Option award ticket, which companies allow it and how to do it

Finding the available place to detach a premium ticket requires patience and dedication And, in order to complete the transaction, you must have the miles or points available on the appropriate frequent flyer program.

Let's take an example with the most difficult prize ticket to obtain, around the world. To detach this type of ticket, you must first create the itinerary and possible alternatives, then choose the alliance, and finally look for free seats in the class you want and on the dates you need them. An experienced frequent flyer might take no less than a day but would still be in a precarious situation.

Award places, as we know, are few and far between. So when finding the perfect itinerary for our needs, it is good to book immediately and avoid surprises. There is one catch, however: if you do not yet have miles in your desired program and need to transfer them, for example, Through American Express Membership Rewards, you will need to complete this paperwork before you can finalize the transaction with the carrier.

This is where the problem arises; transferring miles can take a few hours, days, and more rarely weeks. How do you avoid seats being booked by other travelers in the meantime? You must hope that the company you have chosen will option your tickets while waiting for you to complete the transaction.

It is a practice that is done by some companies, not all of them and not Alitalia, being able to put an option in place allows you to avoid transferring points for nothing, since once they are converted, they cannot go back into the original program.

Which companies allow you to option the seat

There are many all over the world, for obvious reasons we will focus on the most interesting ones for the Italian market. In case the airline you are looking for is not listed the advice is only one: call the call center and ask for information, it might work with Alitalia as well.

Carrier	Option duration.	You can option partner flights	Free
Air France/KLM Flying Blue	Up to a maximum of 3 days	Yes for KLM flights, depends for SkyTeam partners	No
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	Up to a maximum of 3 days	Yes	No
Emirates Skywards	Up to a maximum of 3 days	Yes	Yes
Lufthansa Miles & More	Five days	Yes all German group airlines and not guaranteed on Star Alliance airlines	No
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	It depends, even weeks.	No	No
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles	Two days	Yes	Yes

In all cases, one should proceed through the company's call center, explain the needs to the attendant and try to get the longest period so as to have plenty of time to make the points transfer.

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