Looking for Munich (STL-MUC) flights late Oct. B/E. 325K per ticket. Ugh.

Delta CFO was in STL for a breakfast with the premium customers about 3 weeks ago. I was not there but coworker was - invited but passed. He's heard me bi&ch about B/E redemptions and brought it up. I was told that the response, <my very loose translation> was "Suck it. There are a bunch of miles out there and we need to use them." Again this is third hand but makes sense given what I'm finding.

Looking forward to the next breakfast when I can bring this up in person. And then find crappy redemptions....but I may feel better.

262.5 per ticket around late Oct and Nov. And in mid Dec.

Jackpot.

Check the 'Low Business Award' sticky for point-to-point construction tips - or call.

As has been noted frequently, the flexible date calendar search looks at Delta-operated availability only. While they would involve an extra stop, there are lots of potential STL-xxx-AMS/CDG/FCO-MUC routings. A quick search shows Business awards for Oct. 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, and 30th ATL-AMS/CDG-MUC at low mileage on AF or KL.

Yes, jackpot. For Delta, that is every time someone redeems their SkyPiles at such a ridiculous rate.

USA-Europe for Fall should never be more than 100k in J.

On some random tests on CO.com I saw that the CO flights were almost never available at less than rip-off rates, while the partner tickets were fairly easy to find at 105k RT J.

So the biggest difference is the web based visability of the partner awards.

Yup. Hence the very sarcastic "Jackpot".

Not even thinking, I can find 200k per ticket per seat for AA Biz Class. While I don't like that rate, it is still better. (STL to Frankfurt) Still have to train to MUC.

Sorry for resurrecting the Bclass bi&ch but it is just so freaking frustrating.

It's definitely frustrating, I would agree, but in this specific case I don't think it's impossible. If you're willing to double connect and put in a little effort (again, I don't condone the effort, it just is what it is right now) 100k J awards are "easy" to find for several random dates in October.

Being DM, book what you can find with low and keep looking later on. You can change for no charge.

I originally booked MSP-MEM-AMS-MUC. Then changed to MSP-AMS-MUC then due to a last-minute change I flew MSP-ATL-MUC, all low level.

If you can only find DTW or MSP or ATL to MUC, book that and wait for STL to the connection point to open up. Same with the return.

I am trying this and not having much luck. This leads to another point. Why should I have to work to trickfu@% the system to find a couple of seats?

Perhaps I'm lazy but it is not this hard with other airline carriers.

Again, frustrated.

Unfortunately it is what it is. Your initial post was about the high redemption level. When some of us tell you how to find lower levels, you b!tch. Fine. Leaves more low level seats for those of us who want to spend the time tricking the system to find a couple of seats. Thanks!

Acceptance..... It's so fluffy.

You are welcome.

That approach no longer works, as I posted almost one week ago. About 10 days ago on this board, there was some back and forth between several posters and "Cheryl Delta Online". Those posters gave her examples to use and she then eliminated the workaround as a working solution. Nobody here has heard from her since. She has disappeared.

Go to this thread and begin reading at post #17:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...old-out-2.html

Now, Delta has even eliminated the last possibility for finding "low" BE redemption possibilities. Thanks to us.

Try it yourself. I have attempted it to 6 different TATL cities over an 8 month window.

I am certain that there will still be a few posters that will "protect and serve" Delta despite this latest ethical lapse by Delta.

You are mistaken.

See my post #13 in this thread, above.

More power to those who want to "spend the time." Having transferred all of my TATL business from DL to BA several years ago, I now routinely book award seats at low redemption levels on BA in 15 minutes; something I haven't been able to do on DL in quite a long time even after hours of trying to "trick the system. Each of us has his/her own definition of time well spent.