Freq Flyer Award Question

[scootert]

Does anyone know the timeline Northwest or Continental uses to "release" seats for frequent flyer awards? We've only been able to book seats at the higher, unrestricted flight miles. We know there is an abundance of award miles out there and airlines are limiting/decreasing the available seats, but it seems like once in a while we should be able to get a ticket for 25,000 miles instead of 50,000. Appreciate any ideas/thoughts. Thanks

[Steamboat_willie_2]

Can't speak for the airlines you mentioned..but have had experiece with United And UsAir.

The nuber of award seats available changes constantly.... some added...some taken away. You just have to keep calling back.

With some award tickets ( usually the Business and First Class tix)...regardless of when you call....the road warriors ( who fly 100k miles each year) get first crack.

[CarolMN]

IIRC, the FF seats for NWA are released at midnight 330 days ahead of time. You can call 800-44-PERKS to verify.

It is very difficult to get the standard award seats for popular tourist destinations like Orlando and Las Vegas. Sometimes NWA releases additional seats as the dates get closer, so it pays to check every so often. A few weeks ago, I lucked out and was able to get 3 seats (for 25,000 miles each) from MSP to MCO for this August. Had been checking weekly since early February.

Good luck!

[scootert]

CarolMn, thanks so much.. and congratulations on snagging those seats to MCO. Our experience is that it's difficult to get standard seats with NW anywhere -- we couldn't get standard seats to Syracuse -- started checking 10 months out. Frustrating, but for graduation it was well worth it. Thanks again..