I also didn't believe him. He was reading a whole bunch of dates that look like blackout dates, but there is no way that China Southern would tell Delta to charge more SkyMiles on their flights on specific dates. Moreover, he told me that they cannot hold an itinerary and I have two choices - ticket an itinerary or cancel it. I chose the second.
I'll try tomorrow again, but what is consistent is their computers automatically price ticket at 195K if I add CZ for Australia award.
That just sounds like the fare breaking up. If it is over whatever is the real MPM that DL has from point A to point B, then that may be so and valid...or it could be one of the many (many) pricing bugs that DL has in its stone-age reservations system (no wonder that it is rebuilding it entirely). You should get them to tell you exactly how is the price adding up to that, to read the fare calculation line from which you can quite easily see that, as it shows how many miles for which segment(s) and thus how it adds up. Or, you could ask them to put the same flights in during dates that are not during the dates that they're giving you and see how it adds up then; if it then really adds up to less (highly unlikely, but nothing is impossible with DL), then this may be a yet another stealth "enhancement" (read: devaluation) recently brought for by DL.
As for the blackout dates, this is the current from the DL published award fare rules pulled just now:
FARE RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED NOTE - RULE EFSM IN IPRG APPLIES GENERAL RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY KE FLIGHT OR IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY KE FLIGHT IN COMBINATION WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY AE FLIGHT ANY AF FLIGHT ANY AM FLIGHT ANY AS FLIGHT ANY AZ FLIGHT ANY CI FLIGHT ANY CZ FLIGHT ANY DL FLIGHT ANY G3 FLIGHT ANY HA FLIGHT ANY KE FLIGHT ANY KL FLIGHT ANY KQ FLIGHT ANY MH FLIGHT ANY MU FLIGHT ANY OK FLIGHT ANY RO FLIGHT ANY SU FLIGHT ANY TN FLIGHT ANY UX FLIGHT ANY VA FLIGHT ANY VN FLIGHT ANY AR FLIGHT ANY FM FLIGHT ANY MF FLIGHT ANY ME FLIGHT ANY SV FLIGHT TRAVEL IS NOT PERMITTED 01MAR 13 THROUGH 03MAR 13 OR 17MAY 13 THROUGH 30JUN 13 OR 19JUL 13 THROUGH 25AUG 13 OR 14SEP 13 THROUGH 23SEP 13 OR ON 03OCT 13 OR 05OCT 13 THROUGH 06OCT 13 OR 07DEC 13 THROUGH 05JAN 14 OR 29JAN 14 THROUGH 03FEB 14 OR 03MAY 14 THROUGH 06MAY 14 OR 16MAY 14 THROUGH 01JUL 14 OR 18JUL 14 THROUGH 24AUG 14 OR 05SEP 14 THROUGH 10SEP 14 OR 03OCT 14 THROUGH 05OCT 14 OR ON 09OCT 14 OR 11OCT 14 THROUGH 12OCT 14 OR 10DEC 14 THROUGH 31DEC 14. IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY CI FLIGHT OR IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY CI FLIGHT IN COMBINATION WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY 9W FLIGHT ANY AE FLIGHT ANY AF FLIGHT ANY AM FLIGHT ANY AS FLIGHT ANY AZ FLIGHT ANY CI FLIGHT ANY CZ FLIGHT ANY DL FLIGHT ANY G3 FLIGHT ANY HA FLIGHT ANY IT FLIGHT ANY KE FLIGHT ANY KL FLIGHT ANY KQ FLIGHT ANY MH FLIGHT ANY MU FLIGHT ANY OK FLIGHT ANY RO FLIGHT ANY SU FLIGHT ANY TN FLIGHT ANY UX FLIGHT ANY VA FLIGHT ANY VN FLIGHT ANY AR FLIGHT ANY FM FLIGHT ANY MF FLIGHT ANY ME FLIGHT ANY SV FLIGHT TRAVEL IS NOT PERMITTED 01JUN 13 THROUGH 31AUG 13 OR 10DEC 13 THROUGH 31DEC 13. IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY AE FLIGHT OR IF THE FARE COMPONENT IS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY AE FLIGHT IN COMBINATION WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY AE FLIGHT ANY AF FLIGHT ANY AM FLIGHT ANY AS FLIGHT ANY AZ FLIGHT ANY CI FLIGHT ANY CZ FLIGHT ANY DL FLIGHT ANY G3 FLIGHT ANY HA FLIGHT ANY KE FLIGHT ANY KL FLIGHT ANY KQ FLIGHT ANY MH FLIGHT ANY MU FLIGHT ANY OK FLIGHT ANY RO FLIGHT ANY SU FLIGHT ANY TN FLIGHT ANY UX FLIGHT ANY VA FLIGHT ANY VN FLIGHT ANY AR FLIGHT ANY FM FLIGHT ANY MF FLIGHT ANY ME FLIGHT ANY SV FLIGHT TRAVEL IS NOT PERMITTED 01JUN 13 THROUGH 31AUG 13 OR 10DEC 13 THROUGH 31DEC 13.
STOPOVERS FARE RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED 1 STOPOVER PERMITTED EITHER OUTBOUND OR INBOUND. NOTE - TO QUALIFY THE STOPOVER CITY MUST BE ON A VALID PUBLISHED FARE ROUTING
FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS FARE RULES TEXT FOR -SM TYPE FARES THE FARE COMPONENT MUST BE ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY DL FLIGHT. THE FARE COMPONENT MUST BE ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY DL FLIGHT IN COMBINATION WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY AE FLIGHT ANY AF FLIGHT ANY AM FLIGHT ANY AS FLIGHT ANY AZ FLIGHT ANY CI FLIGHT ANY CZ FLIGHT ANY DL FLIGHT ANY G3 FLIGHT ANY HA FLIGHT ANY KE FLIGHT ANY KL FLIGHT ANY KQ FLIGHT ANY MH FLIGHT ANY MU FLIGHT ANY OK FLIGHT ANY RO FLIGHT ANY SU FLIGHT ANY TN FLIGHT ANY UX FLIGHT ANY VA FLIGHT ANY VN FLIGHT ANY AR FLIGHT ANY FM FLIGHT ANY MF FLIGHT ANY ME FLIGHT ANY SV FLIGHT.
TRANSFERS FARE RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED 3 TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION FARE BREAK SURFACE SECTORS NOT PERMITTED AND EMBEDDE D SURFACE SECTORS PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT.
CHANGES/REFUNDS FARE RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED NOTE - RULE 16SM IN IPRG APPLIES GENERAL RULES TEXT UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED CHANGES CHARGE USD 150.00 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION. NOTE - --- FOR TICKETS ISSUED ON OR AFTER 15AUG 11 - -- CHANGES TO AWARD TICKETS MUST BE MADE AT LEAST 72HOURS PRIOR TO THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT DEPARTUR E TIME OF THE FLIGHT BEING CHANGED. ---------------------------------------------- - SAME DAY CONFIRMED ONLY APPLIES TO AREAS OF TRAVEL IN THE 50 UNITED STATES/CANADA/PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. CANCELLATIONS TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF CANCEL/NO-SHOW. NOTE - --- FOR TICKETS ISSUED ON OR AFTER 15AUG11 --- AWARD TICKETS MUST BE CANCELED 72HOURS PRIOR T O THE SCHEDULED FLIGHT DEPARTURE TIME FOR MILES TO BE REDEPOSITED INTO THE MEMBERS ACCOUNT. AWARD TICKETS BOOKED WITHIN 72HOURS OF DEPARTU RE ARE NONREFUNDABLE AND CANNOT BE REDEPOSITED. ... THIS CANCELLATION FEE WILL ALSO BE ASSESSED TO COUPONS ISSUED IN CONJUNCTION WITH FARES GOVERNED BY THIS RULE.
(There is more, but these are all the possibly relevant sections.)