seychellesbound

If you carefully follow the "How to search for low-tier J awards" this can be done.....

The ticket prices out at $11,760 = $.098 cents per mile!

Departs Arrives Stops Travel Time Flights & Cabin
Price per passenger (USD):
View fare rules and baggage policies
View Award Travel Rules & Conditions
Type

Base Fare
120,000 Miles required
Taxes/Fees
+ $ 227.90 Taxes/Fees
Redemption Fee
Price per passenger
= $ 227.90 *
Total


Detroit-Wayne County, MI (DTW) to Chicago-Ohare, IL (ORD) on 08 Jan 2011
8:45am
DTW 9:03am
ORD Nonstop 1 hr 18 min Delta 1767
DC-9-50
In-Flight Services First
View Seats
Chicago-Ohare, IL (ORD) to Paris-De Gaulle, France (CDG) on 08 Jan 2011
5:20pm
ORD 8:35am
CDG

Arrives 09 Jan Nonstop 8 hr 15 min Air France 667
Airbus A340
In-Flight Services Business

Paris-De Gaulle, France (CDG) to Mahe Island, Seychelles Islands (SEZ) on 15 Jan 2011
7:30pm
CDG 7:15am
SEZ

Arrives 16 Jan Nonstop 8 hr 45 min Air France 952
Boeing 767-300
Operated by Air Seychelles
In-Flight Services Business

Mahe Island, Seychelles Islands (SEZ) to Paris-De Gaulle, France (CDG) on 22 Jan 2011
9:15am
SEZ 5:30pm
CDG Nonstop 11 hr 15 min Air France 953
Boeing 767-300
Operated by Air Seychelles
In-Flight Services Business

Paris-De Gaulle, France (CDG) to Chicago-Ohare, IL (ORD) on 23 Jan 2011
10:35am
CDG 12:45pm
ORD Nonstop 9 hr 10 min Air France 664
330
In-Flight Services Business

Chicago-Ohare, IL (ORD) to Detroit-Wayne County, MI (DTW) on 23 Jan 2011
4:20pm
ORD 6:44pm
DTW Nonstop 1 hr 24 min Delta 2720
Airbus A319
In-Flight Services First
View Seats

What other alliance can get you to the Seychelles in J for this price?

generaltao

You love an award search engine that makes you do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around in hopes that maybe, perhaps, you MIGHT get the result above? When other airlines only require a couple of clicks?

oooooo k.

seychellesbound

A couple of clicks to the Seychelles in J for 10 cents per mile? I'd like to see that...

NYC123

It is great that you found that award, but the delta.com tool does not make it easy, nor is it in any way lovable.

Still, that is an awesome itin. and should be a lot of fun. Congrats.

seychellesbound

Too bad I can't redeem it cause my GF wants to go to Madrid in early 2011 instead! My only out is to propose now and make the above itin our honeymoon!

FlytheTail

Seriously? Glad you're happy, but....

The DL award search program sucks;
The awards are mostly on AF/KL, which have much more generous business seat availability than DL;
Your layover in Chicago is 9 hours;
AF flies from DTW to CDG, did you try that routing?

pbarnette

Or... You could reconsider marrying her. I mean, Madrid???

That is nice. I have to say that I find the availability into the Seychelles to be exceptional. Same into Mauritius. I have searched too many times now for itineraries to both. Now I just have to bite the bullet and make the trip. Any suggestions?

Seriously, though, I actually really like Madrid. In some ways, I like better than Barcelona. Good eating, for sure. But be careful about how early you go, as winter can be a little eh, in my book.

generaltao

Hmm.. wasn't commenting on the result but rather on "loving" an award search engine that requires acrobatics and a prayer to produce said result.

SAT Lawyer

Having recently completed an award booking for two in business to the Seychelles, I'd characterize the availability of business-class inventory between CDG and SEZ on the AF-coded, HM-operated flights as surprisingly decent (certainly not "exceptional," except perhaps by DL's atrocious standards), but the matching transatlantic inventory (especially on DL metal) as lousy. But trying to find a viable itinerary on delta.com without having first done your homework, using a tool like KVS, and then running a multi-city search with available segments already known, is an exercise in madness. And don't get me started about calling DL for help, with the draconian limitations on the number of dates that its agents will sweep before another phone call is required coupled with a widespread belief of said agents (at least those who serviced me, anyway)that CDG-SEZ and vice-versa isn't even bookable because the metal is HM's.

For those who want to go to the Seychelles on DL and don't want to spend all their time tearing out their hair, I cannot recommend a subscription to KVS strongly enough.

seychellesbound

I can't find any availability to MRU via delta.com. Did you use KVS to find routes there? To me, the KVS fees are not worth it. My ideal itin though would be.... DTW-CDG-SEZ-MRU (open jaw)-CDG-DTW

fti

It is really 10 cents per mile if you would be willing to pay the $11,000 for such a ticket. Most FT'ers are not. Granted, you need some way to "value" the miles, but valuing them using a price you know you would have no intention of paying is not the best way...IMHO of course.

I am using 100K miles to fly to both Anchorage and Munich in F/J. That ticket would cost me over $10,000 as well if I paid for it. But I would never spend that much. And there would be cheaper ways, even with F/J, to purchase the ticket if I were going to pay cash. But the end result - I got a great deal using my miles. I just wouldn't say I got a 10 cent/mile value from them.

thepointsguy

I'm going to the Seychelles on DL business award tix and I'd actually recommend Expert Flyer, because it allows you to search by +/- 3 days so you can scan inventory week by week, whereas KVS makes you search day by day.

Either way, I agree with the OP that its one of the Skymiles gems and kind of wish he wasn't advertising it so much!

SAT Lawyer

KVS will work for MRU, just like SEZ.

You can get a Platinum subscription, which lasts for two months, for $15. To me, that's money well spent for avoiding the pain of trying blind searches on delta.com or with DL's telephone agents, especially if you are going to be actively searching.

seychellesbound

You're absolutely right.....MODS PLEASE DELETE THIS THREAD before DL creates a seperate award category for SEZ ala Hawaii...

exwannabe

The way to value these tickets that you would not otherwise buy is by deciding what you would be willing to pay for the J ticket. For me that would make it something like $2500 TATL and $3500 TPAC.

Also, you need to add in the miles you would have received on a paid ticket to the miles you used.

It still was a good use of miles though.

The award booking engine still sucks though.