mattp1987

Reporting in another two data points to show that awards with partners might not be subject to married segment logic.

I booked flights back in the Spring (so before the most recent changes) for AUS-SYD and return on separate tickets for early 2016 travel. There was not low availability out of SAT at the time. Today I was searching and found SAT-LAX and LAX-SAT in R class (lowest first class). I called and got transfered to the reissues desk where the agent was able to change both of my AUS-LAX and v.v. flights to SAT. She mentioned having to confirm the miles required wouldn't change, and the TPAC flights no longer have availability. There was no extra charge in miles, and I actually received a refund in taxes/fees which I think is due to the relative value of USD to AUD now compared to when I booked (airport fees being unchanged in AUD but now less in USD).

FlyToCoach

Hello all- long time learner and first post. Wanted to say thank you to everyone who posts with helpful advice- I just booked two XXX-DTW-AMS-ATH and VCE-JFK-ATL-XXX in J for July 2016 at 125K each. Couldn't have done it without the knowledge you have all set out. Will be a great vacation for my spouse and me. You are all very helpful and lots are grateful for the time you spend sharing your knowledge and experience.

Keyser

trying to price out a del-nyc trip for march, 2016....if i check del-cdg & cdg-nyc separately then i get availability in the lowest business tier for both sectors....but if i put in del-nyc then nothing comes up....would calling delta help or will they only be able to see the same thing i see online????

mattp1987

I'd call. It might help to book one segment and call asking to add a segment or to book somewhere that does have space like DEL-CDG-DTW and call asking to change the destination to JFK. I've made three changes by phone lately where space opened up on the flight I want without having inventory on the flights in my itinerary that I'm not changing. Sometimes it has to go to the international reissue desk, but earlier this week I changed from ICN-LAX-SAT on KE/DL to ICN-DTW-SAT on DL while keeping my XXX-ICN flight on KE that currently shows no space, and the PM desk phone agent was able to do that herself.

Keyser

i've checked space for pretty much everywhere....no space available if i originate my journey in del....if i check del-cdg then there is availability & then from cdg there is availability to jfk, ewr, iad, bos, iah, sfo, ord & atl....

mattp1987

In that case, I guess your options are

1. Call and see if an agent can piece it together segment-by-segment
2. Book one segment and call to see if you can add the second

It might be worth trying #1 and if that doesn't work resorting to #2 and possibly pushing to talk to the international reissue desk if the first agent can't do it. Your profile says PM, so you can cancel if you have to.

Keyser

that's the plan....book & then try to change....will update how it goes....

econjon

Seeking a quick bit of advice.

I see GIG-ATl at 62.5k (OD) but when I try to get GIG-ATL-SAN it shows up at 97.5k with the ATL-SAN (RD).

Should I try to call to get this all at 62.5k? Or is this how it should all price out?

bennos

I must have lost my TPAC-fu... I can't get a single J itinerary involving the US and BKK, SIN, or HKG to price out at anything other than OS or OK (the two highest levels) on DL metal, checking pretty much any time between now and April. Anything the calendar shows at O or even OL ends up being on partners or repricing at OS/OK.

I kind of want to make one of those sweeping generalization statements ("Delta doesn't have any low J tickets to Asia anymore") but I know I must be wrong...

mattp1987

Are you willing to fly partners at all, even intra-Asia? I just grabbed two seats on ICN-DTW in April, and that flight has somewhat decent availability for two passengers both directions between now and April. I didn't check availability on connections out of ICN. Actually, on the flight I booked there wasn't a single seat occupied in business class, so we are in 77A/K. I decided we had to fly on the upper deck for what will likely be our last flight on a DL 747.

RealHJ

You are right. Until Dec 31, 2015, there was always one (1) seat in O on all DL int'l flights (at least out of HNL). Never more than one, but always one, so if you booked it at 331 days out (or close, before anyone else did), you could fly solo at the normal price. As of Jan 1, 2016 there is almost never (at most, may be twice per 331 days) a single seat at O. What used to be 35,000 one way is now commonly in excess of 335,000 - truly a 10 fold devaluation - on DL. It was a truly massive devaluation and an extreme reduction in availability that happened on January 1st of this year. As of Jan 1, only normal O (or X for that matter) seats are on airlines other than DL, and more and more of those are blocked by DL (e.g. some KE flights, such as HNL-ICN, are blocked completely year round as of Jan 1 by DL: though there is plenty of availability with KE and other SkyTeam airlines for the same flight, with DL it is never, ever available - in O or X). I would expect DL keep blocking more and more non DL flights as a way to force pax to pay its sometimes even higher than 10x higher vs. last year pricing for the same flights, as past of this truly outrageously massive devaluation of SlyMiles (the EOS).

*This is based on the numerous DL int'l flights ("TPAC") out of HNL. Out of other markets it may be different. Those I haven't observed that closely.

bennos

Ordinarily that would be fine but in this case there are some complexities that make partner itineraries less than optimal. In the itineraries I'm looking at, I'm seeing typical connection times of 50 minutes with double connects to price out at O. CZ and MU have better options but I'd prefer not to route via China for this trip.

In any event my conclusion is that where I could expect ~1 decent J redemption per year, my new expectation is ~0, which is a fairly significant change in the value proposition for me.

RealHJ

The new reservations system will often only show you double and triple connections with long travel time and circuitous routing and not even offer you shorter (often 2x shorter), both connections (just one), time and distance wise, routing options, when such are available at O (non-DL options, I mean). You need to search segment by segment the various possible routings and then call and hope that the agent can force the shorter and more logical routing to work. The new res system is very buggy and for some reason or other, at least sometimes, only shows longer and more circuitous routing and doesn't show more direct, shorter and more logical options at all (which still should be available by phone).

Bikeguy

My "favorite" award listing was a triple connect that would have been against the rules for a revenue ticket.

tbeard

Greetings and thanks for all of you knowledgeable on this page...I have read this thread and the how to book travel on partner airlines thread but am struggling to find decent business tickets from SEA or PDX to BRU leaving Dec. 18 and returning the 29 or 30. My questions??? If I go to the KLM or AirFrance sites they want me to log in to my flying blue account to see if award travel is available, I only have a Delta account. Is there a way around this? I am finding tickets for around 225k miles should I accept this or can I do better? Thanks