I am leaving in a few days with Mrs. hawaiisloth for a trip in first on saver award travel to LHR.

I made the reservation as soon as I could some 310 days ago, and the outbound was less than optimal (although I was very grateful I could get seats at all), with two redeyes--HNL (redeye)--LAX--ORD (on a three class plane )--LHR (redeye getting in at 6:00 a.m.).

I had waitlisted, from the beginning, HNL-LAX or SFO (non-redeye)-LHR (redeye getting in around 1:00 p.m.).

The waitlists were not clearing. I made numerous phone calls, with requests to forward my waitlist requests to inventory control. None of the agents I spoke with would do that, nor would their supervisors. I e-mailed 1K customer service, and they responded there was nothing they could do.

Yesterday, I reached an agent who was very sympathetic, and said she would forward my request to "inventory control." I hadn't even asked, because I had given up asking--inventory control, it seemed, was off limits.

This morning, all waitlists cleared. Do you think this was just the timing of the flights (the waitlisted flights were 72 hours out this morning, but united.com shows no saver availability at all) or the magic of "inventory control."

Regardless, I was more than happy to pay the extra $200.