Jan 23, 2015, 12:14 pm
Last edit by: 3Cforme
2015 award rules:
All award travel booked with Delta miles must be booked online or through Delta reservations - even if all travel is on partner carriers.
As of 2/6/2015, award charts are gone from delta.com.
From ~April 7, 2017, partner awards at lowest level may cost more than DL awards at low level. Including a Delta-operated segment appears to yield DL pricing instead of partner pricing. Remember - awards are one way; you may need a Delta segment in each direction to avoid partner-level pricing.
You can book one-ways but a one-way departing Europe will incur international origin surcharges shown as YQ or YR in the detailed pricing breakdown.
Some of Delta's lowest award redemption levels require round-trip purchases, so searches one-way will not display these fares. Some of the lowest award levels can also have significant advance purchase requirements. These can be 14 or 21-days for domestic awards; as much as 90 days for international. Do Advanced Search on LBJ's posts for 'award, advance purchase'.
To see the lowest award prices/itineraries for a selected date it may be necessary to change the display sort order from Best Match to Price.
Between origin and destination one is allowed a max of three segments on US & Canada itins, and four segments internationally each way. City pairs or routings that require more segments will have a fare break and demand more miles.
Open-jaws are still allowed, for example you can book JFK-BCN, FCO-JFK.
Stopovers (spending more than 24 hours in any city on your international itinerary, or more than 4 hours domestic) are no longer allowed. Origin and destination are not stopovers. See posts #27 and #28 for examples of successful overnight connections on international itineraries.
Married segment logic may be applied to award tickets. Even if AAA-BBB is available in low and BBB-CCC is available in low, AAA-BBB-CCC may not price at the low level.
Multi-city award search may give odd results if you are trying to construct an itinerary segment by segment. Pricing may be additive, as AAA-BBB + BBB-CCC instead of through-pricing AAA-CCC as a single award redemption.
Awards that have segments on two or more award bands may price additively, not just the highest band applied between origin and destination. For example, if TVC-DTW is band 3 and DTW-FLL is band 1, the award TVC-DTW-FLL may price as band 3 + band 1. Because of this, if you are originating in or traveling to an area served by multiple airports you may find significant pricing differences at nearby airports.
Delta.com accepts NYC for LGA/JFK/EWR (but don't forget White Plains HPN, Islip ISP, and Newburgh SWF); WAS for BWI/DCA/IAD; CHI for ORD/MDW; PAR for CDG/ORY; LON for LGW/LHR/LCY; SAO for GRU/VCP/CGH; BUE for EZE/AEP. I'm not aware of single codes for the Bay Area, SoCal, nor SoFlorida.
Not tested with new partner pricing 4/4/17: This is not new but still in effect: mixing award level 2 - 5 DL flights with partner flights results in additive pricing because partner flights always book in the lowest award tier. For example, you travel US-AMS in DL medium level award and you connect AMS-anywhere in Europe on KLM, you will pay US-Europe medium level award cost + low level intra-Europe price.
AF/KL Classic Award flights you see at airfrance.us may not be bookable with DL miles, therefore you should not use airfrance.us to search for AF/KL flights if you want to book with DL miles. With DL miles, AF availability seems to be good at 10-11 months out.
Delta's mobile site - m.delta.com - may yield available partner flights even when delta.com does not. This was observed on ~9/12/17.
List of DL partners that can be booked online:
Aeroflot (first reported 3/25/2015)
Aerolineas Argentina AR (first reported 11 March 15)
Aeromexico (AM is back as of 7 March)
Air France
Alaska Airlines - terminated 4/30/2017
Alitalia
China Airlines (first reported 24 Feb 15)
China Eastern
China Southern
Garuda Indonesia (reported/confirmed 10 March 15)
GOL G3 (first reported 3/4/2015)
Jet Airways 9W, first reported 2/12/2017
KLM
Korean Air
Middle East Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Saudia Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Shanghai Airlines FM (spotted in late June 2016)
TAROM RO (spotted on 2/14/2016)
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
WestJet
Xiamen Airlines MF (spotted on 10/14/16)
Hawaiian HA can be booked online as inter-island, or as multi-city. Delta.com award searches will give an error instead of constructing a connection like ATL-HNL-ITO. If used in conjunction with another carrier to Hawaii mileage will be additive. Example: 22,500 miles SLC-HNL + 7,500 miles HNL-Hilo.
Any travel using any of the other partners must be booked by phone.
Air Europa UX
Air Tahiti Nui TN
Czech OK
Kenya Airways KQ - It's been reported that segments on KQ can only be booked by an agent familiar with the old-school long sell process. Details here: https://onemileatatime.com/long-sell-airline-tickets/
Delta.com now publishes the list of blackout dates for KE Korean Airlines: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...nditions.html# (click on AWARD TRAVEL AND PAY WITH MILES RULES & CONDITIONS, and then scroll down to "Blackout dates" section).
Useful threads:
Which DL Partners Incur Fuel Surcharges (YQ/YR) when Redeeming DL miles for an Award
2015 Korean Air Blackout dates for DL Skymiles redemptions Fare rules again show blackout dates for KE travel as mentioned by ENFO's post 2 May 15.
Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners Master Thread - Please do not post questions or discussion in this thread. For discussion, use this other thread: Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners: The Discussion Thread
Ongoing issues with booking awards on Kenya Airways
Anyone book a flight on KQ with Skymiles in 2015?
Phantom availability on AZ (and a possible solution)
Earn and redeem on Aerolineas Argentinas
Virgin Atlantic Award Seats Available at Delta.com but not on Phone, How to Book? (with possible solution in post #8)
New SkyMiles Award Pricing For Travel On or After October 1, 2016 New Award Pricing Travel after Oct 2016
All award travel booked with Delta miles must be booked online or through Delta reservations - even if all travel is on partner carriers.
As of 2/6/2015, award charts are gone from delta.com.
From ~April 7, 2017, partner awards at lowest level may cost more than DL awards at low level. Including a Delta-operated segment appears to yield DL pricing instead of partner pricing. Remember - awards are one way; you may need a Delta segment in each direction to avoid partner-level pricing.
You can book one-ways but a one-way departing Europe will incur international origin surcharges shown as YQ or YR in the detailed pricing breakdown.
Some of Delta's lowest award redemption levels require round-trip purchases, so searches one-way will not display these fares. Some of the lowest award levels can also have significant advance purchase requirements. These can be 14 or 21-days for domestic awards; as much as 90 days for international. Do Advanced Search on LBJ's posts for 'award, advance purchase'.
To see the lowest award prices/itineraries for a selected date it may be necessary to change the display sort order from Best Match to Price.
Between origin and destination one is allowed a max of three segments on US & Canada itins, and four segments internationally each way. City pairs or routings that require more segments will have a fare break and demand more miles.
Open-jaws are still allowed, for example you can book JFK-BCN, FCO-JFK.
Stopovers (spending more than 24 hours in any city on your international itinerary, or more than 4 hours domestic) are no longer allowed. Origin and destination are not stopovers. See posts #27 and #28 for examples of successful overnight connections on international itineraries.
Married segment logic may be applied to award tickets. Even if AAA-BBB is available in low and BBB-CCC is available in low, AAA-BBB-CCC may not price at the low level.
Multi-city award search may give odd results if you are trying to construct an itinerary segment by segment. Pricing may be additive, as AAA-BBB + BBB-CCC instead of through-pricing AAA-CCC as a single award redemption.
Awards that have segments on two or more award bands may price additively, not just the highest band applied between origin and destination. For example, if TVC-DTW is band 3 and DTW-FLL is band 1, the award TVC-DTW-FLL may price as band 3 + band 1. Because of this, if you are originating in or traveling to an area served by multiple airports you may find significant pricing differences at nearby airports.
Delta.com accepts NYC for LGA/JFK/EWR (but don't forget White Plains HPN, Islip ISP, and Newburgh SWF); WAS for BWI/DCA/IAD; CHI for ORD/MDW; PAR for CDG/ORY; LON for LGW/LHR/LCY; SAO for GRU/VCP/CGH; BUE for EZE/AEP. I'm not aware of single codes for the Bay Area, SoCal, nor SoFlorida.
Not tested with new partner pricing 4/4/17: This is not new but still in effect: mixing award level 2 - 5 DL flights with partner flights results in additive pricing because partner flights always book in the lowest award tier. For example, you travel US-AMS in DL medium level award and you connect AMS-anywhere in Europe on KLM, you will pay US-Europe medium level award cost + low level intra-Europe price.
AF/KL Classic Award flights you see at airfrance.us may not be bookable with DL miles, therefore you should not use airfrance.us to search for AF/KL flights if you want to book with DL miles. With DL miles, AF availability seems to be good at 10-11 months out.
Delta's mobile site - m.delta.com - may yield available partner flights even when delta.com does not. This was observed on ~9/12/17.
List of DL partners that can be booked online:
Aeroflot (first reported 3/25/2015)
Aerolineas Argentina AR (first reported 11 March 15)
Aeromexico (AM is back as of 7 March)
Air France
Alaska Airlines - terminated 4/30/2017
Alitalia
China Airlines (first reported 24 Feb 15)
China Eastern
China Southern
Garuda Indonesia (reported/confirmed 10 March 15)
GOL G3 (first reported 3/4/2015)
Jet Airways 9W, first reported 2/12/2017
KLM
Korean Air
Middle East Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Saudia Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Shanghai Airlines FM (spotted in late June 2016)
TAROM RO (spotted on 2/14/2016)
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
WestJet
Xiamen Airlines MF (spotted on 10/14/16)
Hawaiian HA can be booked online as inter-island, or as multi-city. Delta.com award searches will give an error instead of constructing a connection like ATL-HNL-ITO. If used in conjunction with another carrier to Hawaii mileage will be additive. Example: 22,500 miles SLC-HNL + 7,500 miles HNL-Hilo.
Any travel using any of the other partners must be booked by phone.
Air Europa UX
Air Tahiti Nui TN
Czech OK
Kenya Airways KQ - It's been reported that segments on KQ can only be booked by an agent familiar with the old-school long sell process. Details here: https://onemileatatime.com/long-sell-airline-tickets/
Delta.com now publishes the list of blackout dates for KE Korean Airlines: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...nditions.html# (click on AWARD TRAVEL AND PAY WITH MILES RULES & CONDITIONS, and then scroll down to "Blackout dates" section).
Useful threads:
Which DL Partners Incur Fuel Surcharges (YQ/YR) when Redeeming DL miles for an Award
2015 Korean Air Blackout dates for DL Skymiles redemptions Fare rules again show blackout dates for KE travel as mentioned by ENFO's post 2 May 15.
Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners Master Thread - Please do not post questions or discussion in this thread. For discussion, use this other thread: Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners: The Discussion Thread
Ongoing issues with booking awards on Kenya Airways
Anyone book a flight on KQ with Skymiles in 2015?
Phantom availability on AZ (and a possible solution)
Earn and redeem on Aerolineas Argentinas
Virgin Atlantic Award Seats Available at Delta.com but not on Phone, How to Book? (with possible solution in post #8)
New SkyMiles Award Pricing For Travel On or After October 1, 2016 New Award Pricing Travel after Oct 2016
Booking Delta Award Tickets, 2015 on
Feb 27, 2015, 8:56 am
#91
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: DUS
Programs: DL, HHonors, Bonvoy, Hyatt
Posts: 2,072
Perhaps this doesn't apply if DL is one of the carriers and their flight is also available in the level formerly known as level 1? I've been able to book DL+VS in Y and J for 30 and 62.5, respectively. I want to tack on a KL flight... we'll see how it prices out after I call in. I'm nervous now though.
Feb 27, 2015, 9:09 am
#92
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
I encountered this today as well. The phone agent put it to me this way: if you have more than one operating carrier on a leg each one will price out separately and then be added together. I don't know if that's completely accurate but they tried to charge me 82,500 for a 2-leg TPAC on KE in J (70K) plus a domestic connection in Y on AS (12.5K) and on a different option 162,500 for a TPAC on DL in J (150K) plus the same domestic connection on AS in Y (12.5K). 
Spent 90 min on the phone with SINRES today to no avail.
Spent 90 min on the phone with SINRES today to no avail.
The contention that awards with two carriers will price additively (as a rule) is quickly disproven: here's a Level 1, two carriers, single award pricing.
KE coach + AS coach, single award pricing.
Last edited by 3Cforme; Feb 27, 2015 at 9:27 am
Feb 27, 2015, 9:29 am
#93
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: DL FO, UA, AA, AsiaMiles, SPG, HHonors
Posts: 7,982
You're right, but I used to be able to pay the J price and just get the Y segment along with it for free usually because J/F just simply wasn't available. Now it seems this is not possible.
Feb 27, 2015, 10:03 am
#94
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: DUS
Programs: DL, HHonors, Bonvoy, Hyatt
Posts: 2,072
I wonder if they'll implement that for revenue tickets as well. No F because your connecting leg is a CR2? Pay a coach surcharge!!!
Feb 27, 2015, 1:50 pm
#95
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,693
I speak as a holder of such a ticket (J and Y priced at J), booked with agent's help days before the chart disappearance. I consider myself lucky, though it's unfortunate that I have to.
Feb 27, 2015, 2:01 pm
#96
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: DUS
Programs: DL, HHonors, Bonvoy, Hyatt
Posts: 2,072
The same agent asked which AMEX on file I wanted to use to pay my "sixty-two thousand five-hundred."
Feb 27, 2015, 2:02 pm
#97
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,204
Indeed. However, with some (not all) other airlines you are limited what airlines you can mix. J + Y of all SkyTeam airlines should price just at the J price, absolutely and unequivocally (unless there is a stopover or it's over MPM or some other such issue). However, if DL prices J SkyTeam airline(s) + Y AS (non-SkyTeam) additively (or for that matter J + J additively of SkyTeam vs. non-SkyTeam), it would not be alone in doing so. Some other airlines do not allow you to mix non-alliance airlines with other partner airlines at all (US and JL come to mind, and I am sure there are others), and if you do, then may price it up additively (though normally they won't even ticket it on a single ticket). So, if DL starts pricing AS additively to other SkyTeam airlines, well, it may have some justification for that, as AS is not in SkyTeam after all; it could be worse, DL could insist that you cannot ticket AS together with any SkyTeam airline, other than DL itself, and have to get it as two separate tickets - like I know US and JL do, and I am sure there are others also.
Feb 27, 2015, 3:01 pm
#98
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: LAX
Programs: DL DM, 2 MM; OW Emerald; MVP Gold 100k;Marriott/SPG LTPlat; HH Diamond
Posts: 968
I thought this was still true although I haven't tried it, just remember reading it, but seems impossible to do online.
Around the world or around the corner your Awards await. Online Award Tickets let you arrange your travel with real-time availability for SkyMiles Award Travel for yourself and others. You can use the miles you have earned toward Award Travel in BusinessElite®, First, Business or Economy. You can also mix and match prices and cabins within an itinerary. emphasis mine
Around the world or around the corner your Awards await. Online Award Tickets let you arrange your travel with real-time availability for SkyMiles Award Travel for yourself and others. You can use the miles you have earned toward Award Travel in BusinessElite®, First, Business or Economy. You can also mix and match prices and cabins within an itinerary. emphasis mine
Mar 3, 2015, 11:43 am
#99
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 25
So whats the deal with open jaw now?
Thanks for moving this to a new thread. a while ago on the last thread I had asked about the changes award tickets for 2015 forward. At the time, the word was that open Jaw was no longer allowed. It now looks like it might be?
I am planning a cruise for the Wife and I...
For June 2016, I am looking for MCO-BCN, 7 day cruise to Rome, then FCO-MCO. Is this still possible online? A couple of months back I was playing and could not price something like this. I was then planning to just fly in and out on BCN and grab a cheap flight from FCO to BCN to avoid the European taxes ($900!!) by booking two 1 way tickets.
If this is now an option again, I would love to know the secrets of putting it together in the awards page.
I am planning a cruise for the Wife and I...
For June 2016, I am looking for MCO-BCN, 7 day cruise to Rome, then FCO-MCO. Is this still possible online? A couple of months back I was playing and could not price something like this. I was then planning to just fly in and out on BCN and grab a cheap flight from FCO to BCN to avoid the European taxes ($900!!) by booking two 1 way tickets.
If this is now an option again, I would love to know the secrets of putting it together in the awards page.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:47 am
#100
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: DUS
Programs: DL, HHonors, Bonvoy, Hyatt
Posts: 2,072
You can definitely book an open jaw, basically two one-ways on one tickets. I priced out a TATL+TPAC on one ticket yesterday, no problem. I just used the multi-city option.
Not exactly sure how the taxes will work out, but hopefully they'll be in your favor.
You've got a ways to go until you can book for June 2016 though. Who knows what the redemption rules will be 3-4 months from now!!
Not exactly sure how the taxes will work out, but hopefully they'll be in your favor.
You've got a ways to go until you can book for June 2016 though. Who knows what the redemption rules will be 3-4 months from now!!
Mar 3, 2015, 12:12 pm
#101
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 25
I know, but its best to start preparing really early! IT is amazing what has changed since the last time I trired getting tickets in 2013!
Mar 4, 2015, 6:11 pm
#102
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Posts: 2,983
Blogger posted that GOL can now be booked at delta.com. Search for MIA-PUJ for example. Just beware that many people say GOL does not have business class, even though delta.com shows availability in business class.
Mar 19, 2015, 2:06 pm
#103
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Posts: 2,983
Mar 19, 2015, 2:12 pm
#104
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
Con: Seems to me the opens the door for variable pricing on partner awards, vs. all partners available at low only.
Mar 19, 2015, 3:42 pm
#105
Join Date: May 2011
Location: CT
Programs: HHonors Silver
Posts: 429
I'm not sure CZ booking on delta.com is working properly. Looking at JFK-CAN on July, in AF website, pretty much every day has availability for coach, but delta.com shows no seat at all even with "My Dates Are Flexible" checked.