Greetings all! I’ve been a long-time lurker on FT and have finally come to you for some sage advice. I’m a SkyTeam Elite (Delta Silver now, Gold soon) and am planning a trip to Delhi over Christmas. I’ve been watching air fares bounce around over the past few weeks on Kayak and have yet to see a SkyTeam airline come down to a competitive price. The most reasonable prices seem to be on BA, or some kind of UA/9W/AI combo. The multi-airline itineraries with layovers in DXB, BRU or LHR kinda scare me as it leaves an opportunity for a missed connection/IROPS and no-one accountable other than me. So my questions are as follows:

1) As a SkyTeam Elite are the benefits of mileage accrual, dedicated check-in and preferred seating on CO or KLM worth the additional hundred dollars premium the flight would cost over BA? Does anyone have experience flying SkyTeam to DEL?

2) Am I nuts to be wary of a multi carrier itinerary booked on Orbitz that seems to be a hodgepodge of one-way tickets?

3) Aeroflot seems to be a cheap option but I’m not too sure about the Ilyushin IL96 they fly on the SVO-DEL sector as well as a long layover at SVO. Not to mention the current US-Russia political ‘chill’. From what I can tell SU offers very few perks for ST Elites Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I’m looking to fly WAS-DEL on 12/18 and return on 1/1. I’m paying for the trip out of my own pocket so I’m looking to do this as economically as possible (in coach). Any help you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks