Originally Posted by
GBadger
It really is that much better on other airlines.
Of the ones that I've had experience with (mainly UA and NW), I didn't have any problems using my miles at rates that I thought were reasonable on or very near the dates and times that I was looking for. This was valid for both Y and J redemptions, domestic, TATL, TPAC, etc.
With DL, I've tried...I really have.
I am currently trying to get something SFO-OSL for this May/June, but entering that routing into the award search returns:
Ok, so I click on the calendar to see what dates are available, and instead of getting a calendar I get:
Ok, try multicity: SFO-AMS-OSL-CDG-SFO
Flights show up! Yay. I select SFO-SEA-AMS as my first leg, and then for the second leg I get:
Ok, maybe AMS is a poor choice... Lets try SFO-CDG-OSL-CDG-SFO
Wow! Now I'm getting somewhere. Not only can I get to CDG, but I can get from CDG to OSL (through....anybody have a guess??? AMS!!!
). Fine, I click my way to the end to find that my ticket will cost me 132,500 miles+$162. In coach! Really DL? That's more than 200% of the "low" value.
+1 re: NW adding in my experience booking awards at CO
agree with your DL example, having just done this song and dance yesterday for a similar trip to OSL ex-east coast, i hear you loud and clear. we were even trying to book this for november which is not exactly peak travel to OSL. DL had nothing available at all. when we tried to do multi-city, it would tell us that they don't fly from CDG to OSL.
the booking engine doesn't show any SkyTeam partners.
that last thing, lacking ST partners for awards, is a HUGE problem IMO. one of the reasons i miss the NW site.
FWIW, we ended up booking a paid ticket via KLM for $300 less than the same exact booking on DL. what is even more
shocking is all of the flights are DL operated.