Originally Posted by
nwflyboy
I got a very nice, veteran agent who tried all the things I suggested, and told me there was nothing - this was 329 days out from the return date. Her only suggestion was to keep checking the website and keep calling back. She said everything was completely random.
I'm glad you got a very nice agent. Reading some of the posts here would lead you to believe NW doesn't employ any...
In any case, that's beside the point. Kudos for being aware of the timeframe and beginning your search early. But, in my experience, it can be very difficult to find availability this far out. The airline doesn't even know how it wants to allocate its revenue seats into which particular fare classes for most flights that far out let alone whether or not they're going to provide any award seats on that flight. My best luck booking award tickets has usually come 4-6 weeks prior to departure, believe it or not. I would generally recommend starting your search in earnest about two months out, but I understand the desire to get things locked in earlier. Unfortunately, you might have to wait until they decide on a closer level just how to allocate seats on that flight with a little more granularity. This far out, I'd save yourself some time and probably check only a few times
per week, if even
that much. I don't think inventory is that volitile 300+ days out. But, to each his own. ExpertFlyer.com [subscription-based], among other places, provide tools to check inventory on a regular basis and provide you alerts if something opens up. You might consider giving that a try.
Originally Posted by
nwflyboy
What I'm looking for is some indication of whether or not ANYONE has any possibility of getting a seat on a particular flight.
As I understand it, no flights are ever specifically designated to not have any award seats available. Even on milestone flights (first flight of a new aircraft type, aircraft/fleet type retirement flight, opening up service to a new destination, etc.) there is usually award inventory, albeit many times at PerkPass award levels.
So, yes, I do think there exists the possibility to get an award seat on any particular flight at some point in time. Some flights may inherently be more difficult to find seats on, though.
Good luck, and have a little faith.