foofiter

I agree. Follow the UA model.

There will be a day when I will no longer be DL Elite (within the next 3-4 years). At that point UA will get all of my business even out of ATL. The mere fact that I can fly on miles one way and buy the other one way is a GREAT benefit to me.

Foo

STBCypriot

I believe that DL used to have one-way awards, but it was ages ago.

mtkeller

Since the booking engine allows (although it's not supposed to, maybe) both a stopover and an open jaw, you should be able to do that provided (1) MEM-JFK-BOS is a legal routing (which it seems it should be) and (2) the length of the stopover at JFK is legal. Hopefully someone can chime in about if there are limits on stopover lengths on award tickets.

crabbing

not ages. last time i used one was in fall 2007.

Auto Enthusiast

Allowing one-way flights would be great for people like me, who enjoy one-way roadtrips. The competition allows it. Ex, on AA, EWR-DFW-ONT, drive home to NY cross country on I-70.

fti

Simpler solution is to use AA miles for one-way awards and DL miles for stopover, open jaw, multi-city awards. Best of both worlds

Auto Enthusiast

I used DL miles last year for multicity (roadtrip neither starts nor ends at home). JFK-SEA, SAN-SLC-JFK. I had actually passed through Salt Lake City on the I-80 roadtrip the summer before, so it was kind of funny seeing the salt flats and mines again but from the air. The descent was turbulent and nauseating, though.

I don't add stopovers just for the sake of it to visit an intermediate city, but to avoid a less convenient schedule. In this case, I didn't want the 9 AM PDT departure nonstop to JFK, even though the mile redemption level would have been the same and the taxes would have been a little less.

I can also use DL miles for another cross country multicity, JFK-LAX, JAX-LGA. This one actually doesn't work as well with AA, because the return out of JAX would require connecting out of my way in MIA.

DL theoretically also works with the I-40 roadtrip, JFK-SLC-ONT, return ILM-ATL-HPN. AA doesn't fly out of ILM, so it's either DL or CO and partners. CO has a much better redemption level, and I don't have to deal with another SLC approach. Hopefully DEN is a little easier.

StayingHomeIsBetter

One-way awards would facilitate you using your miles.

DL management does not want you to use your miles.

Ergo, we will not see one-way awards any time soon.

fti

Hmm. So one rough approach in SLC means all such approaches must be rough, thus an airport to be avoided.

Hmm. So since you don't want to make a stopover on your award ticket, you feel that it is not a worthwhile feature (and this is mostly because you don't understand the stopover feature yet).

Sorry, I don't agree.

Auto Enthusiast

I think someone mentioned on FT that the stopover feature is one way to sort of get around some of DL's higher redemption levels, computer glitches, etc.

Slightly OT, but the regulars on the SAN-SLC flight said descents into SLC are frequently bad. When I told them that Salt Lake City had a nice warm sunny day when I was there, they seemed a bit surprised, and then said "maybe on the ground, not in the air." Sure enough, it was indeed a nice day on the ground when we landed.

NoSleepTillMnhtn

Question: Is Delta no longer worried about their outstanding SkyMiles balance/liability? I would think offering O/W awards would help diminish that liability while, bear with me on this hypothesis, still drive revenue. From my unofficial survey of traveling colleagues and friends, buying a O/W award ticket on UA or AA almost always resulted in a revenue generating O/W ticket the other direction. And even if the traveler used a O/W award ticket on the return, the airline is no worse off than if he/she had just used a R/T award ticket in the first place. To me, offering O/W awards seems like a win-win for both airline and passenger.

After all, there must have been sound financial result for fellow penny-pinching UA to make the change last year, AA 2 years ago.

With that said, god-forbid Delta ever did make this change, and decided that O/W awards were a minimum 25k

fti

o/w awards on DL are already a minimum of 25K miles

As said before, if there was a choice of either o/w or stopover/open jaw, it is a no brainer to me to keep things just as they currently are.

Exiled in Express

Oneway pricing doesn't change the availability of low awards by itself. The ability to use 20k for a oneway is only slightly more appealing than the 40k roundtrips that I currently find.

The stopover provision is very lucrative to some, especially those who live in a hub. 4 month MSP layovers are great. If oneways would be in addition to, rather than in place of, I am all for it. Alaska can make it work without bankrupting the airline.

fti

I am on a 5-month layover in MSP right now. But one doesn't need to live in a hub to make stopovers work well.

stan1162

I'm sure it's simple for many, but I'm still working on learning (destinations, stopovers, open-jaws) and what works and what doesn't. All the in's and out's and tricks and tools.

Fooling around with ITA and Delta.com and these forums has helped me learn a lot. I still have soooo many quesitons. Will keep experimenting and more light bulbs should go off!

Thanks!