I have a certificate that's a relic from my days on NWA. The certificate is good for 12,000 miles total off of 2 domestic tix. It expires on 12/31/10. The code with the certificate indicates I can only book by phone. I'd like to start off '11 with no Delta Skypesos and welcome the opportunity to blow through my remaining miles on a domestic transcon. I've found some itineraries that fit my situation well and would be 38,000 with the discount (2 RT at 50,000 normally) my questions are:

-How easy is it to book these flights? I've established through the computer that there are multiple flights worth 25,000 RT, if I get on the phone are they suddenly going to claim these flights are worth 32,500?

-Will I incur charges for booking by phone? I don't think I should since I can't book online but my gut says they'll probably charge me anyway.

Sorry if these questions sound noobish but I'm not very familiar with Delta as my only association with them was via NWA.

I do not know the answer to all of your questions but I can tell you that the only way to use any NW coupons/credit is to do it over the phone. They have waived the charges in my case.

I had (still have) one of these. Tried using it last month. The first agent I spoke to was very helpful, however...
- At first he had no idea what I was talking about...
- Then, I gave him the cert number and it took him 15 minutes or so to find the right cert, but said he didn't see any in my profile (it's in there...)
- Then, he said that although the expiration date was showing as 12/31 online, that the certificate was in fact expired (by the e-cert helpdesk computers).

Finally, he said he would put it in the system, and encouraged me to fax in screenshots of the cert and expiration date as I saw them online if the 6000 per passenger was not refunded within a few days of purchase.

Well, long story short, they were not...I faxed in documentation...Never heard anything back. No follow up, nothing...
I haven't re-followed up, in part because I realized my flights were on AS, and the very fine print details say that the flight must be DL/DL-connection operated.

So, best of luck...

Ack, I had a feeling that this was going to a hard certificate to redeem. Sorry you ran into so much trouble GBadger. Thanks for the advice.

Just wanted to check in here and say that I was able to redeem the certificate. I cycled through 5 CSR before finally reaching someone who knew what to do. They deposited the extra 12,000 miles into my account and then took out 50,000 for the two tickets. No ticketing fee was charged.

Overall it was 45 minutes on the phone wasted, but I was very happy to get two tickets for only 38,000 considering the rapid decline of Skypesos.

Nice work! Glad that the NWA attitude of true recognition for loyalty was able to pay off for you one last time.