In 2004 I flew NWA quite a bit for business. I have about 62,000 miles in my account. I have tried on numerous occasions over the last year to book award travel, however, no matter what I try to book there is NEVER any availability.

I have tried booking tickets several months out, short hops, partner airlines etc. and always have the same problems. I can't even get an upgrade, since I usually travel on lower fare tickets, there is no availability (I was a silver elite but am no longer). I feel like my miles are utterly useless. It's nice to earn them, but if you can't use them what good are they!

Today I tried to book a ticket on Hawaiian Air for an inter-island hop. Prior to calling NWA I called and checked avaialability with Hawaiian and was told the days I wanted to travel at the end of May were "wide open." When I called NWA they told me there was no availability on any flights that day, Hawaiian operates 10 flights a day between the two islands I wanted to fly to, yet not one single flight had a seat.

I called United, where I only have a few thousand miles and was able to book an award ticket for half the miles on Aloha air. They only operate 6 flights a day.

Long live UAL!

Interisland Hawaii flights at 5,000 miles RT are a great deal on United. But you can't book them online, have to deal with an indian call center at least twice (first to make the reservation, then 12 hours later to confirm it), and the flights are on Aloha's 737s which make most NW DC9s look state of the art. So there are some tradeoffs.

I booked a flight between Kona and Honolulu using United miles for early June -- it took no less than four lengthy phones calls to India (first the flights came back unexpectedly full, than another set of flight were somehow entered for the wrong month altogether, then the itinerary was reversed(!), and finally it seems to have been done right. The fifth, confirmation call, was thankfully handled by a US call center. Since you have to deal with them twice on each reservation, it seems to double the chances that something will get mangled.

In the end I would have been happier just spending the extra 5,000 miles to book through someone else.

Of course, this doesn't excuse zero availability. The NW-HA relationship has always seemed a bit strained, but zero availability for such a long period is a bit much. Just don't be thinking that UAL is appreciably less aggrevating.

Of course, come June 9th when Fly! starts up things will get really crazy.

huh?

This first year UA flyer has earned more than 150,000 miles in 2006.

However, I have not been able to find any saver biz class/first class award availability on UA to PVG/PEK/HKG, 330 days out.

Not a single 1 ticket to these cities although UA operates multiple daily flights to each city mostly using huge 747 airplanes.

None. Zero. Absolutely nothing.

OTOH, as Plat I saw plenty of NW Saver WBC awards to PVG/PEK/HKG/CAN at 330 day window. Almost available every day. ^ ^ ^

UA does not have a reputation for being generous with award trip availability. That is one of the serious deterrents as I have one foot out the door & maybe headed for UA.

In the last 17 months I have booked and (except LJU) flown on NW:

• MSP-STL-MSP, myself only, W-fare coupon
• MSP-ATH-MSP, myself & wife, 100K miles
• MSP-STL-MSP, myself only, 25K miles
• MSP-BOI-MSP, myself & wife, 35K miles
• MSP-SFO-MSP, myself & wife, 50K miles
• MSP-ELP-MSP, myself & wife, 35K miles
• MSP-LJU-MSP, myself & wife, 100K miles

All have been standard (oops ... PerkSaver) awards. I will never pay a nickel (or a mile) extra. Another really nice benefit for Plats is the ability to change award itineraries free of charge -- that's saved me perhaps $400 this year.

I've had the opposite experience. In the past nine months, I've been able to redeem my NW miles for the following:

- IAH-ATL-CDG-MRU RT x 2 in AF Biz Class 330 days out on DL/AF at the standard award rates
- PHL-IAH-YWG-PHL RT x 2 in Y with less than 30 days advance on NW at the standard award rates
- PHL-DTW-HNL RT with less than two weeks advance on CO at the standard award rate
- Five long haul one-way FC upgrades on NW at the standard award rates

I'm probably just lucky, but I've never once had a problem redeeming my NW miles this past year and my dates and times haven't been flexible for any of those trips.

By contrast it has become nearly impossible to redeem my DL miles at a standard rate and CO continues to be useless in that regard as well. At least I have no CO miles anymore and only about 35k DL miles left. I've burned all but 9k of my NW miles but they really just build up again so damn fast.

peace,
~Ben~

Great success in the past 12 months with standard awards for Mrs. Yogimax and myself to:
Venice (spring)
Munich (late spring)
London (summer)
Cancun (late fall)
Also SFO-LGA for our daughter on a last minute weekend trip

Too bad your trip isn't a few weeks later. I believe that after June 9th, inter-island fares are dropping to $39 each way plus fees/taxes so it may be better to buy a ticket for folks traveling after that date. This is due to "go!" (www.iflygo.com, owned by Mesa Airlines) starting limited service and the others matching the fares.

Someone recently stated that frequent flyer miles are like Confederate currency, I wish I could remember who so that I could give proper credit.

Everyone has their own experiences, but I have found relative ease in redeeming NW miles, especially with all of the partner options. Do I always get my #1 choice... no. But I know flexibility is the key.

Some people think that it's a simple as calling NW and asking for 2 seats to London in July. Those are the people who tend to be irritated at the process.

For those of us know who know how to play the game and work the system, the rewards can be great.

Indeed, it takes a little effort and willingness to play the game.

I have also had little issue redeeming award tickets. I've even managed to get 4 non-elite friends all booked on the exact same flights on the same days on MH and CZ for inter-asia tickets. (I did the work for them, but didn't use my Plat status for access to more inventory; this was done all at the base level) That was rather astounding when I pulled that off.

And herein lies my main reason for sticking with NW. I'm getting major bonus miles for anything I do with NW, I rarely miss and upgrade, I've had little difficulty getting awards, and the Plat Elite line has been excellent to me. I don't ask for much more from my airline, so pillows, blankies, and the like don't bother me too much.

Well said and precisely the point! These are the things that really matter, In addition to the pillows and blankies, toss in the possible loss of an occasional aisle seat. I'll take the upgrades, and awards any day

I think searching the NWA website for award flights is a lost cause. I will have to phone. I just liked browsing the website because I don't always know where I want to go and I wait to be inspired. But the value of the miles and availability of award flights has been severely devalued since the beginning of this year if my searches are any guide. I even posted a request for suggestions of Saver award flights with easy availability from the United States and didn't really get any serious replies.

I had the same experience with Delta. Nothing on the web site but when I phoned they did put me and my husband on an award flight MSY-YYC at the Saver price of 25,000 miles each -- which finished off our miles with Delta. Whew!

The loss of value of miles, combined with the reduced value of being an Elite because of the undignified scramble for good seats, has caused me not to book a flight on Northwest since Coach Choice was announced. I can no longer justify sticking with Northwest. The only real, immediate criteria for making a flight purchase is the price savings I have in the hand. Elite privileges and award flights seem to be quite illusory these days.

Even my husband is flying the dreaded Southwest next week.

Pardon my vent. I know Northwest is trying to fix the Coach Choice thing but once trust is broken, it's hard to get it back.

To the OP's defense, I see the same unavailability in NW vs. UAL as she did.

When I wanted to go to Hawaii last Dec, it was MUCH easier for me to book it using UAL than NW. Which is what I ended up doing even though I have to do a bunch more work to get the miles since I didn't have enough.

And with wpaa search engine gone, it's much harder for me to find award tickets. I want to use my 150K miles to go first class "somewhere" but haven't found a good place to go yet.

[QUOTE=Manoa Chris]Interisland Hawaii flights at 5,000 miles RT are a great deal on United. But you can't book them online, have to deal with an indian call center at least twice (first to make the reservation, then 12 hours later to confirm it), and the flights are on Aloha's 737s which make most NW DC9s look state of the art. So there are some tradeoffs.

I booked a flight between Kona and Honolulu using United miles for early June -- it took no less than four lengthy phones calls to India (first the flights came back unexpectedly full, than another set of flight were somehow entered for the wrong month altogether, then the itinerary was reversed(!), and finally it seems to have been done right. The fifth, confirmation call, was thankfully handled by a US call center. Since you have to deal with them twice on each reservation, it seems to double the chances that something will get mangled.




Maybe we just have different experiences with different airlines. I called United, requested my ticket, called back 12 hous later and booked my ticket. It was fairly pain free and pretty convenient (it was also nice to get the award for 5,00 miles instead of 10,000). I will agree with you on the India thing though, having dealt with them in the past, they are really nice but not veryeffective in solving any sort of problem. They only seem capable of reading from a script and any deviation from that seems difficult for them. I just hang up and try again if they answer.

I don't know if award availability depends on what market you orginate from or what. I guess there are people who do well with awards and some who dont, like me. I just want to clarify that I don't simply call up the day before and ask for "two tickets to London" I have requested tikets 4-6 months out on partner airlines and 2-4 months out for NWA flights.

I really don't care for the fact that when flying cross country, there is zero entertainment. When I fly United or Jet Blue, at least I don't have to lug the personal DVD player with me and I kinda like that. The Ipod is much more used friendly!

I've had the same troubles as most people in getting award tickets. But had great success online yesterday, for trip to Costa Rica next week. Got two 35K tickets from the midwest with options on either NW/DL or NW/CO. Of course, it is off season but I beleive most of it has to do with last minute options. Couple of weeks ago I did a FF trip to NYC with 5 days notice.

Most people don't have the flexibility to do last minute travel. Wish there was a easy way of doing a "dream map" version for award tickets.

Online award checking is nice but the call centers still can find options not available online.

Using miles for award travel is like playing the lottery, a few winners and thousands of losers. The airlines want to only provide enough award seats (payout) to keep people playing the "game".