Originally Posted by
Maruchino
Long time lurker, first time post! Thanks for the many words of wisdom I have gleaned from this board.
I have done a fair amount of googling, but a lot of the advice is quite old.. so looking for some up-to-date info, thanks in advance..
1: On DL. Does award travel open up nearer departure if the plane is empty?
I am particularly interested in ATL > LHR in BE. Apart from booking early doors, what are the chances that if the plane is empty in the run up to the departure date, that more award space will open up? If so, does anyone have any experience on the best days to be looking - are we talking 7 days before, 3 days before, etc.?
2: If you had the choice between SkyClub at F for $29 or "The Club at ATL" for $35, which would you choose? My preferences are; comfy seating, good wifi, good snacks and soft drinks - booze isn't high on my list of needs.
Thanks
Hi Maruchino- Welcome to FlyerTalk and thanks for contributing to the Delta SkyMiles forum.
As far as question #1 goes, yes it's possible that lower-level award space will open up closer to departure. It's happened lots of times, but it's not a guarantee even if capacity is high. Delta might decide that it's better off from a long-term point of view to restrict award inventory.
But I think most people assume that certain numbers of seats are allocated to a flight at different award levels and that once those seats are gone, they're gone. The reality is that there is no fixed number or upper or lower limit of seats available for award bookings and the number of seats can change at any time due to a host of factors, and that calculation is only known to Delta.
For question #2, I've never been to The Club, but the SkyClub in F is pretty nice and $29 seems like a good price so long as you'll need a nice place to park for a few hours.