Frontier expects to increase award availability by more than 30 percent through its change in the way it determines award inventory. Instead of allocating a predetermined number of seats on each flight as award seats, the airline will adjust the number of award seats based on the expected demand for that flight.

Airline representatives report that the change will open up more overall seats for awards, although it will still be difficult to find redemption seats on popular routes. “This is truly a benefit for our membership. We have increased availability which has allowed us and the members to be more flexible using miles for redemption travel,” said Mark Dority, Manager, EarlyReturns. “In our testing we’ve seen an increased amount of seat availability and our members have taken advantage of the increase.”

Frontier is also adding blackout dates for travel within the contiguous U.S., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Anchorage. Members will be unable to redeem miles for award flights on days mostly around holidays when seats are in high demand. The Web site explains, “So, the most popular flights (such as the day before Christmas or Thanksgiving) are now considered blackout dates, but the non-peak days will have several more seats available than the previous set amount.”

EarlyReturns Plus members will be able to redeem miles on blackout dates at the exclusive elite mileage levels that start at 20,000 miles for a one-way flight. Visit http://insideflyerus.wpengine.com/link/?454 for details.