Called DL to see how many miles are required to go in business class between LAX and SYD using VA. The agent said that she can't query specific carriers. !?!?

She only can put in the origin, destination, and dates. Then, according to her the system returns the mileage required. After some effort, she was able to find out the operating carriers: DL and HA (yuck for their "business" class) for 225k miles.

So, then I went to the web site and put in those dates and got the 225k level, using DL and HA, similar to the phone agent's itinerary. However, upon clicking to the next screen where the itinerary is assembled, I got 150k miles.

Did I get a clueless agent? I thought agents are able to do availability calls for specific carriers and flights? It sounded like she was just entering my dates into DL.com and just quoting what she saw.

BTW, I've been a loyal NW frequent flier since the 1980's, so I'm still adjusting to the DL way of things. NW agents used to be pretty quick and proficient at these things.

- Pat