The Definitive "How To Search for Low Tier Business Awards"
Dec 28, 2017, 3:10 am
#2731
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
I just came across an experience that was really frustrating and wondering if anyone else has encountered this? Yesterday I went to book an award on the latest available date for next year (11/22/2018) for PER-JFK. There was low level available in J for 94k miles per person. It was a combination of VA/DL and when I tried to book it online it would error out and say I needed to call DL. I had booked this exact itinerary 2 days earlier on 12/24 for travel on 11/20/2018 (the latest possible day) with no issues over the phone. The agent said she couldn't get the flights to work because while the first flight - PER-SYD - was on 11/22, the connecting flights were on 11/23 and those dates weren't available yet. I HUACA 5 different times and got some helpful agents on the DM line, skymiles desk, international desk and all came back with the same error and said that I would have to wait until midnight to book. I told them that the fare would change and I just did this same booking 2 days earlier with the same flights a day outside the latest booking date with no problem. All agents saw my booking and had no idea why I was able to do it then and not now.
Sure enough I went back online at 11pm to try again and the award had shot up from 94k to 215k miles per person. Has anyone ever had this happen or know of any ways to work around this in the future. I don't know why I didn't have the problem on 12/24 but had it yesterday.
Sure enough I went back online at 11pm to try again and the award had shot up from 94k to 215k miles per person. Has anyone ever had this happen or know of any ways to work around this in the future. I don't know why I didn't have the problem on 12/24 but had it yesterday.
Another thing to ask them would be to simply hold the fights in a PNR, document the correct price, and then call back the next day to ticket. That should work if the pricing is saved to an unticketed PNR, but I've never done it (or even asked for it), so I can't say that it will - but that is also worth a try, if logging out and back in now doesn't work as it did before (that was with the earlier res system, before the latest big batch of functionality downgrades and bugs being introduced).
Last edited by RealHJ; Dec 28, 2017 at 4:33 pm Reason: corrected typo
Dec 28, 2017, 9:45 am
#2732
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: DL DM, AA Plat, Hertz Pres. Club. SPG Gold
Posts: 574
Yes, that is very common. Flights are often priced at the normal price for a few hours right after release time, before pricing increasing - usually several fold over. If you can book it online and if it shows online, it is bookable by the phone agents. They just need to log out and then log back into their terminal. The date/time for them is set as of the time they logged in and not updated in real time, so if they logged in before midnight local time, they only have access to 330 not 331 days out to ticket. Also best if you get through to an agent on the east coast (CVG, ATL, JAJ, I think there may be also a Delta phone agents location in Florida), again due to the timing.
Another thing to ask them would be to simply hold the fights in a PNR, document the correct price, and then call back the next day to ticket. That should work if the ticket is saved to an unticketed PNR, but I've never done it (or even asked for it), so I can't say that it will - but that is also worth a try, if logging out and back in now doesn't work as it did before (that was with the earlier res system, before the latest big batch of functionality downgrades and bugs being introduced).
Another thing to ask them would be to simply hold the fights in a PNR, document the correct price, and then call back the next day to ticket. That should work if the ticket is saved to an unticketed PNR, but I've never done it (or even asked for it), so I can't say that it will - but that is also worth a try, if logging out and back in now doesn't work as it did before (that was with the earlier res system, before the latest big batch of functionality downgrades and bugs being introduced).
Jan 19, 2018, 10:45 pm
#2733
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: MSP
Posts: 165
I managed to snag a trip in DO at the 140K RT rate for MSP-AMS-MAD and then LIS-AMS-MSP. However the short AMS-MAD segment was just changed from KLM to Transavia, meaning I am downgraded to economy since that's all those planes have. Will Delta allow you to make changes to your award flight based on this? It looks like no - that only seems to be allowed if the time of the flight itself changes by more than an hour. Here it's just that that specific route (KLM 1705) is using Transavia for the 16:25 flight.
Honestly I'd love to be able to move to an earlier MSP-AMS flight so I can take the AMS-MAD segment on their actual metal and get Euro "Business." Is it worth calling them about this or no?
Honestly I'd love to be able to move to an earlier MSP-AMS flight so I can take the AMS-MAD segment on their actual metal and get Euro "Business." Is it worth calling them about this or no?
Jan 20, 2018, 4:44 pm
#2734
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: MSP
Posts: 165
Update: I called them and they originally offered to either reroute me through JFK (which I didn't want because I'd prefer to be on the A330 instead of the 764), or they would keep the routing but give me 15K miles. However when I asked if I could be on the earlier (7:30 pm instead of 10 pm, and 2J was available!) MSP-AMS flight (and also be changed to an earlier AMS-MAD flight on KLM itself) they did! And in Euro business on the latter. So know I'm able to get in earlier to Madrid (which I wanted, but was not available for the award price initially).
Last edited by sjackson12; Jan 20, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Jan 20, 2018, 5:58 pm
#2735
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: DL DM, AA Plat, Hertz Pres. Club. SPG Gold
Posts: 574
Update: I called them and they originally offered to either reroute me through JFK (which I didn't want because I'd prefer to be on the A330 instead of the 764), or they would keep the routing but give me 15K miles. However when I asked if I could be on the earlier (7:30 pm instead of 10 pm, and 2J was available!) MSP-AMS flight (and also be changed to an earlier AMS-MAD flight on KLM itself) they did! And in Euro business on the latter. So know I'm able to get in earlier to Madrid (which I wanted, but was not available for the award price initially).
Feb 23, 2018, 2:43 pm
#2737
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Whatever Hotel I'm in
Programs: Delta Gold, Bonvoy Titanium Elite Lifetime
Posts: 459
So I'm looking to book a ticket next year ( June) from either ORD or ATL to Munich hopefully in business. I should have firm dates down within the next couple weeks so is the best way to wait until 330 days, check avaiability and book?
Feb 23, 2018, 3:14 pm
#2738
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Depends on the airlines whose flights you want to book. For DL, not necessarily, though at T-331 you can have better availability for a short while, before it goes way up. For other airlines, generally yes, but not always. Award availability is very much now like revenue fares and pricing goes up and down all the time. It's not uncommon to have a flight go up and down in price and vary as much as four fold over a period as short as a month.
Feb 23, 2018, 3:19 pm
#2739
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Whatever Hotel I'm in
Programs: Delta Gold, Bonvoy Titanium Elite Lifetime
Posts: 459
Depends on the airlines whose flights you want to book. For DL, not necessarily, though at T-331 you can have better availability for a short while, before it goes way up. For other airlines, generally yes, but not always. Award availability is very much now like revenue fares and pricing goes up and down all the time. It's not uncommon to have a flight go up and down in price and vary as much as four fold over a period as short as a month.
THX
Feb 23, 2018, 3:27 pm
#2740
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
If you are PM and above, you can always book it at a higher price (if you must go and just want to secure the flight), and when the price goes down call DL and ask them to reticket it at the current price, and get the difference in the mileage back.
Feb 23, 2018, 3:35 pm
#2741
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Whatever Hotel I'm in
Programs: Delta Gold, Bonvoy Titanium Elite Lifetime
Posts: 459
If you don't see it at the normal price, keep checking. Daily. Pricing fluctuates a lot. Just thinking of it as a roller coaster. You want to catch it when it's low. You may get it at T-331, or at T-3. Most likely somewhere inbetween. I've been - more than once - flights go from the highest price to the lowest (normal) price, and back again, over a period as short as a month or two, with no discernible pattern.
If you are PM and above, you can always book it at a higher price (if you must go and just want to secure the flight), and when the price goes down call DL and ask them to reticket it at the current price, and get the difference in the mileage back.
If you are PM and above, you can always book it at a higher price (if you must go and just want to secure the flight), and when the price goes down call DL and ask them to reticket it at the current price, and get the difference in the mileage back.
Feb 23, 2018, 5:38 pm
#2742
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
You can do it as a Gold (or nobody) also, but then you'll just pay the $150 ticket reissue fee.
Mar 3, 2018, 3:16 pm
#2743
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: DL BA Amex
Posts: 916
I've been trying to find J availability on DL from US-EU some time during May-June 2018, but can't seem to find anything at low award price.
I know the old DL site was notorious for not showing availability correctly... but is this still the case?
The WIKI for this thread doesn't appear to have been updated in years...
I Have tried breaking-down the trip segment-by-segment to find the low--priced awards, but not much luck at all.
I am looking for the following... (business class)
CLE-PRG, CLE-PSA, CLE-FCO, CLE-FRA
Thanks!
I know the old DL site was notorious for not showing availability correctly... but is this still the case?
The WIKI for this thread doesn't appear to have been updated in years...
I Have tried breaking-down the trip segment-by-segment to find the low--priced awards, but not much luck at all.
I am looking for the following... (business class)
CLE-PRG, CLE-PSA, CLE-FCO, CLE-FRA
Thanks!
Mar 5, 2018, 11:22 am
#2744
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
I really don't understand the pricing anymore. I recently booked NYC-LON rt on VX basically to save a few hundred dollars (I wanted to fly the outbound on another carrier but the VX surcharges UK-US are high). I was looking at all sorts of combinations but my dates became pretty rigid. I did find CLE-DTW-FRA for 70k on June 12 and early July using the 5-week tool so they do exist. You can also try the tool at awardnexus.com since that might include partners that aren't available the DL site (not sure if that's still an issue).
Mar 5, 2018, 2:24 pm
#2745
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: DL BA Amex
Posts: 916
I have seen ZERO Air France availability on DL.com... and very little with other partners.
thanks for the reply.