Air Berlin has again topped the list of airlines making seats available to frequent flier point redeemers in a survey of 20 global carriers.
The German airline offered 100 per cent availability for redemptions of its topbonus scheme, tying with Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards programme in a survey compiled by Switchfly.
The annual Switchfly Reward Seat Availability Survey concluded that an average 74 per cent of flights checked had seats available for reward reservations, the highest level in six years.
"What I am surprised by is that we continue to see improvement year over year," said Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks, which conducted the survey in conjunction with Switchfly.
The Lufthansa group topped the list among Europe’s airlines, with 87 per cent of its inventory available for redemption, a rise of five percentage points. British Airways scored 80 per cent, up 7.9 points, Air France/KLM 65 per cent, up almost 14 points and Turkish Airlines 63.6 per cent, down 22 points. However, the biggest fall in redemption availability was Air China, which scored 50.7 per cent, a fall of nearly 26 points.
The improvement in availability generally is likely due to competition from credit cards that offer reward bookings without blackout dates. Sorensen also cites new accounting rules that mean FFP revenue can only be recognised once travel has been taken.