Am I glad you responded!

It's NOT as September approaches but RIGHT NOW that seats are available! For Sacramento and Portland seats are much more plentiful from about September 5th on. As a rule of thumb, September and October (basically between Labor day and Thanksgiving) are THE BEST times of the year to use your miles.

The vast majority of reward seats are on a first come basis and rarely(!) are additional seats ever made available. That said, the sooner you try to book, the more choices you'll have (Hawaii being an exception).

As I said SFO, if you're flexible, looks good now for the summer AND fall. Try not to get your hopes up for anything NEAR Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years - if want seats at the lowest miles possible.

When you call OnePass reservations at 1-800-621-7467, make sure you have the agent check flights on NW for you as well. Later this year (date to be determined) you'll also be able to use AND earn OnePass miles on Delta.

It bears repeating that, in most cases, the sooner you book, the more choices you'll have!

Gregory in Houston, TX