I tried to book tickets for flights from PHL to MAD for mid May on the first day that tickets were being sold for my return date. The USAirways website did not show SaverAward availability for my dates or for that matter any dates in 2008. According to the seat maps, there were no seats that were reserved on either flight I was considering so it is unlikely that someone booked before me.

I checked on many other locations in Europe on the website and found few if any seats in 2008 (mostly only in the Winter months and then only in one direction). I called the airline and after a few frustrating calls to overseas call centers I finally got someone who could understand my FF number spoken in English and learned that the only availability for flights to MAD were on Lufthansa through FRA and MUC (multiple connection). The website appears to allow booking for most dates for Premium awards (100k per ticket) but the phone reps can only see the StarAlliance options.

The strategy of booking on the first possible date has worked well for me in the past so I'm confused about what has changed. Has anyone else tried to book FF flights and had a similar experience? Does anyone know what might have changed and what strategy works currently?

You should have called on the first day when your <b>outbound</b> is available to claim the seats on that leg. Then you can call back on the first day the inbound is available.

Anyways, one just have to be flexible to get award tickets. If they give you LH, then grab it before that's gone too.

I don't think the outbound flight was not the problem. I suspect that USAirways has changed their policy in that they do not release tickets for FF when they offer them for sale. There are seats available in Sept and Oct 2007 but none in 2008. This seems unlikely unless the policy has changed.

Airlines don't dump all available FF seats at the first possible date (330/331 day). Sometimes they will release a few then, sometimes not. And then closer to travel, they may release more.

That's why sometimes you just have to take the partner airline awards, and be flexible. Just can't always get the flight you really want.

[I have never claimed a USAirways award, but over on Continental, they <b>never</b> release any standard award at 330 days out. Most only come online 3-4 months out. So, for us with CO Onepass miles wanting to book standard award early, we basically HAVE TO use partner flights.]

You may also try the USAirways board on flyertalk.com.

You have discovered another truth about FF seats - many flights never have a FF seat available. You could try to book at the precise second that seats are theoretically available and still not get a seat.

It seems that more and more the effective number of miles needed for a FF seat is the higher level on whatever airline - the non-Premium award seats are usually to places like Florida in July and Alaska in January.