What is “phantom availability”?

“Phantom availability” refers to a common issue in award travel where a flight appears to be available for booking with points or miles—but when you try to book it, the seat is actually not available.

What It Looks Like

You might see a business class seat listed as available through a frequent flyer program or on Seats.aero, but when you go to the airline’s site to book or call the program to confirm, they tell you it’s not bookable. That’s phantom availability.

Why Does It Happen?

Phantom availability usually stems from outdated or inaccurate data being provided by the airline's systems. Here are a few common reasons:

Caching issues: Frequent flyer programs sometimes cache availability data and display it long after it's no longer accurate.
Syncing delays: Seats may be taken or withdrawn, but partner airlines haven’t yet updated each other’s systems.
Glitches in partner feeds: Some programs show incorrect availability for partner airlines (e.g., Air Canada might incorrectly show Lufthansa First Class availability when it's not actually open to partners).

How to Avoid Issues with Phantom Seats

Always cross-check availability:
- Go directly to the airline’s own website and try to search the same flight using points/miles.
- If it's not visible there, it's likely phantom.
  Use multiple sources:
- Double-check with more than one program or search engine.
  Call the airline or loyalty program:
- If you're unsure whether a seat is actually bookable, calling the program can help clarify.
  Avoid transferring points until you confirm:
- Once you transfer flexible points to a partner, it’s often irreversible. Only transfer after confirming the seat is available on the airline’s site.

While Seats.aero does its best to show accurate, real-time award data, phantom availability is a limitation of how airline systems communicate with one another. Always verify directly before making any irreversible steps like point transfers or canceling backup tickets.