Originally Posted by
iahphx
Right, the data says that.
But there's something screwy about the data, because it is generally much more difficult to find Skymiles award seats. Everyone's individual experiences are anecdotal, but try it yourself: take a domestic city pair a few months in advance and try it on Delta and United. See what happens.
The only thing I can think of is that more people are trying to book award travel on Delta, or are willing to pay more miles for the awards.
It's also possible that Delta is better at making seats available close to departure time. As I indicated, I generally book award travel months in advance.
With the usual caveat that this is anecdotal, I think you are absolutely right on both accounts:
(1) Booking a domestic or Canadian itin months in advance, it appears to me to be far easier to book an award on UA than DL. Unless I'm flying to fly around a holiday, UA's whole schedule for the day will be pretty much available.
(2) DL seems to open up seats close to departure time. My DL awards have been int'l, and those pesky MCI-ATL segments - even off-peak flights that are less than 50% full - clear two or three weeks before departure.
It sounds like you agree with me: it's frickin' annoying.