Originally Posted by
kb1992
Actually, it may be a good idea to redeem DL miles for trips like
HKG-NRT in J (40K miles?)
PVG-Lijiang in Y (20K miles?)
PEK-HKG in Y (20K miles?)
Since delta.com won't allow me to book them online, I need to pay $25 and call DL.
Can you help us with your guan xi 关系 inside CZ?
TMK, all of those itins should cost 25k DL miles because DL doesn't do the zone thing. Previously, business class was a mere 5k additional miles, but IIRC that is no longer the case.
For UA, intra-N. Asia also costs a flat 25k miles and biz is around 40k. However, HK is considered S. Asia, so PEK-HKG or ICN-HKG only costs 20k (30k in biz). As I've pointed out here and elsewhere, this is the only UA award that
decreased in price during the 09 devaluation.
As for CZ guanxi, I don't have any specific contacts any more, but the game is pretty simple. Get DL to waitlist you for CZ award seats, then go to CZ office (I've had great luck at their call center in BJ; they don't get many walk ins) with flowers/chocolates and work it. Also, if DL is unwilling to do the WL thing, you can get CZ to open up inventory so that WL is not necessary. For the DL side of the coin, I also try to interact with their China people (Echo and Charles are both good). Avoiding the SIN call center is advisable.