LeonS

I'm eyeing a redemption on a Tokyo Haneda to Seattle flight for 2 people in Delta One Suites. I'm seeing availability on Delta for 96k Skymiles each.

• Is this a good deal?
• I have enough Delta miles to book 1 seat right away. For the second seat, I was hoping to book through some other program.
  • I have many Virgin Atlantic miles, but the Virgin site is not showing availability for the Delta flight. Does Virgin show all Delta availability on their site, or should I call to verify with an agent?
  • I have tons of Capital One Spark miles. Any ideas on how to use these to book the Delta flight? I thought about transferring and booking on Flying Blue, but they are not showing the Delta flight either.
  • I also have many Chase Ultimate Rewards points available, but going the route of Chase Points => Marriott Points => Skymiles does not seem like a great idea given that Chase to Marriott transfer rate is 1:1.

Thank you in advance

badgerchemist

Not sure what your budget is, or how many miles you have available, but my favorite move on Delta is to pay cash for Premium Select, then do an MUA to Delta One (confirmed at booking ideally). You still get the MQMs and some MQDs for the flights, while saving potentially thousands on the overall fare.

LeonS

Premium Select is selling for a higher cash fare (or more miles) than Delta One right now! :/

xliioper

The 96K rate is a discounted seasonal rate (good on Mon-Thu flights on/before June 30th) on the SEA/PDX-TYO non-stop flights. The nominal low-level rate on DL metal is 120K one-way. One-way on Asian partners (over-water on TPAC segment) is 85K. You will almost certainly not see it cheaper than this rate for a one-way as it is already discounted off of nominal award rate.

Fare Basis CSX960
DAY/TIME APPLICATION
PERMITTED MON THROUGH THU ON EACH TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR.
FLIGHT APPLICATION
THE FARE COMPONENT MUST INCLUDE TRAVEL VIA TRANSPACIFIC SECTORS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING DL FLIGHT 69 DL FLIGHT 68 DL FLIGHT 167 DL FLIGHT 166.
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS AND TICKETING
RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 7 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE.
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/BEFORE 30JUN 20.

You should be aware that DL also has roundtrip award levels on many routes (which can't be purchased as one-ways) and that is also the case here.
You can actually get a roundtrip award in D1 for less than the price of the 96K one-way at 90K total (another discounted seasonal rate). Similar restrictions as the one-way, but with a roundtrip booking and 4-day min stay required.

Fare Basis CSXR450
DAY/TIME APPLICATION
PERMITTED MON THROUGH THU ON EACH TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR
FLIGHT APPLICATION
THE FARE COMPONENT MUST INCLUDE TRAVEL VIA TRANSPACIFIC SECTORS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING DL FLIGHT 69 DL FLIGHT 68 DL FLIGHT 167 DL FLIGHT 166
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS AND TICKETING
RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 7 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE
MINIMUM STAY
TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 4 DAYS AFTER DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/BEFORE 30JUN 20

LeonS

Holy cow, thanks for that! That is a much better deal

It still leaves me with only enough miles for one of the two passengers. Would you have any suggestions to book it with another program or transfer miles from somewhere else?

badgerchemist

How many miles do you have/how short are you? Can you hit the sign-up bonus on a new Delta card quickly enough to get the 85k miles in year one?

ethernal

I just want to say.. that is absolutely insane. I guess living in Seattle (or Tokyo) has its perks.

LeonS

I'm 50k short total (to buy tickets for 2 passengers). We were going to fly outbound with Japan Airlines, but flying return with Delta makes a lot more sense.

We have tons of Ultimate Rewards and Capital Spark miles; or cash if needed to grab a great deal.

The whole process to get the sign-up bonus from a new credit card would take weeks. I don't think that's a great idea :/

RealHJ

Normally if DL flight is available at the normal level it should be available via VS. You are right it doesn't show, but it's worth double checking with VS.

Otherwise, if reasonable, just book the cash fare and reimburse it using the Capital One miles that you mentioned you had. Then you'll also earn DL miles and MQMs on that ticket. (Obviously only makes sense if the cash price is reasonable.)

Or just book two one ways, one way DL and the other direction JL, for example.

xliioper

Awards are also good to/from PDX/SLC/LAX. Other hubs (MSP, DTW, ATL, JFK) have availability between 50K and 64K each way with roundtrip purchase. Also looks to be good from DEN and PHX.

flyerfirsts

Out of curiosity, do you know all of this simply through amazing google-fu, or do you have an account with SABRE or something? I just wonder if there is a public source for that level of info that I don't know about.

RealHJ

delta.com.
View the fare rules.

Only available when flights are selected and before you purchase.

Casily

We just booked 5 D1 at 90k SM each SEA HND return via PDX. We thought it was mistake fare. Hope the public health crisis is all under control by June.

btonkid12345

Yes. That, and xliioper is very, very astute at researching, understand, and then deciphering these rules in plain language.

I really appreciate their frequent contributions and look forward to it continuing - has helped me multiple times personally and I am sincerely appreciative!

WestCoastPDX

Spent 96k for o/w NRT-PDX last week. So, you did good!

Also, fwiw, I’m in Taiwan now, heading for a week in Tokyo in a few weeks.

I am not aware of any crisis that would impact travel in any area outside of Wuhan. None.