When I play a game, I try to at least know the most important rules. With seats for award travel on popular routes such a limited commodity, I figure it makes sense to know when seats are actually released for award travel.

I've heard all sorts of different things, from so-called experts to NW agents - and I've spent quit a bit of time attempting to decipher things on the NWA website. None of these seem to agree.

I often hear the "331 days" rule - that award travel seats become available 331 days in advance. Yet it appears that you can book award travel more than 331 days in advance on Northwest's website (sometimes, to some places); in other cases, it appears that seats for award travel have not yet been released 330 days from now.

Does anyone really know what the deal is? When exactly do seats become available? I'm looking at booking some award travel for about 350 days in advance, and want to be ready to jump when the seats are actually available - if only I could figure that out.

Thanks.

PS: Sorry if this is answered elsewhere - I looked for it and didn't see it.