What's with the stupid AF reward system?
 

I called last night to check availability from IAh-CPH on AF and was told that they would have to send in a request and it would take 5 days to get an answer. AA,UA,NW,US have all been able to give me instant answers for their partners. NW even gave me an answer right away for Jet Airways which is a podunk airline in India. I think that CO should realize that its not 1972 anymore.

While the system is quite odd, in point of fact, I have been able to get confirmed seats in first for both QF and AZ awards. I know it's a far inferior system, but at least I could get the award seats.

When I asked the CO rep what was up with that they told me AF did not want to allow CO to have access to their inventory. That's why. However, when you try to book a flight about 2 weeks in advance, the CO rep will actually call AF and will be able to give you real time availability info. That's how I got my CDG-VIE-CDG award ticket.

Either I've been extremely lucky or the system is changing, but when I called in this past week I was able to book AF reward tickets right away, without the usual several days of delay. They're testing out a new computer system, allowing the CO reps to directly access the AF seats.