You can set an alert for almost any award space on Award Nexus, so that you will be the first to know if award space opens up. The catch is that setting the alert may cost you money.

Why set an alert?
What is Award Nexus?
What alerts can you set, and how much do they cost?

Award Alerts
Imagine you've searched for award space, and there is none on and in your ideal date/flight/cabin.

Update 8/11/15: The deal is now open to everyone. I have uncovered many of its secret rules.

-----

Delta Points got the following statement:
“There is a transatlantic fare sale going with a one day presale for Medallion/cobrand. It will be open to all as of tomorrow.”
So credit card holders and elites could book August 10, and everyone can book August 11. I'll update when I can book the awards.

All these offers are expired.

American Airlines miles can get you a last second seat in economy, flat bed Business Class, or super-luxurious First Class to Asia. Partners Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines both offer phenomenal products, routes to tons of destinations, and great award space near departure.

Right now the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard® and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World MasterCard® are each offering 50,000 bonus American Airlines miles after $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first 3 months the account is open.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitter and follow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account. I tweet from @MileValueAlerts only a few times a month because it is designed to be used only for the best and most limited-time deals–like mistake fares–so that you aren’t bombarded by text messages.

Travel from Houston (IAH) to Moscow (DME) nonstop for $399 roundtrip on Singapore Airlines. Book by Monday August 10 and start travel by December 1.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitter and follow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account. I tweet from @MileValueAlerts only a few times a month because it is designed to be used only for the best and most limited-time deals–like mistake fares–so that you aren’t bombarded by text messages.

Travel from Houston (IAH) to Moscow (DME) nonstop for $399 roundtrip on Singapore Airlines. Book by Monday August 10 and start travel by December 1.

Last week I redeemed 20,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles and $27 for a one way trip in Business Class from Bogota to Buenos Aires with an overnight in Lima. I will fly the award in a few months.

That’s over seven hours of flying up front for only 20,000 miles. United would have charged 40,000 miles for me to book the exact same award space.

Womp womp! This is phantom award space--award space that shows up on a search engine but cannot be booked.

Check out this calendar instead that I made on Award Nexus. It shows award space from New York to Helsinki in April 2016 in Business Class, while excluding British Airways flights and their nasty fuel surcharges. Note that there is zero direct space on the JFK-HEL or HEL-JFK Finnair flights.

Update 2/12/16: United brought back the nonstop calendar. The single column for Saver and Standard economy space remains.

United.com has completed a site redesign. The new site is live now.

The old site is still available, but will disappear in a few weeks.

The new united.com is far worse than the old one for award searches. This will negatively affect me, my Award Booking Service, and you.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitter andfollow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account. I tweet from @MileValueAlerts only a few times a month because it is designed to be used only for the best and most limited-time deals–like mistake fares–so that you aren’t bombarded by text messages.

Travel from Houston to Managua, Nicaragua for $172 roundtrip on Spirit Airlines this Summer and Fall.