The airlines have no one to blame but themselves when they make it almost impossible to redeem. The new Delta is probably a good example of those "frequent fryer" programs the other poster was asking about -- it seems to be a rather warm day in Hades whenever I'm able to find the award trips I want. I had the same difficulty on Northwest/KLM. If they're going to advertise "free" trips, the fees need to go away. If they want to keep the fees -- and they probably should, considering that airlines aren't profitable -- then they need to improve availability. The program, as it stands, is pure bait and switch to a lot of people. I went through a period on Northwest when, even with all the flexibility in the world -- ANY date, ANY destination -- I couldn't find ANY saver awards. I'm hearing the same sad stories about the new Delta/Northwest borg-monster.