Originally Posted by wco81

Well I called in for SFO-HKG or SFO-EZE for Thanksgiving week (Nov 19 to Nov 25 or 26).

Said KE was blacked out or sold out that week.

Said only "mid-tier" to EZE for 265k.

What an utterly worthless program.

Originally Posted by ademarco

120k miles + $118.80 tax, not too shabby compared to trying to book out of IST on an award where tax came out to $500+

TP $1.40; CJ $10.30; RN $9.30; VV $2.90; AY $7.50; XA $5; XY $7; YC $5.50; FR $29.20; QX $20.30; AE $20.40

Not sure of the codes, but it has this breakdown on the last page of my confirmation. Any education would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by Denolloyd

I posted this quick guide to Business Award searches in another thread, but after a number of folks mentioned how great it worked for them, I decided to create a separate thread. Also, if anyone else has tips which may be beneficial, please post them as well.

I will be the first to say DL's award engine is horrendous at best, however there are ways around it.

Now for the guide (please note, although this guide was created to assist with travel from the US past AMS/CDG, it is also beneficial for all award bookings):

For awards beyond AMS / CDG in Business, the best way to search is the following:

Search for USA - AMS / CDG ONE WAY in Coach by Mileage.

In the flights displayed, look for those priced at 100,000, with seating in First / Business.

If you cannot find any 100,000 mile flights with First / Business seating, do another search but search for Business this time.

Do this over and over until you find a 100,000 mile one way routing. Generally, it will be Business / First seats within your coach search. I think the problem most have is we tend to search for Business seats by selecting the business drop down. This is a big no no. Always select a coach search first, and seek business within, its often cheaper.

Next, perform another one way search in Businesss for the AMS/CDG - EU. I generally find plenty of EU Business inventory available.

Then, perform the same in reverse for your travel back to the US.

Once you find one way itineraries at the low mileage level, you perform a multi-segment award search. Be sure to select the flights you found earlier in the process at the low tiers.

Sometimes you may have to break down the segments even further such as TPA-ATL, ATL-CDG, CDG-OTP, in order to find the lowest available tiers.

One thing I have noticed is that so long as the DL Award Calendar shows Business available at the low tier, it is, only you have to search to find it.

This is how I book my award travel in Business to OTP. Takes a bit of work, but it can be done.

I am in the middle of packing for my trip tomorrow and will add more details later. Good luck.

Brad...

Originally Posted by mtkeller

KE is not blacked out that week. The remaining KE blackout dates for 2011 are:

16JUL 11 THROUGH 28AUG 11 OR 10SEP 11 THROUGH 14SEP 11 OR 01OCT 11 THROUGH 03OCT 11 OR 09DEC 11 THROUGH 31DEC 11

They may be out of availability, but if the agent said blacked out, I would bet too lazy to try and you should call back.

Originally Posted by sneuhardt

Very frustrating website for skypesos. While I appreciate the help, the only flights I find to Rome in Sept or Oct are either high or medium miles for any class...suggestions?

Originally Posted by mtkeller

Try the FlyingBlue engine on airfrance.us. (Set up a free account, no miles required to search. Look for classic inventory in economy or business. You can't book premium economy or first with SkyMiles.) Listing a departure city would probably help, but standard advice is if you can get yourself to IAD or JFK, you've got a good shot of getting on an AF flight. You can check AZ out of JFK and MIA on af.us, too. Their A330s have new flat bed seats that are proving pretty popular. The segment-by-segment thing applies on af.us, too, as sometimes intra-Europe flights will only have coach available. For a sub-two hour flight, take the Y seat, given the lackluster status of intra-European biz.

Originally Posted by sneuhardt

Thank you for responding! I am working with the AF website. Searching in business. Cant find any flights out of BIL for any day in September (although MSP and SLC work for example to FCO in biz for 50k). I emailed AF about this but not sure what they will say.

Originally Posted by 3Cforme

The FlyingBlue award search engine is very good at searching from U.S. gateway cities, but not so good at finding Delta domestic segments to those gateways (even when they are available). Try searching for the BIL-xxx segments as one-ways on delta.com after finding a suitable trans-Atlantic routing with FlyingBlue. (Don't overlook Alitalia gateways as possibilities.)

Originally Posted by mtkeller

Try the FlyingBlue engine on airfrance.us. (Set up a free account, no miles required to search. Look for classic inventory in economy or business. You can't book premium economy or first with SkyMiles.) Listing a departure city would probably help, but standard advice is if you can get yourself to IAD or JFK, you've got a good shot of getting on an AF flight. You can check AZ out of JFK and MIA on af.us, too. Their A330s have new flat bed seats that are proving pretty popular. The segment-by-segment thing applies on af.us, too, as sometimes intra-Europe flights will only have coach available. For a sub-two hour flight, take the Y seat, given the lackluster status of intra-European biz.

Originally Posted by PETERPNYC

Well Arching OW I found an JFK ATH Direct Oct 4 and a return start of dec for 100k each .

If I understand correctly I can get both for 100k. is that correct?


A few questions

THE tax on the return is 250 + $ .

Also it's the airbus A 330 300 . I don't think it's a lie flat

Can I call and reserve both flights for some time period ?

There is only one day available Oct at this rate and I am afraid if I hold and release DL will not put back into inventory


Also is this better than an AF or other carrier with lie flat beds.

Are the taxes always so high.

Dont get me wrong, I am ecstatic at this price mile combo


Darn wife can't make up her mind

Originally Posted by mtkeller

The taxes/fees on the return are so high because they're showing the fuel surcharge (YQ), as it looks like it's originating in Europe. If you do it all as one booking, it should come up at 100K and much lower taxes/fees since it won't charge the YQ. The DL A333 is angled like-flat. Not as good as the 764 or 777, but far better than the 763s that haven't been converted (i.e., almost all the 763s). If it fits your dates, it sounds like as good of a deal as you're going to get since I don't believe DL is running flat beds to ATH (unless you luck out and get a refit 763 at some point) and AF/KL don't have flat beds. The only way I can think of to get full flat would be AZ out of NYC. Angled lie-flat will still be light years better than coach.

Originally Posted by PETERPNYC

Wow . I just searched for these flights RT and found it for 100K plus $80.90 instead of OW search

My wife thinks those dates MIGHT work . ANy way to hold it ??

Site says stretch out in a generously reclining seat . I can live with that also

Originally Posted by mtkeller

Sounds better. Here's some info on the A330 seats. I'd book it and then find the thread for your A330 type (-200 or -300) and read up on seating advice.

Originally Posted by locked

So being a total amateur at this I'm trying to get from LAX to CDG in October with very flexible dates... using the flying blue site I've found some good AZ flights LAX-Rome-CDG with low level business class awards but no good AZ options for coming home.

Now that I have that can I combine those flights with low level AF or DL return flights I found for coming home, call delta, and book it all at once?... Like I said, new to this so sorry if stupid question.