Help with NWA/Delta miles please

[goodml]

I'm reviving my old thread as a reminder of the help you guys gave me earlier on this and to get ready to try to book some flights hopefully as soon as the schedule opens up if that's what is suggested. What we ended up doing with our DL/NWA account is what Flyertalker had previously suggested - moved the Delta miles to NWA in the individual accounts giving us a balance of around 29,000 for myself and 25,700 for my spouse. I didn't transfer between the accounts when they were offering 100% bonus and I regret that now but regrets don't serve any purpose so, c'est la vie. My most recent communication regarding the timeline for merging the two programs says that in October of this year the merge will be complete and we will at that time begin the 24 month period before expiry of the miles.

 

We are cruising out of Port Canaveral in Nov 2010 and would like to try to use the miles for flights from DTW to MCO. I realize that the schedule is not open yet.

 

My questions are:

 

1) Are the most award flights available (and at the best rates) as soon as the schedule opens?

 

2) How far ahead does Delta open its schedule?

 

3) I know that some of you have in the past have talked about subscribing to...something... for a month for around $5, which will help me determine availability of award flights. Can you give me a refresher about this? I know I'm not asking the question properly - bottom line is I'm hoping to find the RT flights for 25,000 miles/person and hoping to get some tips on how to find them.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[FlyerTalker]

1) In olden days, FF inventory was all loaded at the start, and it went down from there. Now, it comes in whenever the gods of yield managment (or is it gnomes?) release seats to the wild. The old system was easier to work with, though results favored those able to book long in advance. Now, it favors the diligent and flexible. But it can never hurt to start your search at the earliest moment and work from there.

 

2) 330 days, IIRC. Or within a few days. You can determine for sure by trying to buy a dummy revenue ticket that far out (or longer) and see if it will give you an itinerary.

 

3) ExpertFlyer is one tool....KVS Availability Tool is another. Google to find either. Both have different features and pricing arrangements. For award inventory with KVS, you need to buy at least 6 months of Platinum service....EF allows for full functionality on a month to month basis. Check their websites for features and pricing to see which is best for you (Myself, I use both to get the most control, but that's personal preference).

[goodml]

Thanks so much.

[Globaliser]

... the gods of yield managment (or is it gnomes?) ...

I think that this depends on whether you're an owner or a customer. To the owners, they're gods; to customers, they're gnomes.