Dear Randy,

We are planning a trip of a lifetime for our son's future graduation. He has been enthralled with Egypt since he was eight years old and is even considering studying to become an Egyptologist.

I have carefully planned for years, and we will have enough frequent flyer miles one year before we travel for four business class tickets on United from Hawaii to Egypt. Here are my questions: How far in advance should I book? Is there a specific time of day I should call when frequent flyer seats become available? What flights tend to have the most frequent flyer seats available? Is one city better to fly to than another for seat availability?

- Denise

Randy replies:

Let's break this down by question: How far in advance should I book? Most would likely say "as soon as possible." In the case of United Mileage Plus, you can book awards starting 331 days out but airlines don't load all their award inventory at that time. Monthly research from InsideFlyer has shown that six months in advance (except for seasonal blips) is statistically the best time to plan award travel. By then all the award availability is fully loaded including partner airline inventory. But given this is connected with a graduation, and that usually means travel during summer months, let me offer up a great tip. The busiest month for award requests is typically in January. My advice is to seek award seats for any summer travel plans in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas--you can increase your odds greatly. Also, begin and end your trip mid-week to increase your chances of getting four business class seats on the same flight. Is there a specific time of day I should call when frequent flyer seats become available? This question clearly shows you to be organized, and interestingly enough this is important ... as is the specific day of the week. It's important because I doubt you'll be able to complete your entire award itinerary using United's online booking tool. They have made improvements to it, but I think it best to realize that you will be spending time on the phone with United. Be prepared to pay a $25 fee for booking over the phone--not much considering the trip of a lifetime. Now, as to the day of the week and the time of the day. Because you are starting from Hawaii, your choices are fairly complicated, you can either opt to fly westward which means that all of your awards will come from "international" buckets or you can opt to fly eastward which means you'll have a combination of "domestic" and "international" buckets. Each has a specific positive and negative advantage. Changes are posted daily at 10am, 12:30pm and 8pm. Weekends are posted only at 5pm.These are feeds of both award and price point availability. The trick is to understand that availability doesn't show up instantly--they run a two-hour delay or so and the 8pm feed shows up at midnight. Day of the week? Just after midnight on a weekend. Also, because you will be doing this by phone, these are the slowest days for the reservation centers which means the agents can spend more time with you. What flights tend to have the most frequent flyer seats available? With business class international awards, you really have no choice. Unlike domestic flights where you can have five or six flights daily, there will often be just one or two. Sorry, no tricks here. Is one city better to fly to than another for seat availability? Easy--non-hub flights. A trick in planning is to choose connection points that are non-hub flights for the airline with which you are flying. For instance, if flying United through the mainland, avoid Chicago, Denver and San Francisco in your planning. Why? This is where most of the Mileage Plus members live and as a result, there's just too much competition for your seats.