Hi all,
we have the good fortune to have finally built up about 50K miles each in our SkyMiles accounts ... I'd like to book two tickets from Tokyo to Pohnpei, returning Palau to Japan (25K x 2). Then, use the remaining to get two tickets Pohnpei -> Yap -> Palau or something like that (25K x 2). The Delta agent told me that it should be easy to get Tokyo/Guam/Tokyo since there are quite a few flights, but he had never seen an award issued for anything beyond Guam. His advise - keep calling back to see if Continental has released any inventory.

Timeframe: late December, early January

Has anyone had any luck in getting tickets beyond Guam ? What was your strategy and what tools did you use ?

It seems that I can wait a little while longer to just book Tokyo/Guam/Tokyo because of the number of flights and our flexibility on departing. But, not too long

But, I'd really love to score two tickets with my intended itinerary. That would be great value for the mile

Thanks all.

At that time of year there seem to be no Y seats available from GUM-ROR, even as an elite. There are F seats available on many days in December and January, but nothing in the back of the plane, even for a CO Platinum. GUM-PNI doesn't even have anything up front.

Also, PNI-YAP-ROR is not a valid reward routing for an open jaw, which is what I think you're trying to do there. The "open" segment has to be the shortest of the three sides of the triangle, and in this case PNI-ROR is actually the longest.

I have redeemed for F on the GUM-ROR route before (in August), but I'm guessing that demand for paid Y the flights in December/January will be pretty high because of the holidays. I'd try to swing the miles to get the F seats and go from there. If you fly up front, try for the 767s on CO between NRT and GUM. They are the BF seats, though not the service. But they're way nicer than the seats on the 738s.

As for tools, the only option is CO Micronesia, and the flight search on co.com is pretty much all you've got for searching that. The monthly calendar is pretty useful.

Also, if you're planning on diving in ROR (which I hope you are if you're going), I recommend a liveaboard. We did shore-based and were rather annoyed by the long rides out and back to the dive sites each day.

thanks, sbm12. I took your advice and booked biz class for whatever days I could find. Not optimal, but better than nothing. There was plenty of availability in Y to Guam, but not onwards to Yap or Palau.... but at least I have NRT-YAP / ROR/NRT. I'll try to either get another award YAP/PNI/ROR or just buy the YAP/ROR.

I found someone else's recommendation to use www.asiares.nwa.com ..... (worked great !) although there was more availability there than I could book using SkyMiles

As for diving - only one of us is a diver, so I'm afraid that a liveaboard might be too boring for me ....... although I've only started my investigation .....

PS cool photos !

I'd like to piggyback on JKD's question. I plan on using my miles for a J award from China to PNI. If continental.com says awards are available on a given date and KVS tool, which I assume uses NWA Japan site, says there are none - do I take it as a no for Skymiles bookings, too?

If you can find the seats on co.com while not signed in I've never heard of a partner airline not being able to book them. My guess is that KVS is limited in its search sources and that results in it showing limited info.

Thanks for the heads up. I actually did the next best thing - logged into my Skymiles account and tried a dummy booking There's plenty of availability between GUM and PNI and the taxes really are amazing - EUR4. I know that doesn't include the hideous handling fee for partner flights but man is this a breath of fresh air after what we have to pay in Europe. (Taxes on my recent SVO-CDG-TNR award with Flying Blue came up to EUR300+)

thanks all ... I had tried delta.com, but seeing no availability, I thought it was a problem with finding partner flights ... after calling, I realized that it was an availability issue.

so, piggybacking off of apoivre I found an earlier return date using delta.com .....

now, does anyone know if they can book the itin even though we are 500 and 1000 miles short ? I have pending 2500 miles from LiveSearch, but it doesn't look hopeful for Friday's expiration on the award ticket hold. I'd hate to buy 2000 miles for each account ...... thanks in advance from this delta newbie