Airline Peak and Off-Peak Award Charts: The Ultimate Guide
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Commercial aviation is one of the most seasonal industries in the world. Typically, the busiest time of the year for airlines is the summer or pre-summer months from May to October.
Of course, this varies depending on the exact destinations, countries, or even cities that you visit. That being said, customer demand plummets in the winter months from November to March, especially when visiting Europe.
Airline revenue ticket prices fluctuate wildly thanks to revenue management departments, crazy algorithms, and seats sold. The same is generally true for airline award tickets. As a result, many major airlines have chosen to adopt a binary award pricing scheme, whereby there is an off-peak set of dates priced cheaper than the remaining peak dates.
In this guide, we’ll be taking an in-depth look into every major airlines’ seasonality charts and discussing the nuances of each program with the ultimate goal of minimizing the number of points you’ll use for award flights.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Why Is Understanding Peak/Off-Peak Seasonality Important?
Travelers with flexible plans ought to book flights during off-peak when possible in order to spend fewer miles.
You’ve already worked so hard to earn your points and miles, so why spend any more than absolutely necessary?
By planning trips around off-peak award dates, you’ll extract the maximum value from your points and miles. There’s a minimal amount of work in understanding what constitutes peak and off-peak dates for each airline you want to fly on, but it’s all worth it in the end!
This guide is not about variable award pricing, which itemizes mileage and award prices based on distinct levels. Instead, we’re going to be talking about the major airlines that have specific peak and off-peak travel dates.
Airlines That Have Peak/Off-Peak Award Charts
Before talking about each individual airline, keep in mind that some airlines adopt different seasonality policies depending on what route you fly on, while others have a simple binary system.
Let’s look into the airlines and dissect their peak and off-peak award charts.
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus is Ireland’s flag carrier. Aer Lingus is owned by the same company that owns British Airways, IAG. Their frequent flyer currency is known as Avios.
Each calendar year, Aer Lingus publishes its off-peak and peak periods. The off-peak periods constitute two-thirds of the year, whereby you can book award flights for less Avios.
Additionally, Aer Lingus has a distance-based award chart along with peak/off-peak pricing. You can redeem Aer Lingus Avios for great value, especially if booking during off-peak dates.
Aer Lingus’s remaining off-peak dates for 2019 and 2020 are as follows:
- September 9, 2019 – December 18, 2019
- January 9, 2020 – April 2, 2020
- April 20, 2020 – June 12, 2020
- September 7, 2020 – December 16, 2020
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus’s remaining peak dates for 2019 and 2020 fill the remainder of the calendar:
- December 19, 2019 – January 8, 2020
- April 3, 2020 – 19, 2020
- June 13, 2020 – September 6, 2020
- December 17-31, 2020
Now that we’ve pieced together the seasonality, let’s talk briefly about how many points you’d save by booking off-peak. Here’s Aer Lingus’s award chart for one-way flights:
| Zone | Origin | Destinations | Off-Peak Economy | Peak Economy | Off-Peak Business | Peak Business |
| Zone 1 | Belfast | London | 4,000 | 4,500 | N/A | N/A |
| Cork | Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Paris | 4,000 | 4,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Donegal | Glasgow | 4,000 | 4,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Dublin | Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Bristol, Brussels, Paris, Donegal, Cardiff, Doncaster, Dusseldorf, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kerry, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nantes, Newcastle, Newquay, Rennes | 4,000 | 4,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Shannon | Birmingham, Bristol, London | 4,000 | 4,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Zone 2 | Belfast | Palma | 6,500 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A |
| Cork | Alicante, Barcelona, Berlin, Faro, Geneva, Lisbon, Malaga, Munich, Nice, Palma | 6,500 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Dublin | Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bologna, Copenhagen, Faro, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Murcia, Nice, Palma, Perpignan, Pisa, Prague, Pula, Salzburg, Santiago de Compostela, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich | 6,500 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Shannon | Faro, Malaga | 6,500 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A | |
| Zone 3 | Belfast | Alicante, Faro, Malaga | 8,500 | 10,000 | N/A | N/A |
| Cork | Dubrovnik, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife | 8,500 | 10,000 | N/A | N/A | |
| Dublin | Agadir, Athens, Bourgas, Budapest, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Fuerventura, Gran Canaria, Izmir Lanzarote, Malaga, Naples, Rome, Split, Tenerife | 8,500 | 10,000 | N/A | N/A | |
| Shannon | Lanzarote | 8,500 | 10,000 | N/A | N/A | |
| Zone 4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Zone 5 | Dublin | Boston, Chicago, Hartford, Minneapolis, Montreal, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington | 13,000 | 20,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 |
| Shannon | Boston, New York | |||||
| Zone 6 | Dublin | Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle | 16,250 | 25,000 | 62,500 | 75,000 |
Suppose you wanted to fly from Miami to Dublin in Aer Lingus business class on September 18, 2020. Assuming you find availability on this date, you’ll be traveling on off-peak dates, meaning you’ll pay 62,500 Avios one-way as opposed to 75,000 Avios (the peak season price).
Let’s also suppose that the departing segment of your trip falls on peak dates while the returning flight falls on off-peak dates. In this case, you’d simply pay the peak price one-way and the off-peak price the other way.
Aer Lingus’ system is pretty straightforward, but you can save up to 12,500 Avios each way by planning your off-peak travel accordingly.
All Nippon Airways
All Nippon Airways’ loyalty program is a fantastic overall program. Although their online user interface is somewhat dated, ANA has so many fantastic redemptions that you can’t miss out on.
ANA Mileage Club takes some time to learn about, but once that time is invested, you’ll find yourself digging up value redemption after value redemption.
Hot Tip: You can start racking up ANA miles pretty easily by following our guide on how to earn lots of ANA Mileage Club miles!
You can only book round-trip award bookings with ANA, so bear that in mind, too.
Most airlines split up their peak/off-peak dates into a simple binary system, whereby a date is either a peak or off-peak date. ANA has 3 seasonality periods. These are low season, regular season, and high season.
ANA uses seasonality only for ANA flights. Seasonality does not apply for partners like United Airlines. The following is a chart that depicts the most updated seasonality dates for flights between Japan and Europe/North America until March 2021:
| ANA Seasonality Periods | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Low Season (L) | January 7 – February 28 April 1-25 | January 6 – February 29 April 1-23 | January 5 – February 28 |
| Regular Season (R) | March 1-31 May 8 – July 24 August 20 – November 17 | March 1-31 May 11 – July 22 August 20 – December 17 | March 1-31 |
| High Season (H) | January 1-6 April 26 – May 7 July 25 – August 19 December 18-31 | January 1-5 April 24 – May 10 July 23 – August 19 December 18-31 | January 1-4 |
Seasonality charts for dates beyond April 2021 are scheduled to be announced around March 2020.
Keep in mind that there are different seasonality periods depending on what regions you’re flying to/from, and even for domestic flights. You can find out more here.
For flights between North America and Japan, here’s the round-trip award chart:
| Cabin Class | Low Season Price | Regular Season Price | High Season Price |
| Economy | 40,000 | 50,000 | 55,000 |
| Premium Economy | 62,000 | 72,000 | 77,000 |
| Business | 75,000 | 85,000 | 90,000 |
| First | 150,000 | 150,000 | 165,000 |
So, if you choose to fly on ANA business class round-trip from New York City to Tokyo departing on January 10 and returning on January 31, you’ll pay the low season price, an incredibly low 75,000 ANA miles.
On the other hand, flying during high season on the same route will cost a decent 90,000 miles. This represents a 20% hike in prices, just for flying during different times.
Bottom Line: In order to figure out the price you’ll pay for a specific ANA flight during a specific date range, you’ll need to figure out the seasonality of the route first. Then, you can figure out the award price by matching the award chart pricing with the correct seasonality and route. Keep in mind that this only applies if you intend on using ANA miles on ANA flights.
American Airlines
American Airlines does offer off-peak awards, and these off-peak awards are often fantastic deals. However, American Airlines only does this for economy flights.
Additionally, qualifying tickets include partner airlines and aren’t limited to flights operated by American Airlines. That being said, American Airlines has off-peak economy tickets for many regions, and these tickets are called “MileSAAver off-peak.”
Hot Tip: In order to minimize your out-of-pocket costs at the hands of fuel surcharges, try to plan your travel solely on American Airlines flights.
Here’s the exact breakdown of flights, separated by region.
| Route | Region | MileSAAver Off-Peak Cost | MileSAAver Cost |
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to Hawaii | August 11 – November 18, 2019 November 24 – December 10, 2019 | 20,000 | 22,500 |
| Hawaii to Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada | August 18 – November 27, 2019 December 3-25, 2019 | ||
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America | September 7 – November 14, 2019 April 27 – May 20, 2020 | 12,500 | 15,000 |
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to Europe | November 1 – December 14, 2019 | 22,500 | 30,000 |
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to Asia Region 1 (Japan/Korea) | July 1 – November 30, 2019 | 32,500 | 35,000 |
| Asia Region 1 (Japan/Korea) to Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada | September 1 – December 31, 2019 | 32,500 | 35,000 |
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to Asia Region 2 (China and Hong Kong) | October 11 – November 30, 2019 | 32,500 | 35,000 |
| Asia Region 2 (China and Hong Kong) to Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada | October 2 – November 30, 2019 | 32,500 | 35,000 |
| Contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada to South America 1 | September 7 – November 14, 2019 | 17,500 | 20,000 |
One thing that is important to note is the fact that the travel direction matters in order to determine whether a flight will be priced off-peak. As you can see, the off-peak bookings will save a small number of miles, usually around 2,500 miles.
The catch is you need to find MileSAAver award availability in order to get off-peak pricing on American Airlines flights. Additionally, there aren’t off-peak rates for the remainder of routes, which include flights between the South Pacific, Alaska, Canada, within the continental U.S., and South America Region 2.
Bottom Line: American Airlines offers off-peak pricing for economy flights, and these include partner airlines. You can save a small pile of points by booking during off-peak dates. Try to stick to American Airlines flights in order to reduce your taxes and fees as much as possible.
Asiana Airlines
Asiana Airlines has deservedly garnered a great reputation with its loyalty program: Asiana Club. In addition, Asiana Airlines continues to be a top airline of choice to earn miles on, thanks to their attractive (and niche!) ways to redeem for maximum value.
Asiana Airlines has off-peak and peak pricing only for their own flights. They also have different peak season dates departing on your exact route. Lastly, you can avoid peak season surcharges if you’re an Asiana Club Diamond Plus or Platinum member for both award bookings and upgrades.
Asiana Airlines charges 50% additional miles for flights during high season, so you’ll absolutely want to avoid flying during popular times. Here is the peak season chart for the remaining dates in 2019 and 2020:
| Route | Peak Dates | Off-Peak Dates |
| International flights departing from the Americas | December 5-23, 2019 May 16, 2020 – July 5, 2020 December 8-27, 2020 | Every other date |
| International flights departing from non-Americas locations | December 24, 2019 – January 5, 2020 January 23-27, 2020 July 11, 2020 – August 16, 2020 September 29, 2020 – October 5, 2020 December 24-31, 2020 | Every other date |
| Domestic South Korea flights | December 31, 2019 – January 1, 2020 January 23-27, 2020 February 21, 2020 – March 1, 2020 April 30, 2020 – May 5, 2020 July 24, 2020 – August 22, 2020 September 29, 2020 – October 4, 2020 October 9-11, 2020 December 25-27, 2020 December 31, 2020 | Every other date |
The award chart for Asiana Airlines flights is as follows for one-way flights:
| Type of ticket | Route | Economy Peak | Economy | Business Peak | Business | Business Smartium Class Peak | Business Smartium Class |
| Nonstop | Domestic Flight | 7,500 | 5,000 | – | – | – | – |
| Korea ⇄ Japan, China/Northeast Asia | 22,500 | 15,000 | 33,750 | 22,500 | 37,500 | 25,000 | |
| Korea ⇄ Southeast Asia | 30,000 | 20,000 | 45,000 | 30,000 | 52,500 | 35,000 | |
| Korea ⇄ Southwest Asia | 37,500 | 25,000 | 56,250 | 37,500 | 67,500 | 45,000 | |
| Korea ⇄ US, Oceania, Europe | 52,500 | 35,000 | 78,750 | 52,500 | 93,750 | 62,500 | |
| Connecting via South Korea | Japan ⇄ China/Northeast Asia | 33,750 | 22,500 | 45,000 | 30,000 | 52,500 | 35,000 |
| Japan, China/Northeast Asia ⇄ Southeast Asia | 41,250 | 27,500 | 52,500 | 35,000 | 63,750 | 42,500 | |
| Japan, China/Northeast Asia ⇄ Southwest Asia | 45,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 40,000 | 75,000 | 50,000 | |
| Japan, China/Northeast Asia ⇄ US, Oceania | 56,250 | 37,500 | 82,500 | 55,000 | 101,250 | 67,500 | |
| Japan, China/Northeast Asia ⇄ Europe | 56,250 | 37,500 | 82,500 | 55,000 | 101,250 | 67,500 | |
| Southeast Asia ⇄ Europe | 63,750 | 42,500 | 93,750 | 62,500 | 116,250 | 77,500 | |
| Southeast Asia ⇄ Southwest Asia | 52,500 | 35,000 | 78,750 | 52,500 | 97,500 | 65,000 | |
| Southeast Asia ⇄ US, Oceania | 63,750 | 42,500 | 93,750 | 62,500 | 116,250 | 77,500 | |
| Southwest Asia ⇄ US, Oceania | 71,250 | 47,500 | 105,000 | 70,000 | 131,250 | 87,500 | |
| Oceania ⇄ US | 78,750 | 52,500 | 120,000 | 80,000 | 150,000 | 100,000 | |
| Oceania ⇄ Europe | 78,750 | 52,500 | 120,000 | 80,000 | 150,000 | 100,000 |
To put this to an example, let’s say you want to fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) via Seoul-Incheon (ICN) on Asiana Airlines, using Asiana Club miles, departing on July 15, 2020 and returning on August 10, 2020. The first segment is off-peak, while the returning segment is during peak season.
Furthermore, these flights have “Business Smartium Class” installed, which is their best long-haul business class seat. This means that you’ll pay 100,000 miles plus 150,000 miles for the returning flight during peak season. You’ll definitely want to be careful to avoid peak season if you can, since a 50% price hike is huge.
Bottom Line: Asiana Airlines raises prices for peak season award tickets by 50% across the board. Therefore, if flying on Asiana Airlines while redeeming Asiana Airlines miles, you should book off-peak tickets when you can.
British Airways
British Airways employs a distance-based award chart with multiple zone brackets. In addition, there’s off-peak and peak pricing. British Airways also has multiple award charts, but British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus are the only airlines eligible for off-peak pricing.
Here are the remaining 2019 and 2020 off-peak and peak dates you’ll reference when redeeming British Airways Avios for British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus flights.
Off-Peak Dates:
- November 5, 2019 – December 13, 2019
- January 7, 2020 – February 13, 2020
- February 18-20, 2020
- February 25, 2020 – March 26, 2020
- April 15, 2020
- April 20, 2020 – May 21, 2020
- June 1, 2020 – July 3, 2020
- July 7, 2020
- August 11, 2020
- August 18, 2020
- September 7, 2020 – October 9, 2020
- October 12-15, 2020
- October 20-22, 2020
- October 27, 2020 – December 11, 2020
- December 15, 2020
Peak Dates:
- December 14, 2019 – January 6, 2020
- February 14-17, 2020
- February 21-24, 2020
- March 27, 2020 – April 14, 2020
- April 16-19, 2020
- May 22-31, 2020
- July 4-6, 2020
- July 8, 2020 – August 10, 2020
- August 12-17, 2020
- August 19, 2020 – September 6, 2020
- October 10-11, 2020
- October 16-19, 2020
- October 23-26, 2020
- December 12-14, 2020
- December 16-31, 2020
British Airways’ peak and off-peak calendars consist of wide bands, but they also contain multiple single date occurrences for off-peak dates. Once you’ve identified that seasonality of your travel dates, you’ll want to figure out how much your flight will cost.
To accomplish this, you’ll also need to figure out what the total distance of your flight is. Great Circle Mapper is a valid resource to gauge your flight distance.
| Zone (Miles) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First | ||||
| Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | |
| Zone 1 (1-650) | 4,000 | 4,500 | 5,750 | 6,750 | 7,750 | 9,000 | 15,500 | 18,000 |
| Zone 2 (651-1,151) | 6,500 | 7,500 | 9,500 | 11,250 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 25,500 | 30,000 |
| Zone 3 (1,152-2,000) | 8,500 | 10,000 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 34,000 | 40,000 |
| Zone 4 (2,001-3,000) | 10,000 | 12,500 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 31,250 | 37,500 | 42,500 | 50,000 |
| Zone 5 (3,001-4,000) | 13,000 | 20,000 | 26,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 68,000 | 80,000 |
| Zone 6 (4,001-5,500) | 16,250 | 25,000 | 32,500 | 50,000 | 62,500 | 75,000 | 85,000 | 100,000 |
| Zone 7 (5,501-6,500) | 19,500 | 30,000 | 39,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 | 90,000 | 102,000 | 120,000 |
| Zone 8 (6,501-7,000) | 22,750 | 35,000 | 45,500 | 70,000 | 87,500 | 105,000 | 119,000 | 140,000 |
| Zone 9 (7,001+) | 32,500 | 50,000 | 65,000 | 100,000 | 125,000 | 150,000 | 170,000 | 200,000 |
Let’s take an example flight from Boston (BOS) to London-Heathrow (LHR) in British Airways first class on April 15, 2020. Since this date falls into the off-peak category and the flight distance is 3,265 miles according to Great Circle Mapper, you will pay 68,000 Avios for this flight. This represents a savings of 12,000 Avios compared to a peak flight.
Hot Tip: See our guides on the top ways to earn lots of British Airways Avios, and then make sure you’re redeeming them for the best value possible!
Iberia
Iberia is Spain’s flag carrier. The airline happens to be owned by the same company that owns British Airways and Aer Lingus (discussed in earlier sections of this guide), but interestingly, the peak and off-peak calendars don’t match when using Avios from different frequent flyer programs.
Additionally, Iberia uses peak and off-peak dates for flights on Iberia, Iberia Express, and Iberia Regional/Air Nostrum. For all other airlines, a different award chart will apply and seasonality is not used.
The remaining 2019 and 2020 off-peak and peak dates are as follows:
Off-Peak Dates:
- November 5, 2019 – December 4, 2019
- December 7, 2019
- December 9-13, 2019
- December 25-26, 2019
- January 14, 2020 – April 1, 2020
- April 4-7, 2020
- April 14-29, 2020
- May 2, 2020
- May 4-13, 2020
- May 16, 2020
- May 18, 2020 – June 9, 2020
- June 12-13, 2020
- June 15-18, 2020
- September 14, 2020 – October 7, 2020
- October 10-11, 2020
- October 13-21, 2020
- October 24-29, 2020
- November 3, 2020 – December 3, 2020
- December 6-7, 2020
- December 9-15, 2020
- December 21-22, 2020
Peak Dates:
- December 5-6, 2019
- December 8, 2019
- December 14-24, 2019
- December 27, 2019 – January 13, 2020
- April 2-3, 2020
- April 8-13, 2020
- April 30, 2020
- May 1, 2020
- May 3, 2020
- May 14-15, 2020
- May 17, 2020
- June 10-11, 2020
- June 14, 2020
- June 19, 2020 – September 13, 2020
- October 8-9, 2020
- October 12, 2020
- October 22-23, 2020
- October 30-31, 2020
- November 1-2, 2020
- December 4-5, 2020
- December 8, 2020
- December 16-20, 2020
- December 23-31, 2020
Since Iberia uses off-peak and peak pricing only on their own flights, we’re going to be referencing the award chart for Iberia flights only.
Here’s the Iberia Avios award chart for flights on Iberia:
| Distance | Economy Blue | Full Fare Economy | Premium Economy | Business | ||||
| Miles | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak |
| 0 – 650 | 4,500 | 5,000 | 6,750 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A | 9,000 | 10,000 |
| 651 – 1,150 | 7,500 | 8,250 | 11,250 | 12,500 | N/A | N/A | 15,000 | 16,500 |
| 1,151 – 2,000 | 10,000 | 11,000 | 15,000 | 16,500 | N/A | N/A | 20,000 | 22,000 |
| 2,001 – 3,000 | 11,000 | 12,500 | 16,000 | 18,750 | N/A | N/A | 21,250 | 31,250 |
| 3,001 – 4,000 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 22,000 | 28,000 | 25,500 | 35,000 | 34,000 | 50,000 |
| 4,001 – 5,500 | 21,250 | 25,000 | 27,750 | 35,000 | 31,750 | 43,750 | 42,500 | 62,500 |
| 5,501 – 6,500 | 25,500 | 30,000 | 33,250 | 42,000 | 38,250 | 52,500 | 51,000 | 75,000 |
| 6,501 – 7,000 | 29,750 | 35,000 | 38,750 | 49,000 | 44,250 | 61,250 | 59,500 | 87,500 |
| 7,000+ | 42,500 | 50,000 | 55,250 | 70,000 | 63,750 | 87,500 | 85,000 | 125,000 |
| Exceptions | ||||||||
| Air Shuttle | N/A | N/A | 6,250 | 6,250 | N/A | N/A | 13,500 | 13,500 |
| Madrid-London | 6,500 | 7,500 | 9,750 | 11,250 | N/A | N/A | 12,750 | 15,000 |
For example, if you’re planning on flying in business class from San Francisco (SFO) to Madrid (MAD) on September 23, 2020, then you’ll be paying for an off-peak business class award for a flight that spans 5,811 miles. This corresponds to a 51,000 Avios price, which is significantly cheaper than the 75,000 Avios cost for a peak award.
Korean Air
Just like its main competitor airline Asiana Airlines, Korean Air uses peak and off-peak pricing. Korean Air SKYPASS is a fantastic program to redeem miles on, with plenty of options ranging from Korean Air first class to Etihad First Class Apartments.
Although there aren’t very many ways to accrue Korean Air miles from transferable points, there are still great ways to earn lots of Korean Air SKYPASS miles.
Korean Air employs a region-based award chart. Also, one-way flight redemptions are only allowed on Korean Air. For all partners, you must book round-trip if you want to use miles.
Hot Tip: Korean Air is one of the few airlines that still operates the A380. Check out our review of Korean Air’s A380 first class.
To determine whether or not your flights fall into peak season, you’ll need to know the route and the travel dates. Peak dates for Korean Air are:
| Origin | Destination | Remaining 2019 Peak Dates | 2020 Peak Dates |
| Korea | Korea | December 31, 2019 | January 1, 2020 January 23-28, 2020 February 22-29, 2020 April 30, 2020 – May 5, 2020 July 25, 2020 – August 22, 2020 September 29, 2020 – October 5, 2020 October 8-11, 2020 December 25-27, 2020 December 31, 2020 |
| Korea, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania | Korea, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, Africa, North America, South America | December 20-31, 2019 | January 1, 2020 January 22-28, 2020 July 12, 2020 – August 16, 2020 September 25, 2020 – October 5, 2020 December 20-31, 2020 |
| North America, South America | Korea, Asia, Oceania, North America, South America | December 10-23, 2019 | May 14, 2020 – July 10, 2020 December 10,-23, 2020 |
Korean Air’s round-trip award chart is as follows (one-way awards are half the price):
| Routes | Season | Economy | Prestige | First | |
| Domestic within Korea | Off | 10,000 | 12,000 | – | |
| Peak | 15,000 | 18,000 | – | ||
| Korea | Japan, China/Northeast Asia | Off | 30,000 | 45,000 | 65,000 |
| Peak | 45,000 | 65,000 | 95,000 | ||
| Southeast Asia | Off | 40,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 | |
| Peak | 60,000 | 105,000 | 135,000 | ||
| Southwest Asia | Off | 50,000 | 90,000 | 115,000 | |
| Peak | 75,000 | 135,000 | 175,000 | ||
| North America, Oceania, Europe/Middle East/Africa | Off | 70,000 | 125,000 | 160,000 | |
| Peak | 105,000 | 185,000 | 240,000 | ||
| South America | Off | 100,000 | 180,000 | 220,000 | |
| Peak | 150,000 | 270,000 | 330,000 | ||
| Japan | China/Northeast Asia | Off | 40,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 |
| Peak | 60,000 | 90,000 | 135,000 | ||
| Southeast Asia | Off | 50,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 | |
| Peak | 75,000 | 105,000 | 135,000 | ||
| Southwest Asia | Off | 60,000 | 90,000 | 115,000 | |
| Peak | 90,000 | 135,000 | 175,000 | ||
| North America, Oceania, Europe/Middle East/Africa | Off | 70,000 | 125,000 | 160,000 | |
| Peak | 105,000 | 185,000 | 240,000 | ||
| South America | Off | 100,000 | 180,000 | 220,000 | |
| Peak | 150,000 | 270,000 | 330,000 | ||
| China/Northeast Asia | Southeast Asia | Off | 50,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| Peak | 75,000 | 105,000 | 135,000 | ||
| Southwest Asia | Off | 60,000 | 90,000 | 115,000 | |
| Peak | 90,000 | 135,000 | 175,000 | ||
| North America, Oceania, Europe/Middle East/Africa | Off | 70,000 | 125,000 | 160,000 | |
| Peak | 105,000 | 185,000 | 240,000 | ||
| South America | Off | 100,000 | 180,000 | 220,000 | |
| Peak | 150,000 | 270,000 | 330,000 | ||
| Southeast Asia | Southwest Asia | Off | 70,000 | 125,000 | 160,000 |
| Peak | 105,000 | 185,000 | 240,000 | ||
| North America, Oceania, Europe/Middle East/Africa | Off | 85,000 | 150,000 | 190,000 | |
| Peak | 125,000 | 225,000 | 285,000 | ||
| South America | Off | 110,000 | 195,000 | 240,000 | |
| Peak | 165,000 | 290,000 | 360,000 | ||
| Southwest Asia | North America, Oceania, Europe/Middle East/Africa | Off | 95,000 | 170,000 | 210,000 |
| Peak | 140,000 | 255,000 | 315,000 | ||
| South America | Off | 120,000 | 215,000 | 260,000 | |
| Peak | 180,000 | 320,000 | 390,000 | ||
| Oceania | North America, Europe, Middle East/Africa | Off | 110,000 | 195,000 | 240,000 |
| Peak | 165,000 | 290,000 | 360,000 | ||
| North America | South America* | Off | 60,000 | 105,000 | 140,000 |
| Peak | 90,000 | 155,000 | 210,000 | ||
| Europe | Europe* | Off | 25,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 |
| Peak | 37,500 | 67,500 | 90,000 | ||
| Southwest Asia | Southwest Asia* | Off | 25,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 |
| Peak | 37,500 | 67,500 | 90,000 | ||
*direct flights only
If flying from New York City (JFK) to Seoul-Incheon (ICN) on Korean Air first class on December 17, 2020, your flight will fall into peak season. For this, you’ll pay 120,000 Korean Air miles one-way compared to 80,000 Korean Air miles for off-peak travel.
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic employs off-peak and peak seasons for Virgin Atlantic flights only, so they are not applicable to airlines like All Nippon Airways. Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic splits up seasonality calendars between Caribbean routes and all others.
For Caribbean routes, the remaining 2019 and 2020 off-peak season consists of the following date ranges:
- November 10, 2019 – December 10, 2019
- March 8, 2020 – April 2, 2020
- April 26, 2020 – July 14, 2020
- September 6, 2020 – October 23, 2020
- November 8, 2020 – December 11, 2020
On the other hand, Caribbean peak dates are:
- December 11, 2019 – March 7, 2020
- April 3-25, 2020
- July 15, 2020 – September 5, 2020
- October 24, 2020 – November 7, 2020
- December 12-31, 2020
The rest of Virgin Atlantic flights follow these off-peak dates:
- September 9, 2019 – December 12, 2019
- January 6, 2020 – April 2, 2020
- April 22, 2020 – June 19, 2020
- September 7, 2020 – December 11, 2020
Lastly, the peak dates for Virgin Atlantic’s non-Caribbean flights are:
- December 13, 2019 – January 5, 2020
- April 3-21, 2020
- June 20, 2020 – September 6, 2020
- December 12-31, 2020
Flights on Virgin Atlantic can be significantly cheaper if planning during off-peak dates. Here’s the Virgin Atlantic award chart for one-way, off-peak season bookings:
| Route To/From U.K. | Economy Classic | Premium | Upper Class |
| U.S. — Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York-JFK, Washington, DC) | 10,000 | 17,500 | 47,500 |
| U.S. — Midwest and South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | 12,500 | 22,500 | 47,500 |
| U.S. — West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 15,000 | 27,500 | 67,500 |
| Africa, China, and Hong Kong | 12,500 | 22,500 | 57,500 |
| Caribbean | 10,000 | 17,500 | 57,500 |
| India | 10,000 | 17,500 | 37,500 |
| Tel Aviv | 9,000 | 16,000 | 28,000 |
And here’s the Virgin Atlantic award chart for one-way peak season bookings:
| Route To/From U.K. | Economy Classic | Premium | Upper Class |
| U.S. – Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York-JFK, Washington, DC) | 20,000 | 27,500 | 57,500 |
| U.S. – Midwest and South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | 22,500 | 32,500 | 57,500 |
| U.S. – West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 25,000 | 35,000 | 77,500 |
| Africa, China, and Hong Kong | 22,500 | 32,500 | 57,500 |
| Caribbean | 20,000 | 27,500 | 67,500 |
| India | 20,000 | 27,500 | 47,500 |
| Tel Aviv | 11,000 | 20,000 | 33,000 |
Let’s take an example flight from London-Heathrow (LHR) to Las Vegas (LAS), which is on the U.S. west coast. If you book a flight during peak season in Upper Class, you’ll pay 77,500 miles, as opposed to the off-peak price of 67,500 miles.
Final Thoughts
Overall, there are a lot of airlines that have unique peak and off-peak season policies. For the most part, airlines tend to limit the price variation from seasonality to their own airlines. For example, Asiana Airlines levies peak surcharges only on flights operated by Asiana and not on any other carriers.
An exception to this would be American Airlines AAdvantage, which makes off-peak pricing in economy available on partner airlines such as British Airways.
Keeping track of peak dates and booking travel flexibly to avoid peak season is a recipe to conserving your hard-earned points and miles. As a result, you’ll want to confirm that you’re getting the best value redemption prior to committing to a flight.
Now, you have a one-stop-shop for a guide on the airlines that carry peak and off-peak policies for award bookings. Happy booking!
