I've had the same troubles as most people in getting award tickets. But had great success online yesterday, for trip to Costa Rica next week. Got two 35K tickets from the midwest with options on either NW/DL or NW/CO. Of course, it is off season but I beleive most of it has to do with last minute options. Couple of weeks ago I did a FF trip to NYC with 5 days notice.

Most people don't have the flexibility to do last minute travel. Wish there was a easy way of doing a "dream map" version for award tickets.

Online award checking is nice but the call centers still can find options not available online.