Originally Posted by
aktchi
Presumably those inquiring about 9W availability here do not have 9W miles (or they could have checked themselves) and plan to use partner miles.
Therefore it should be pointed out that just because 9W makes certain seats available for its own awards does not mean those will be necessarily available to partners as well.
Of course, it is a good sign and doesn't hurt to ask.
True. I recently tested out this theory by using AAdvantage.
Checked availability on 9W myself for DEL-HKG sector. 2 seats available in business class.
Rang up AAdvantage and sure the agent could see 2 seats. I made her put one of them on hold for me. After ending the call, checked my AA account to see if the award was properly held. Then logged in to my JP account and sure enough, the sector now had only 1 seat available.
At least AAdvantage has access to the same inventory that 9W makes available to own members. YMMV for other programs.