In December, Ted and I tried to book flights to Hawai’i as our consolation prize for needing to cancel our trip to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand. The only available seats in both directions were either in first class or on flights that required an overnight layover on the West Coast. We decided to spend the winter in St. Louis.

For no particular reason, I suggested to Ted last night that we check again to see if we could go to Hawai’i later in the spring. What a surprise! There were lots of flights with the overnight West Coast layover, but there were also two flights available in each direction in February, with lots of empty seats, and with no overnight layover!!! We looked at each other and said, “Shall we book them?” The answer was “yes,” so we are going to Hawai’i after all, departing on February 27.

There were no empty frequent flier seats available nine weeks in advance of our trip, but more than one-third of the main cabin is available five weeks later. Hmmm. Methinks the airline must hold the frequent flier seats back, hoping to sell them at full price. When the plane doesn’t fill up, they later make seats available. Ted and I don’t care. We’re excited to be going to Hawai’i in four weeks.