Please advise: United wants to send me to hell and back, with 2 overnight layovers to get to the USVI in May. (Using my Mileage plus miles). I am single and traveling alone, do not have the time or inclination to spend the night in an airport, and looking at their website I know for a fact they have better itineraries. Can I do anything? Thanks for your input!

Here lies the problem with FF miles!! I am in AA and BA's clubs and I encounter this issue often. The tickets are free, but you don't always get the schedule you want, and that sometimes means an overnight layover. Although there might be seats available on the flights you want, they will only use about 4% of the seats on the plane for award tickets, this way they don't lose money by flying a whole plane-load of non-paying travellers.

I don't know where you live, but here's what works for me sometimes: I live in Austin, TX. If I can't get the schedule I want from Austin, I ask them to check Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio. Although the drive will be an inconvenience, it still beats spending the time and the money on an airport hotel during an overnight layover. Also, you could check United's web site or call them daily, as availability changes frequently. Good luck, I hope you get what you want.

You could also request they check specific schedule. I always have luck when i ask for a schedule on a partner, like USAirways.

I would call back. Another rep may be able to offer a better solution.

I just booked UAL award Tickets for July. I looked online and nothing was available. When I called, they found 2 seats.

We've had great difficulty using frequent flyer miles on several airlines, even 6-8 months in advance. One airline rep told me that many customers call at 12:01AM 330 days in advance, the moment the seats become available.

I find that United is one of the easiest to find seats. Call back daily if possible. The allocated seats change constantly.

Thanks, richardab, I thought when there were no FF seats, there were no FF seats. I'll definitely call UA again and see if I have any luck.

Award inventory usually gets more seats released closer to the flight date. Airlines operate on load predictions. They run sophisticated software for all their flights, which predicts how many seats will be sold on any paricular flight on any particular day based on the past history of that flight/route. They always keep extra seats for sale, but if the predictions hold true and the date is getting close they release these extra seats for awards. They might as well collect some miles and make their customers happy if there are empty seats.

So, your assumption is only 1/2 way right. Every flight loaded into the system has certain number of award seats available on that day. Once they are gone, only the revenue dept. can and will release seats as they see fit. If you are top status holder with many airlines you could also appeal to the revenue folks to release a seat for. It's not a guarantee, but it's one of the perks.