The Weekly Flyer

I'm trying to book a flight in May 2007 and called 331 days in advance at 12:01 AM on the 331st day. The customer rep informed me that at 12:01 AM there were no business first reward seats on any of the partners for the day. Is this a possibility? Could the seats have not been loaded yet?

I find it hard to swallow that I can't use my points even though I'm trying to book a year in advance. This is the first time I'm trying to redeem my miles and I don't really understand much about the opening of seats, waitlists, etc.

Has anyone had successes with waitlists?
Do some skysaver rewards seats open up at 12:01 AM 331 days in advance?
Do the skysaver rewards usually open up at a different time frame than 331 days in order for the airline to try to sell those seats first?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The Weekly Flyer

The original flight that I'm trying to book is on a Saturday. I'm guessing that this may be there more high demand flight because I can now book a flight on Monday (but who wants to start a trip on a Monday...and waste the weekend trying to wait for it).

Andrew

The Weekly Flyer

So I booked a Monday flight and waitlisted for a weekend flight.

I still think it is rediculous how that you can't get a seat a year in advance when the flight is wide open...

longing4piedmont

The answers you seek are here

Colin

DL/CO will and should release 0 award seats on flights is expects to sell out. As someone trying to redeem miles for free travel, you should expect only to receive excess inventory that DL/CO belieives would otherwise go as unsold.

SusanDK

I'm also waitlisted for a BE reward seat in September. I'm confirmed for a Tuesday, and waitlisted for Sat-Sun-Mon. How 'unsold' does the flight need to be for seats to be released on award travel and how long prior to the actual flight is this likely to be done?

Susan

vasantn

Only yield management knows. Seriously.

vasantn

Not necessarily. Award travel is not free travel. Certainly the airlines have to strike a balance in favor of the paying customer, but your assertion is just plain wrong.

The Mileage Millionaire

Absoultely.

Every day or two it seems one of these "why can't I use my miles for..." threads appear. They all irritate me because I do not understand why people feel they are entitled to use their miles for a SkySaver award whenever they want. I only use mine for SkySaver awards, but I know that I must be flexible.

Folks, if you want to guarantee a seat, BUY IT or pay the SkyChoice price. Why is that so difficult to understand?

jims66

Personally, I don't think it is unreasonable that EVERY flight have at least one SkySaver and two SkyChoice seats available. Even on an RJ, you are talking about 6% of the inventory... on an international flight, you are looking at more like 1.5 percent.

Just my opinion, although it certainly isn't the airlines.

Colin

100% of the seats on every flight are available for free using SkyChoice awards, jimmy.


This thread is about J seats. It is unreasonable to think the airline will forgo $4000 of revenue to make a seat available for free SkySaver travel on a flight that would sell-out with paid customers.

This is a business. SkySaver award should be considered to come from EXCESS inventory only.

vasantn

Again, I take exception to the word "free." Award seats are not free. In return for your loyalty (translated as flying the airline when better options are available), the airline promises you certain benefits. These benefits are earned, not freebies, despite the fact that the airline can exercise some discretion as to how and when it makes those benefits available.

Colin

You obviously do not understand the concept of Saver Awards vs Choice Awards. For your loyalty, Delta will give you a seat at the Saver price that would otherwise be unutilized. Both sides are happy. You get flights worth $4000-8000 and Delta does not loose any revenue.

Now, if you want a seat to Nice during the Cannes Film Festival, Delta is not going to have an empty J seat. To accomodate you, Delta will loose revenue. So, Delta wants to provide its members the opportunity to use their miles for such a trip while also discouraging its members from doing so because of the lost revenue.

This is not complex.

vasantn

Gee, I guess not. I must have just fallen off the turnip truck.

rcs85551

The fact that delta allocates their own (award) inventory 331 days in advance does not necessarily mean their partners do so, too

Seriously, every airline has their own timeframe - with AF for example, it is 360 days in advance (but using DL miles, no way to get a hold of them at the 360 days since DL's system can only process 331 days out...). With others, it is less than the 331 days.