Last-minute business-class award tickets are booked with airline miles and vary. They are typically within two to three weeks of the scheduled departure, but sometimes within days. This can sometimes result in airlines releasing additional award inventory for otherwise empty premium seats. Naturally, a precondition is that the airline has failed to sell its premium seats, as, if the system assesses that all the premium seats will be sold at the full cash rate, then they will not be offered at a discount.