Differing award availability

It seems that their buckets aren't the same. I could find a saver trip at dl (where i have no status) but not at nw (where I am plan and would much rather book because I can redeposit) Anyone encounter similar issues?

Inventory is VERY different. Booking to SYD for instance pretty much has to be done on DL.com.

I think the problem is going to get worse because the DL folks have figured out some of the things that were better about the NW Award platform.

And though I like NW's options and award availability online, I had a situation yesterday that was weird.

nwa.com showed a flight ATH-EWR with CO available in business class for my date. But when I went online to change the existing reservation, that was not one of the options given.

So I called NW, they checked and said, "no, I am not showing award availability for the perksaver mileage level on that flight." She was well aware of the recent booking class changes on CO.

I ended up using different miles, doing a completely new booking on nwa.com, getting the flight I wanted at the mileage level I wanted, then canceled the original booking (didn't want to cancel the original booking until I was 100% sure the other was confirmed).

Welcome to the "new" Delta where such shenanigans would cost me $50 after March 1st.

John

At least. If you change often, or book 21 days or less before (as a non PM) you're hosed. My mom just blew 25K miles for a domestic flight for a last minute funeral. With compassion, she was charged $150.