Here is the article:

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw...7752&sn=Detail

I agree....I can always get award tickets on AA/upgradeable seats suing miles....

DL is the WORST....I am trying to get rid of 100k DL miles for something decent...

FWIW, Delta has just loaded new web software that lets you search ff inventory by the month. If you're flexible, it does help you find that needle in a haystack.

I booked 2 saver via nw and 1 saver via CO on DL in J SFO/DTW/SYR(different domestic starting points) to EZE and back We left Dec26 and returned Jan 9. I booked them exactly 331 days in advance.

how do you book the return if its "331 day in advance" has not yet happened at the time you check online about the outbound portion? You could call in and maybe they can hold or note the flights intended, but then you have to pay the phone booking fee.

They waive the change fee if you book the one way and add the return. They got rid of the 14 day hold last year because of the sheer amount of seats that would be held up at all times.

Hard to argue with the findings.

my friend is trying to book 4 coach FF seats to Maui as we speak, being 330 days out for his destination and he is running into some issues. They say they have seats but the agent at AA can only hold the outbound on the first leg and not the stop over or the return because those dates of 330 days from them have not yet happened. She told him there's still a fee too. AND on returning, she cannot book the beginning part of his return because the rest of it will actually be on the next day, meaning that too must wait one more day to be booked 330 days out.

I've had some success at AA getting them to waive fees in such circumstances. I asked them to check with a supervisor, and they put a note in my record. Frankly, I was a bit surprised at how helpful they were. The good thing about American reservations is that they're actually, well, Americans. No cultural divide to conquer when requesting a favor.

DL actually has a formal policy (or at least did a few months ago) to waive the rebooking fee for those booking their outbounds before the returns clock 331 days. Unlike AA, though, you sometimes have to deal with India rez. Good luck with that! DL International seems to get you to an American who will be more likely to understand, though.

Are you serious? It's pretty easy to argue with findings when his sample is limited to 25 routes and 1 set of dates for each route. It may be indicative of a larger trend, but it certainly not statistically significant.

For those interested, I've writen a "proposed solution" to the question of what should be done about airlines and the lack of award seats. It was in response to a typical newbie question on the Delta board complaining that he couldn't redeem miles. In typical fashion, most Delta board members are showing the guy little sympathy. I personally think such questions are more than reasonable.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....1&postcount=23

iahphx, Truly a great evaluation of the rewards redemption situation. Well done.

Thanks. This is probably the single biggest example of airlines treating the travelling public unfairly, yet nothing is done about it.

It's kind of funny, because in general I'm no airline critic. I think most airlines do an extraordinary job of getting people from point A to point B with almost perfect safety, reasonable comfort and great value. I certainly get more value from airlines than any other SERVICE I purchase (my general theory is that goods are cheap in America, and services are overpriced).

Yet despite this value equation, the airlines have allowed the frequent flyer programs to morph into something quite dodgy. Selling mileage is like crack to airlines; they can't get enough of it. Yet, with margins so squeezed and every dollar critical, they refuse to make available enough seats for consumers to actually use the mileage they've accumulated.

So why is nothing done? I think the primary reason is that these programs are just too darn complicated. Have any of you guys ever listened to a Congressional hearing on the airline industry? The overall level of cluelessness is high. Most Congressman just can't understand why Des Moines doesn't have more nonstop service, and why there's less price competition into secondary cities. You want them to try to figure out frequent flyer seat availability? It's way beyond their pay grade.

And frequent flyers themselves don't complain enough. The ones who are most passionate about the whole thing -- flyertalk participants -- are generally excellent gamers. OK, maybe we're annoyed we can't fly to Paris for free anytime we'd like, but we've all figured out something we can do with the miles. If we even care about free tickets -- a lot of folks just want first class upgrades.

So "the game" continues. I suspect eventually it will get so bad that the airlines will be called onto the carpet for it -- especially in our litigious society. Or the airlines themselves will feel sufficient pressure to clean up their act (maybe if nobody accumulates ff miles on credit cards anymore?).

In the meantime, plenty of flyertalkers will be staying up until midnight 331 days in advance to get their rare reward tickets booked.

agreed!

IN FACT, many flyerTalkers almost seem to secretly EMBRACE the added challenge when there are less seats available so they can say to themselves or others how cool it is that THEY were savvy enough to book a flight!

My question is this:
is it 331 days from where you call from, from where you are flying from, or from where the airline is based out of?

That could make a difference in the stay up all night schema.

MM

I was able to book 3 C awards SEA-SYD with a stop over within 3 days of my requested fly dates (July -Aug '07) on QF using AS miles, 110k each. I booked them 330 days out. I know AS is a smaller player but someone using AA miles or a OW partner could have snagged these seats.

My luck with SEA-Europe tickets in C has been good with AA too.