I’m done trying to book tickets to Port-au-Prince, Tahiti!

Air Tahiti Nui from Narita availability is always good. Then their is Air France to Nouméa then Air Calin to PPT all flat seats in business.

Ben , the last link (LOT business class flight to ORD) does not work. Can you fix that please?

If you know it's available and delta.com and the agents over the phone aren't playing ball, absolutely. Not a whole lot of the newer folks are well versed in booking award tickets, so you may end up with an agent who may look clueless. As I said above, I could book and sell an award ticket, but I couldn't see the price of miles until the receipt printed. Kind of assbackwards if you as me, but that's how our system worked. Granted it has been a few years since I worked there, so things could be a bit different now (but I doubt it!). However, that being said, once you see the options you want and the miles available, capture a screenshot of it and print it off so it is available for the agent to see. And if it helps, make sure you take a screen shot of the system failing. If all else fails, especially if you are a medallion member, bring this attention to a Red Coat or Performance Leader. These folks will probably be your best bet when it comes to your success at the airport. This also includes a good point for escalation internally. If it's a good investment, is a matter of opinion. You are going to be more likely to have success standing in front of someone than talking to someone over the phone. But, in all honesty, this is still something that one should never come to expect.

Hey Zach - It almost sounds like one could expect better results for booking an exotic DL partner award if you went out to the airport (during a non-busy time) and ask a DL agent there to book your award...is that a realistic strategy? I'm not that far from the local airport (SEA) and there is a DL counter there. To book a trip to Tahiti (something I'm probably only going to do once), would a visit to the airport be a good investment of my time? Thanks for any insight you can offer on the best strategy.

I had a good outcome from my calls to Delta when looking for award tickets to Europe few years ago (they were able to find the space on their partners such Aeroflot and OK without hesistation). But recently I had a nightmare with them. I was looking to book 3 J award tickets to Australia in December, so I started looking when schedule had opened. When it happened, there were plenty of availability on their partner VA and I had no problem to secure (place on hold) 3 tickets US (east coast) - SYD. But before redeeming miles, I decided to include China Southern in my travel on one way instead of VA. Since China Southern space is not bookable online, I had to call. And after DL agent touched the reservation, he did a lot of mistakes (incorrect pricing, etc). When I realized that he ruined everthing, I asked him to reverse all changes and keep the ticket onhold (I was hoping to call back and hope for better agent). But DL agent told me that they don't keep tickets onhold anymore and it must be ticketed now or canceled. I choose the latter (hoping that space will return to award inventory). But I was wrong - space on VA never came back and now month later there are no even 2 seats on any flights to Australia from US. I am so mad at Delta and was even thinking to write DL e-mail to point out how incompetent their agents are. They must have a responsibility for their actions.