Originally Posted by
IAH-OIL-TRASH
Yeah, the idea of redeeming for award travel and selling later doesn't actually work due to this one (huge) hurdle. I expect a more benign reason. Plus, the idea that a refunded award results in a new award seat necessarily being made available has zero credibility.
Exactly. If a partner airline gives up an award seat, NH doesn't have to re-offer that seat to UA (or *A partners) if they feel that they're better off selling it themselves (either revenue or award).
Also, I'm sure there is also a non-zero number of people who use Expert Flyer to look for NH award seats using UA miles more than 300+ days out. Good on everyone who can book award tickets 330 days out. I can barely plan what I'm doing tomorrow.