet and Ryanair are all dependable and I have already booked flights with them this summer.

Thanks to all for responding. And the lesson of the story is to book early, which I did--but we have changed the itinerary. I am trying to go Paris-Salzburg-Vienna and to fly out of Vienna to catch a connecting flight in Amsterdam. Because of the time of the connecting flight, a same-day flight out of Vienna on a budget airline doesn't work.

There is a back-up plan. Without any difficulty, we were able to get seats on a flight out of Munich, so the current plan is Paris-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich (with travel from Paris to Vienna on a budget airline like Air Berlin). But I was hoping to avoid taking flights once in Europe, and I have been holding off buying the Air Berlin tickets until I am certain that a flight out of Vienna is not possible.

There are seats avialable on the Vienna flight I want--but not at the number of points I am using. I have been told by the airline I am flying on (Continental) that KLM could at any time make more seats available at the point level I am on, but that--as others have noted above--nobody can predict if and when. Again, thanks for the time responding.

You don't always have to book early to get frequent flyer seats. It sometimes pays to book at the last minute as airlines open up seats that are not selling - obviously one has to be pretty flexible in this case.

Due to the downturn in the economy there seem to be lots of seats opening up for summer travel to Europe. Also, look at all the new flights that are introduced since they have tons of seats available. This is the case for most of the United flights - there are lots of seats on DEN-LHR, IAD-GVA, IAD-DME. The key is to get the transatlantic portion and then see what is available to get from your starting point to where the intl flt leaves from and again to your destination. However, if you are picky and want direct flights only with a minimum of connections, this may not work for you.

Please post what you find out.

We just booked a trip and the return leg from IAD to CLT has my 2yo DD on a different flight from me. Like I'm going to let THAT happen! If only they'd open up more seat. Ugh!

Michelle--let the airline know what they have done. They'll take care of it somehow because they want children with family!

Michele - if you are coming through IAD, is this on UA? If so, can they route you through Chicago?

Again, give us more details if you are looking for help.