DesertNomad

I managed to ticket RNO-SEA-ICN-AMS-PRG on AS/DL/KL metal.

KE has a direct flight ICN-PRG but while it was showing initially, when actually booked it was not available. Totally stupid to have to stop in AMS when there is a direct flight. Calling delta was 50 minutes of hold, 30 minutes of hold and no help at all.

RealHJ

dulta.com shows availability as it is there and is available. It's just that, it seems (too little still to know for sure), it is refusing to book it for the sectors/directions where KE has the "peak" travel dates in effect.

mikesaidyes

Delta.com will show availability and will let you go to pay, and then it will say it's not allowed, try again. If you call, they will see it, they will try it, and also be confused when it doesn't work. It's because of holiday/peak travel periods. Trust, they're still there.

https://kr.koreanair.com/global/en/s...eakseason.html

bobbybrown

This is huge improvement although the website should be wiser. It appears I can book ORD-ICN on 7/31 online or on the phone which was impossible until recently. However, even if ICN-ORD on 7/31 shows availability, I cannot book because it's peak season.

Just FYI, KE collects more tax: KE's SEA-ICN nonstop costs $24.20 while DL charges only $5.60 for the same route.

OLYflyer

+1 It actually used to be better when at least if you knew they were showing space on a blackout date it was tangible that one with enough knowledge could determine it was "phantom space". Now - who the hell know's what will work and what won't.

I mean is this really the untrustworthy program they are going to continue to run without someone doing something - hey DOT???.

Take for example how in the heck does one go about making a booking by transferring Amex miles in with this incompetence, especially with 99% of folks not being able to get HOLDs and MR transfers being irreversible. Amex needs to get made as hell as they're about to have a bunch of p/o'd MR members who transfer 500k miles it to book the 7 ATL-ICN seats in J Dl.dumb shows only to have Delta say - "oops you can't go by our website, that's a blackout (that we don't actually publish anywhere) but feel free to book DL metal for 3x the price" - um that's a bait/switch pure and simple and really borderline fraud.

This isn't conjecture. I successfully booked BKK-ICN-SFO in J online yesterday and the computer and phone wouldn't allow SFO-ICN-BKK a week later. BOTH SETS OF DATES were on "former" blackout dates for both SE Asia & N. Asia US.

So honestly in the hundreds of DL awards I've booked (for myself and clients) - this is the first time I have absolutely no idea if what is showing is real or is fake. And the best part is there is zero way to tell what will work and what won't!

If you've got AMEX miles please don't make the mistake of transferring in boatloads to book something you see online. At least call to verify the agents can see the space - otherwise you're setting yourself up for a major fall.

bobbybrown

Look at the link that mikesaidyes attached: https://kr.koreanair.com/global/en/s...eakseason.html

It will give you an idea for which route and date, you are okay. Basically we cannot book KE's peak dates as mikesaidyes said. For your recent booking, I bet SFO-ICN was in high season. Until delta updates the website, this link is probably the best indication for now.

aolj

I was able to book PDX-SEA-ICN-KUL and KUL-ICN-NRT-PDX in J.

ICN-KUL-ICN-NRT was with KE.

Travel is this June and I booked it 3 weeks ago on Delta.com.

RealHJ

That is not in any KE "peak season" dates. Only N.A. to Asia/Korea is "peak season" then (5.15 - 6.30) and you are not flying N.A. to Asia/Korea on KE, so this makes sense. You could have even flown back with KE then ICN-SEA then (but not so outbound).

From the tests I've done, DL does, in many ways, adhere to the KE "peak season" dates between sectors/directions, but has some weird married segment logic. E.g. when it's "high season" for travel w/in Asia (either direction), if you serach for B-C direct (e.g. ICN-NRT), it will not show up at all. However, it'll show as a segment as part of a A-D search (e.g. xxx-ICN-NRT-yyy). ICN to/from N.A. is tightly controlled and never available when the "peak season" is in a particular direction. However, flights w/in Asia are generally available during the "peak season" within, but never as direct flights. If you search for ICN-TPE, for example, you will see ICN-PVG(KE)-TPE(CZ), but not ICN-TPE direct, while if you searched for ICN-NRT you would see ICN-TPE(KE)-NRT(CI) - seeing the ICN-TPE KE flight that is not available direct, only if connecting. So, during "peak season" w/in Asia KE flights seem to be available only if connecting to another airline, but never as direct flights. That is, the very same flight is available when connecting to another airline, but not direct.

lamont2718

How much in taxes did this redemption require?

aolj

It was $109.40

ENFO

Just a data point.

My outbound JFK-ICN-MNL is 7/6 which is not on a peak travel date. Was able to book this online. There are numerous flights showing on Delta.com before 6/30, which I assume would not be bookable since those are peak travel dates NA-Asia?

The return I was looking for, HKG-ICN-JFK would have been on a peak travel date - 7/7 to 8/23 for Asia to NA - could not get agents to ticket despite availability showing. I assume I have to book after 8/24 and it will then be bookable.

So, minor improvement, but wouldn't really say that there are no more Delta blackout dates for KE?

RealHJ

Actually it's a pretty major improvement. Before, there was a total blackout for all the domestic Korea "peak" dates (of which there are a lot!) system wide for all KE flights. Now it is direction and sector specific (it seems like), which is much better than before and a major improvement.

emkn45

SO frustrating that they show availability that you can't actually book. Last week I called 4 days in a row about this, couldn't get them to ticket it, they said Delta.com was going to pull the flight offline so it wasn't showing anymore. More than a week later, the flight I wanted is still showing as available but can't actually be ticketed.

Sabai

Don't fret, the "Delta.com leadership team" is looking into this. Afterwards, they will all scratch their heads in puzzlement, and then do nothing to fix it.

Rinse, repeat.

mnredfox

Would be REALLY REALLY nice for DL to come out and talk about blackout dates and clarify. Or perhaps they'll just keep hiding behind their opaque award enginer/calendar now.