I'll do you guys one better.

I have a trip booked to India with a stopover in CDG in November. The days I fly weren't ideal; doable, but not perfect. So, I'd been searching the award calendar for other dates. Calendar was blank.

On the actual flight list, I found a Saver Biz seat on an AF/DL combo. I couldn't get "change my reservation" to grab it (that's another gripe I have... "change my reservation" doesn't show the same options the award search does) so I called the desk. Well, the agent comes back with three NW flights (not the AF/DL combo that I saw) and what she showed me didn't appear on my search. I said, heck, if that's the case, start from Sunday and work backwards, see what you find. She found me saver biz seats on Saturday, which made my day. Also, she found me saver biz seats on NW metal from DTW to CDG on the outbound, which also didn't appear in my search.

Go figure. I won't call online useless, but it isn't perfect.