For as long as we can remember, SAS opened its EuroBonus award space ~330 days before departure. From recent searches, we now see that pushed out to roughly 361 days (about a month earlier than the old limit). I confirmed it across a few routes and dates in June 2026.

Key Takeaways

  • The release moved, not the search window. SAS now opens its own EuroBonus award seats up to about 361 days before departure, instead of holding most of them until ~330 days. The program search window itself (about 360 to 361 days) is roughly the same as before.
  • In our testing, SAS-priced (SAS Bonus Portal) awards appeared ~359 days out, while the more expensive SkyTeam partner price appeared ~361 days out.
  • This is for SAS-operated flights. Partner airlines still release on their own schedules, which our award release dates guide tracks.
  • Tested June 2026. Booking windows can shift without notice, so always confirm on the day.

Larger Booking Window: From ~330 Days to ~361

Two numbers matter here, and they are easy to mix up. We receive a lot of support questions about them.

The first is the program booking window: how far ahead EuroBonus lets you search and book at all. That has been about 360 days for a while, and it has not really changed.

The second is the airline release: how far ahead SAS actually loads its own award seats into that window. This is the part that moved. For years, SAS held most of its own award inventory back. The old pattern was roughly two Saver (Plus) seats at 330 days within Europe, with more seats trickling out around 300 days. So even though you could search 360 days out, SAS-operated flights usually showed nothing useful until you got down to about 330 days.

That gap is what closed: In 2026, we started seeing SAS loading its own award seats almost to the edge of the booking window. The clearest example was Copenhagen to Tokyo in Business.

AwardFares Timeline view showing SAS EuroBonus Business Class award seats from Copenhagen to Tokyo bookable into late May and June 2027

To be clear about what this is and is not: this is SAS releasing its own seats earlier. It does not change what partner airlines do, and it does not mean every route is suddenly wide open. It means the wall that used to sit at 330 days has moved out to nearly a year.

Locking In Peak 2027 Seats Before Everyone Else

A month of extra lead time sounds small. In award booking it is not.

Sometimes the best seats, especially in Business, are scarce and go first. With seats now opening close to 361 days, you can book the hardest dates, like school holidays, Christmas, and peak summer 2027, before most travelers even start looking. The earlier you are, the better your odds on the routes that matter: Copenhagen to Tokyo, Copenhagen to New York, and the long-haul Asia and US flights where two Business seats can vanish in a day.

Let the Alert Do the Waiting

You do not have to watch the calendar by hand. Point an AwardFares alert at the exact route, cabin, and date you want, and we tell you the moment a seat opens.

How to See the New Far-Out Space on AwardFares

You can check this yourself in under a minute.

  1. Open AwardFares and pick SAS EuroBonus as your program.
  2. Set your route, for example Copenhagen (CPH) to Tokyo (TYO), and choose Business.
  3. Switch to the Timeline view and scroll out toward the end of the calendar, around May and June 2027.
  4. Look for the bookable days near the far edge. That is the new release window in action.

If your date is not open yet, or the seats are gone, set an alert from the same screen. New routes and peak dates often get a burst of award space when they first load, then tighten quickly, so being early is the whole game.

The Fine Print

A few things worth considering:

  • This is SAS-operated metal. SkyTeam partners like Air France, KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic each release on their own timelines. Our award release dates guide lists them program by program.
  • Windows move. Airlines adjust these schedules without announcing them. I found 359 to 361 days in June 2026; it could shift again. Always confirm on the day rather than trusting a fixed number.
  • Far out does not mean unlimited. SAS still releases a small number of seats per flight at first. Early access helps you reach them before others, but it does not create more of them.

We have updated our Ultimate Guide to Award Release Dates to reflect this. If you spot SAS releasing even earlier, or notice the price split behaving differently, let us know and I will re-test.

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