I have been trying to search for the discounted "award tickets" WP615 which comes with the NW visa card. Without exception, for every flight I've searched, over a period of weeks, I get error "message 183" -- that the discount code is no good because one or more legs of the flight are routed on non-NW metal. After some checking, I have discovered that on every search I've done with this code the calendar or even single day search has routed me through Houston, forcing me to fly on Continental Airlines for at least one leg.

Folks, I'm ex-MSY. This just doesn't happen naturally when searching nwa.com. I am virtually never routed through IAH, rather through MEM or DTW (sometimes even MSP). I have to conclude that when a mistake is made to the benefit of the person making the mistake, it ain't an accident. In other words, I feel like I've been offered a "benefit" that they have no intention of honoring. Torture by devious software!

The coupon is supposedly good for NW flights in the lower 48 (I've had absolutely no luck finding any) or Mexico and the Caribbean (haven't even wasted my time searching for those, as I know in advance that they'll be routed on CO). Does NW even fly its own metal to Mexico?

Thanks to anyone who can offer a clue to the clueless. If I hadn't been tearing my hair for weeks, I wouldn't have mentioned it. I am not asking for a costly trip but rather a simple trip to Maine (any airport, any dates in June). It just shouldn't be this hard. But if that's impossible, I would be interested to know if any vacation destination whatsoever is possible ex-MSY with this coupon.

I do have a lot of flexibility here and am very open to suggestions.

Have you tried multi-city search forcing the routing via the NWA hubs? I just used my cert on a last minute LAX-CVG flight from my brother. The selections were slim but some options were available.

I always get to see only NW options when the WP Visa cert number is entered upfront.

Somehow I don't think you did it with a multi-city search. This doesn't even remotely work for me unless I want to pay several times what the flight is worth. Kind of negates the point of the award. I got 22,000 miles cost for just ONE LEG for ONE person for MSY-DTW only. No, there is just something seriously wrong here.

Well, good, but it isn't working that way for me. That's why I asked. As my parrot says, "I'm gonna cry."

did you try calling the nwa.com IT help line? 800-692-6955

I don't have a clear telephone voice so I try to avoid phoning but you are right. It's time to make the call because I'm getting some hilarious routings now. A couple of tries gave me 38 minute connections at DTW. I think I'll turn in and give them a call when I'm rested up tomorrow or later in the week. Wish me luck.

The non-NW metal is an issue. I could find lots of standard awards especially with PE status, but when I tried to the WP Visa discount code......awards jumped higher....plus the error code too. Took the NW CSR awhile to figure it out too....problem one leg by a partner airline. In my case, I ended up not using the discount and used the standard award.

Well this is certainly a new twist. I tried it to see what the hitch is and it certainly can be frustrating. Tried OMA-CUN week after Thanksgiving, a routing that NW serves via all three hubs 1xdaily. But the award booking engine routes through IAH on codeshare with CO.

But you don't get the error message UNTIL the last booking screen. You would think that the red flag would go up on the first screen when no NW-only options. The other laughable thing is that I found a couple of options with PerkSaver in F or PerkPass in Y. Let me see...book F for less miles than Y, hmm...

I think when I use my 615 promo that I'm not going to even bother checking online. I'm just going to call to book it. They must have learned this from DL!

Spartacus and Wildman seem to be seeing what I'm seeing, and I can't help but feel it's sort of a dirty trick. Why can't I go MSY-DTW-BGR when I have all kinds of flexibility on dates and there are 2 flights MSY-DTW every day? To route me out of the way via IAH, just so I can't use the coupon, well, that's just a dirty trick. These offers are supposed to create goodwill, not anger, or what's the point? I'm resting my voice today but I'll report back when I make the call and see what the CSR can do.

It took an amazing amount of swearing under my breath and daily searching, but I was finally able to book this ticket for two using the coupon for a total of 38,000 miles. They don't make it easy, and only the strong survive!

Congratulations on your perseverence!

Thanks. At the end of the day, I had to give up on landing at BGR and opted to land at PWM. Then in a stunning piece of luck I learned that one of the islands we plan to visit, Peak Island, is offshore Portland. So it's all good.