Originally Posted by
sdsearch
WN does have capacity control on awards, it's just that they're the same as the capacity controls on the lowest paid fares. The moment the lowest paid fares sell out, awards at WN jump to a much higher level.
That's not the only problem. In addition to capacity controls, revenue fare rules on WN also apply to award travel. For example, looking at HOU-LAX just now, I see that that the lowest one-way fare is $70, but it's only available if you book at least 7 days in advance. For close-in bookings, the fare jumps to $592 (full fare) because of the fare rules, regardless of whether or not the lower-fare buckets "sold out." That's more or less a 700% surcharge for bookings less than a week out, and because of how Rapid Rewards is structured, that applies equally to award redemptions. As has already been said: be careful what you wish for.