Extra Award Availability for SE vs. PE
 

Past discussions of the extra award availability for elites has indicated that the same extra award availability is available for all elite levels. That appears not to be the case.

On Thurs. 5/4 I cancelled a DL ticket to St. Louis and booked a multi-city award ticket (Standard/PerkSaver) for MSP-GEG-STL-MSP so I could I attend a memorial service in northern ID on my way to STL.

On 5/7 I started looking for a Standard/PerkSaver ticket so my wife could accompany me to Spokane & back. For a week there was only RuleBuster/PerkPass availability (37.5K miles total) on the return. I checked many times daily, usually logged in as my wife (SE) but occasionally as myself (PE) in case the availability differed. It never did until today:

1. Logged in as wife (SE), only available for 37.5K miles
2. Logged in as self (PE) to check just in case (after a week I was thinking why bother, it's always the same), it was available for 25K miles
3. Logged in as wife (SE), 37.5K miles
4. Logged in as self (PE) & nailed the ticket for 25K miles

So either I saw two flukes in a very short time period, or there sometimes is greater award availability for Plats.

Award availability does appear to increase when the segment is 7 days away or sooner (caution: really limited sample here!).

I agree and I've seen the very same thing. It may not matter in every case, but there are those times along the margins when it really makes the difference to have higher status.

I've also heard that GE grabs from the same bucket as PE, isn't that so?

Its smart to keep checkin mike. Even though its a bit frustrating at times. Ive noticed the extra avail for plat many times. It seems that when YM finally opens some seats up, plats get first dibs. for how long? your guess is as good as mine :)

Well it's good to know that higher elites have better award avail - makes sense. Would be good to confirm where GE's stand.