Originally Posted by truncated

Two data points:

Was browsing seats.aero last month and saw F availability on ORD-HND for last week pop up (suspect it was someone else's cancellation since it wasn't T-14/21) — date worked for me so called VS, no hold time and got a great agent who knew what she was doing and had it booked within 10 minutes (even gave me the NH PNR without having to ask). $203.70 in taxes/fees.

Currently in Japan and was looking for a flight back (have a one-way Y award on another airline) — UA was/is showing saver J space on HND-ORD Saturday (as well as HND-IAD, HND-IAH, NRT-SFO, and even the late/reduced service HND-JFK, so I feel like the T-7 releases are still happening to an extent), and OZ and SK showed it as well but AC, AV and SQ didn't. Wasn't sure if this was phantom or not, but figured I'd give it a shot so called in, after ~25 minutes on hold had another great agent who had no issue booking it. $261.50 in fees this time.

So for those of us who are US-based NH redemptions aren't an impossibility if you have the flexibility to book close-in, although who knows when the next devaluation will hit