Online no longer does award stopovers properly
Dec 23, 2011, 1:12 pm
#136
Original Poster
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OP here, just had a lengthy conversation with the PM line. I got a good rep who I could tell was very knowledgable, so I knew I had a chance to possibly get the answers we all seek here. I explained to the agent what was going on, she instantly knew of Flyertalk and knew Delta does keep a presence on the site. She immediately said that yes you are supposed to be able to have a stop over and/or open jaw on an award ticket. I had her try to price out a few I had put together that were available at low. DTW-SEA stop over SEA-HNL and then HNL-DTW, all available at low first class so it should be 75K, but priced out at 120K. Also had her try DTW-ATL stop over ATL-HNL and then OGG-DTW all available at low coach so it should price out at 40K, instead it priced out at 60K, she agreed on both accounts that these are valid routings, that stop over and open jaws are allowed, but that the computer will not do it and when she tries to force it, the computer errors out.
She said she would report it to her manager in hopes it would get reported to IT, we shall see. Anyways, a PM line rep confirmed that stop overs and open jaws are allowed on award tickets on valid published routes, however, the reps have no authority to override it and make it work. I guess I am glad I had whatever agent do whatever she did last week to make mine work.
She said she would report it to her manager in hopes it would get reported to IT, we shall see. Anyways, a PM line rep confirmed that stop overs and open jaws are allowed on award tickets on valid published routes, however, the reps have no authority to override it and make it work. I guess I am glad I had whatever agent do whatever she did last week to make mine work.
Dec 23, 2011, 2:03 pm
#137
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Double "award" price in miles or not, DL may want to hit customers anyway. One way to do this would be to apply the "IOS" (or whatever it is to be called) when the trip in various parts beyond the US.
Dec 23, 2011, 2:17 pm
#138
In Memoriam
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"Rules?!? There's no rules in a knife fight!"
Dec 23, 2011, 3:05 pm
#139
Join Date: Sep 2009
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add me to the list of feeling totally irritated with this unannounced change. I tried to book a ticket from D.C. to mexico in business. The computer priced it out to 120k. The customer service supervisor said it was due to the aeromexico segments and that awards cost more when you use partner flights regardless if they are skyteam or not. This coming from a supervisor! She said she priced it manually and still could not get it to less than 100k. I eventually abandoned my trip to Mexico and planned something else instead.
So now for non-DL flights DL is going to charge an arbitrarily higher number of miles? Wow... it gets worse and worse.
Dec 23, 2011, 3:12 pm
#140
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
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She said she would report it to her manager in hopes it would get reported to IT, we shall see. Anyways, a PM line rep confirmed that stop overs and open jaws are allowed on award tickets on valid published routes, however, the reps have no authority to override it and make it work. I guess I am glad I had whatever agent do whatever she did last week to make mine work.
Ergo the real problem and what makes this so much worse and absolutely unworkable. It seems that around the same time as this change was made, DL also took away the ability from the remaining few agents to correct mispricing (which already before this happened from time to time, and now is pretty much the case almost always).
Dec 23, 2011, 6:02 pm
#141
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: "Baron of Bayside," Long Island, NY
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The real problem is that we have heard nothing from DELTA. They really need to communicate with their customers and let us know whats happening. If they have done away with Stops and OJs ... Fine Tell us and we will make our decisions based upon the new rules. That would be the honorable way of handling this.
or if its a Glitch tell us --we'll understand and wait for a fix.
BUT to make what appears to be a profound negative change in SkyMiles Valuation and to hear nothing from DELTA is Unacceptable Period. It reeks of cowardice and obfuscation. This is Definititely not "Best in Class" communication or treatment.
or if its a Glitch tell us --we'll understand and wait for a fix.
BUT to make what appears to be a profound negative change in SkyMiles Valuation and to hear nothing from DELTA is Unacceptable Period. It reeks of cowardice and obfuscation. This is Definititely not "Best in Class" communication or treatment.
Last edited by Josephmay; Dec 24, 2011 at 8:13 am
Dec 23, 2011, 11:41 pm
#142
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Dec 24, 2011, 7:12 am
#143
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Denver CO
Posts: 3,682
At this point, I have concluded that these guys either don't care or can't get the job done, and either way my wallet and I are going elsewhere.
Dec 24, 2011, 10:33 am
#144
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: DL GM; AA; UA; BA
Posts: 82
OP here, just had a lengthy conversation with the PM line. I got a good rep who I could tell was very knowledgable, so I knew I had a chance to possibly get the answers we all seek here. I explained to the agent what was going on, she instantly knew of Flyertalk and knew Delta does keep a presence on the site. She immediately said that yes you are supposed to be able to have a stop over and/or open jaw on an award ticket. I had her try to price out a few I had put together that were available at low. DTW-SEA stop over SEA-HNL and then HNL-DTW, all available at low first class so it should be 75K, but priced out at 120K. Also had her try DTW-ATL stop over ATL-HNL and then OGG-DTW all available at low coach so it should price out at 40K, instead it priced out at 60K, she agreed on both accounts that these are valid routings, that stop over and open jaws are allowed, but that the computer will not do it and when she tries to force it, the computer errors out.
She said she would report it to her manager in hopes it would get reported to IT, we shall see. Anyways, a PM line rep confirmed that stop overs and open jaws are allowed on award tickets on valid published routes, however, the reps have no authority to override it and make it work. I guess I am glad I had whatever agent do whatever she did last week to make mine work.
She said she would report it to her manager in hopes it would get reported to IT, we shall see. Anyways, a PM line rep confirmed that stop overs and open jaws are allowed on award tickets on valid published routes, however, the reps have no authority to override it and make it work. I guess I am glad I had whatever agent do whatever she did last week to make mine work.
Open-jaw travel is permitted and counts as a stopover. Restrictions apply. For details, please contact a Delta representative.
One stopover is allowed per Award. Round-the-World Awards allow a maximum of three stopovers per continent, not to exceed 6.
I'm no veteran at this but I'm fairly certain that I used to be able to get a stop over AND an open jaw on the same award ticket, flying some partners, all at the low rate (60,000 international coach). So it looks like at this point they are saying you can do one or the other. Maybe changing that is what screwed up the award pricing? I am able to still find award tickets to Europe for open jaw at the low level, but don't seem to be able to add the stopover and still get the low award pricing.
Last edited by TMitch6542; Dec 24, 2011 at 11:19 am Reason: correction
Dec 24, 2011, 11:36 am
#145
Join Date: Sep 2009
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The award ticket terms and conditions say this:
Open-jaw travel is permitted and counts as a stopover. Restrictions apply. For details, please contact a Delta representative.
One stopover is allowed per Award. Round-the-World Awards allow a maximum of three stopovers per continent, not to exceed 6.
I'm no veteran at this but I'm fairly certain that I used to be able to get a stop over AND an open jaw on the same award ticket, flying some partners, all at the low rate (60,000 international coach). So it looks like at this point they are saying you can do one or the other. Maybe changing that is what screwed up the award pricing? I am able to still find award tickets to Europe for open jaw at the low level, but don't seem to be able to add the stopover and still get the low award pricing.
Open-jaw travel is permitted and counts as a stopover. Restrictions apply. For details, please contact a Delta representative.
One stopover is allowed per Award. Round-the-World Awards allow a maximum of three stopovers per continent, not to exceed 6.
I'm no veteran at this but I'm fairly certain that I used to be able to get a stop over AND an open jaw on the same award ticket, flying some partners, all at the low rate (60,000 international coach). So it looks like at this point they are saying you can do one or the other. Maybe changing that is what screwed up the award pricing? I am able to still find award tickets to Europe for open jaw at the low level, but don't seem to be able to add the stopover and still get the low award pricing.
Open jaw still works (if no stopover, if at destination).
You can not now do stopover of any kind now, however (at least, not to auto price properly), no matter if open jaw or not.
Dec 24, 2011, 12:10 pm
#146
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: San Diego
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Posts: 3,611
I'm fairly certain that I used to be able to get a stop over AND an open jaw on the same award ticket, flying some partners, all at the low rate (60,000 international coach). So it looks like at this point they are saying you can do one or the other. I am able to still find award tickets to Europe for open jaw at the low level, but don't seem to be able to add the stopover and still get the low award pricing.
As a side note, AA allows a stopover at a domestic gateway. So I redeemed this in biz-class & domestic first for 100k AA miles:
LAX-NRT-PUS (Korea destination on JL)
PUS-NRT-LAX (stopover, also JL)
then a month later,
LAX-ORD-DCA (continuation of the same trip, but on AA in first)
Last edited by Bowgie; Dec 25, 2011 at 11:08 am Reason: Mountain Trader's correction is noted and post fixed.
Dec 24, 2011, 12:37 pm
#147
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My recollection is that in spring, 2009 there were a lot of posts complaining about the broken award chart, and Delta announced that they were working on it and we would see big changes that summer.
At this point, I have concluded that these guys either don't care or can't get the job done, and either way my wallet and I are going elsewhere.
At this point, I have concluded that these guys either don't care or can't get the job done, and either way my wallet and I are going elsewhere.
Dec 24, 2011, 3:18 pm
#149
Join Date: Jul 2010
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Posts: 8,050
The stopover PLUS the open jaw worked for intra-Europe travel as part of a US-Europe award. Not sure if we ever got both outside of Europe. But Europe definitely yes.
As a side note, AA allows a stopover anywhere. So I redeemed this in biz-class & domestic first for 100k AA miles:
LAX-NRT-PUS (Korea destination on JL)
PUS-NRT-LAX (stopover, also JL)
then a month later,
LAX-ORD-DCA (continuation of the same trip, but on AA in first)
As a side note, AA allows a stopover anywhere. So I redeemed this in biz-class & domestic first for 100k AA miles:
LAX-NRT-PUS (Korea destination on JL)
PUS-NRT-LAX (stopover, also JL)
then a month later,
LAX-ORD-DCA (continuation of the same trip, but on AA in first)
Dec 24, 2011, 3:31 pm
#150
Join Date: Feb 2011
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