rcsgeorgia

2MM - GM don't fly for bsn at all now since we moved and changed jobs. Trying to book 100k from PHX to FRA/MUC/STR even BUD in Sep or Oct for 2 weeks for the wife and I. Having lurked and read the Definitive BE upgrade thread, here's my situation. Seeking your advice.

Can find BE low from JFK/ATL/other domestic gateways on multiple days in Sep & Oct and same for the return.

BUT darn if the PHX-Gateway city always prices at 80k..... so, the whole route (one-way or RT) is 180k.

Do I book now and pay $150 each to try to get lower FC domestic seats later?
Do I wait and continue to check regularly as I get closer to desired travel dates?

Any other ideas?
I'm up to buying tickets to a domestic gateway or buying to LAX or SEA.

3Cforme

You can spend the miles, anticipate spending $ on change fees, or spend more time searching. Only you can decide.

Seminole_Kev

Using KVSTOOL, this seems to be very common (where I can find low TATL BE seats, but the domestic leg (even something simple/short like MCO-ATL screws it up. Normally if the TATL legs are what I want, I'll just sit coach for the flight to NYC or ATL, but it does seem a bit odd. Obviously PHX is a bit further out though.

Richard1148

Does the PHX-Gateway show as low (green) on the award calendar, but prices out at 80k, or is there only medium (yellow) for the dates you want? For the past few days I cannot get a single low level on the calendar to price at anything but medium level.

3Cforme

Without much research, there's non-stop DL or SkyMiles partner service from PHX to the following AF/KL/DL North American gateway cities to Europe:

SEA
PDX
LAX
SLC
MEM
MSP
ATL
DTW
CVG

Use Flying Blue to search from any of those cities to desired destinations, then look at delta.com (one way searches, per the Denolloyd sticky) to add the PHX-XXX segment.

fti

How about buying a ticket to the gateway city? Or use AS to get there (more availability)?

JKPFlyer

I also have this problem. I usually just book the TATL segments with miles and then pay my way to the gateway city. I usually find that it always prices out the domestic and then the TATL as separate miles.

rcsgeorgia

Yes, that has been part of my problem, too! And delta.com started this problem since the first of the year.

rcsgeorgia

Will try the PHX-XXX one way search..... every gateway to europe (that I tried) had plenty of low BE to one my 3 German cities, so it's just Delta domestic. Back when I used to fly a lot domestically, if you didn't book an award FC ticket 300 or so days in advance the inventory kept declining rather than increasing due to more award inventory being released. Is that still a good rule of thumb?

Richard1148

Then it's not just me. I posted the problem today in the "Delta.com Bug Reporting: The Official Master Thread" so we'll see if it will be fixed. I have not called DL yet to see if they can book an alleged low level flight at the correct miles, but if you try that, please let us know what happens.

3Cforme

It is emphatically NOT today. Delta (and AA) release award inventory as they see fit, from 330 days out right up to day of travel.

kuhlguy

Have you tried double connecting? ie PHX-SLC-ATL/JFK-XXX

Know you might not want an extra stop, but this often has worked for me. Got 3 BE seats for 100K a couple months ago that way - they otherwise would have been 180K a piece.

AndySAV

I agree with this post, check if coach is available for the domestic leg and book coach to gateway then BE to Germany, being gold there is a chance(slim) you will upgraded or keep checking first availability closer to departure, if it drops to low you can always stump up the $150 and change. I think Delta should allow a change of class of cabin for free or a reduced rate, it is a lot less work for the agent that changing the route or the dates of travel.

PHXflier

You can combine low-mileage in Economy to the gateway with 100K travel in BE across the pond (is not always bookable on the web, though, so you may need to call). There is frequent 25K Economy availability from PHX to JFK, LAX, PDX (via AS) and SEA (via AS), whereas low-First availability is harder to come by.

flymonthly

If you can find low Y seats for PHX to the gateway, try pricing out the entire itinerary as multicity. As I noted in this thread, I was able to get delta.com to price out a low J award by finding a low Y award from the origin (ATL in that case) to the gateway city (MSP) and a low J award from the gateway (MSP) to NRT. Even though delta.com didn't show any low F availability for ATL-MSP-ATL, when I put everything together using multi-city, it priced the itinerary at 120k with all of the segments in F/J. The strange thing was that delta.com priced the exact same flights at 200k when I selected them after searching ATL-NRT round-trip.