Not sure why you're STILL obsessing over the 330-day window? :confused: It's surprising how many people still seem to think that award inventory is all loaded way in advance and you have to jump on it to get it! Totally false. My understanding and experience is that airlines use yield management for award inventory just as for any inventory. Award availability gets loaded throughout the year (NOT just 330 days in advance), based on forecasts of supply and demand. A lot of us have snagged good award seats 4-6 weeks (or less) before flight date.

You might pose your questions on the AA forum rather than here (which is a generic miles forum) for more detailed answers. Anyway, stop obsessing about booking awards 11 months in advance!!! :eek:

The FFPs are pretty guilty of instilling the 'book 330 days out' propaganda line. So, its not overly surprising that many folks are fixated on that booking window. Most non-FTers I know bandy around the '330 days' reference as well.

Clearly, IF airlines do open up invemtory at 330 days, than being the early bird will be a big advantage. So, no harm in checking at 330 days, but temper your expectations.

A year later, and I'm still waiting for an answer to this question (see above). :confused:

It is not easy to book upgrades, particularly when they are rarely shown on the airlines' website (which does not even consult all possible connections/routings) and/or upgrades that require special fares, i.e. H or M on UA.

As for OP's experience, no offense, but anybody can book an award trip to Zurich in February. Last year, I did it myself in about 10 min. at the 330-day mark. Europe in the summer or Hawaii at peak season is a bit different, particularly if you want C or F seats. :cool:

Based on this thread, I have no doubt that awardplanner is a valuable service, particularly for those who do not want to spend hours on the phone with outsourced CSRs attempting to snag difficult "saver" awards.

But, if you're hunting as I was (and I realized it belatedly, LaDonna, I bet, picked up on it right away) that JFK/LGW itinerary which included many months worth of inventory would have become available much sooner.

Remember, Delta (or the feds) announced that approval for the route was granted at the end or August for one set of outbound/return flights retroacitvely scheduled effective 11/1/06. (There's another pair that was approved effective 5/1/07).

That would mean that for each of those flights would have (or will in the case of the May 07 effective date for the second pair hit the Delta website at the same time and for many of them the 330 day rule (even if it is inviolate) didn't come into play until 330 days from whenever August date their invenrory was loaded..

Yesterday I took a look at the seating of our bookings going and coming in the middle of July 07 (less than 330 days from now).

In the 36-seat BizElite section on both our flights only three seats had been assigned, Mrs. Rahmanbar and myself and one other (crew seat, marshal, whatever).

And, Skysaver seats were still availabl - how many, I don't know. (Before someone asks, our outgoing flight (1) is on 7/11; the return (flight 2) is on 7/20.) We were informed that our's were available on 8/28 - unless I missed something that's pretty close to when the approval became public.

Ultimately I went with Awardplanner because of the complexity involved with using "FFP points" combined with the scarcity of seats that those points (their awards come out of the "Skysaver bucket) could get.

Before I was aware that there was a JFK-LGW itinerary in the works (LaDonna told me about it and said she was watching it carefully).

The bottom line is that I ended up with (if I had to pay for them) tickets that are currently being sold for $6,000 (deeply discounted BizElite w/advance purchase requirements and far too many restrictions to discuss). As time passes they surely will get more expensive.

Most importantly I got he ideal itinerary on my first choice of dates in the high season, (no ATL or CVG connections to be concerned about) when I was praying I would get something, anything (CVG or ATL) between 6/1/07 and 9/30/07.

I've got about 11 months of my one year-subscription to Award Planner remaining. Even if I don't utilize them again before it expires, for my purposes, the expenditure was well worth it.

Dude, how can they possibly offer a guarantee? When you charter a fishing boat, you're not guaranteed X pounds of fish. Especially if you are fishing for something particular, rare and weird. The point of this is to get a really good, experienced fisher-person on your side.

I will say it again: I paid $39 and for all that Nicki did for us, I'd have happily paid $399. YMMV.

Almost stopped reading at Dude. But with 4,000 + posts thought I'd read on.

Suggest you send her a check or flowers at a minimum. For $39, I'd agree with you and not ask for a guaranty.

But for $99, that's a lot of bread (goes with Dude!). My suggestion was not for a guaranty or refund, but for a discount on renewal. By renewing you'd get two years to use Award Planner and Award Planner instead of losing a customer would collect even more dollars (oops, bread). What with a two year window, I suspect that Award Planners would have a good shot at finding something. That's win win and good marketing.

Award Planners sounds like a good business concept if more consumer friendly. It could do lots of things to become so. A simple $30 to $60 credit against second year fee is just one way to approach that. A $69 charge woth a $30 success fee is another. But $99 consumer win or lose seems to be bad business to me.

BTW, how'd you get a $39 fee?

Glad you didn't, though. Didn't you like The Big Lebowski?
I agree that a cut-rate renewal might be a good enticement for people who did not have booking success in their first year, but I also have the feeling Randy doesn't run AwardPlanner as much of a profit center.
One year ago they were offering two ways in: a $39 one-trip fee or the $100 all-you-can-eat annual fee. I took the former deal and ultimately felt bad about it because with the hours Nicki put to our booking, including untangling mistakes the British Airways partner desk had made, we were paying something like $4 an hour for her time. We did send her a goodie box of Puget Sound treats -- something I'm told a lot of customers do.

You're likely right that Randy does not run it as much of a profit center. It seems like it could be. Perhaps we ought to back Nicki and have her buy it out.

My Travel agent will book award flights and take some time pressure off of me. But she really doesn't know enough to get past a sorry no seats by suggesting creative alternatives. Still she got two of us to Australia on Qantas (US Air partner at the time) in BC.

I did Rome in May 2004 for two myself with one call to Delta and London before that in late August for two, both BC. The London trip took a few calls and I'd have gladly paid $100 even to someone else.

I do one or two at best international pleasure trips a year where I might use miles. It might be worth the $100 even if the answer is no just based on time saved getting that answer. I am booked through year end, but I'll take a look at the 330 day window and see when it makes sense to give Award Planners a try.

Right now I want to go to Africa and the wife wants to go to Southern Italy in 2007. Guess I need to either read the threads on separate vacations or get ready for Italy!

This might be a good analogy for AwardPlanner to use when talking with prospective clients.