sorka

I know there are a LOT of threads about how to search for LOW awards, but either I am dumb, or there is no availability. To make sure this is the later, please let me know what I am doing wrong:

I am trying to find a LOW award from SFO to CDG in coach for the month of June (any day).
Step 1- I search for SFO-CDG mid-june and selected the option that I was flexible on the date: the calendar shows up with low availability on 6/24 and 6/25 (and low availability was indeed available). I re-did the same search 1mn later, and those days appear as 'medium'. When selecting June 25, I am able to find that low award. WHY is it showing as 'Medium' in the calendar? That's very confusing if the colors are not reliable.

Step 2- June 24/25 do not work for me. So I am searching for all direct flights US bound to CDG (i.e. SLC, CVG, ATL, MSP, DTW, JFK, SFO, SEA, LAX). IF i am able to find a low award, then I would have to try to find another low domestic award for SFO-XXX (XXX being the airport from which I would have found a low award XXX-CDG).

Should I also try to find low awards out of other direct flights to Paris, such as MIA, IAH, BOS, ORD, PHL, PIT, etc...)? Since there is no direct SFO to those airports, then I would need to find 2 low award from SFO to XXX to one of those airports.

Before I spend 2 hours doing some simulations, is it what I need to do to find a low award in coach? And if I cannot rely on the Delta award calendar's color, do I need to check for each day individually (ugh, that's be hardcore...!)?


example: on 06/22, I do not see any low SFO-CDG using the Delta Calendar
But I find a low on 06/22 (dep 12.35am) for SFO-MSP-CVG (arr 11.55am) and a low on 06/22 CVG-CDG (dep 4.01pm): is that a valid award for the inbound leg?

nystateofmind

If you find individual legs you can do a multi-city search such as:

SFO-CVG Jun 22
CVG-CDG Jun 22
CDG-SFO Jun 29

This should work in at least one direction

javabytes

This is pretty much how I search. I work backwards from my destination... find all the gateways that have availability over the pond on dates I want. Then keep working backwards, one segment at a time.

For TATL and TPAC awards, routing rules are usually only constrained by MPM (maximum permitted mileage). If you have an ExpertFlyer or KVS subscription, you can look up the MPM rules for the cash fares... MPM for award tickets between the same two cities are usually at least as generous, if not more so by a few percent. For instance, SFO-CDG might allow routings up to 6,700 miles (not the real MPM, I just made it up for the sake of this example). Then if you find availability SFO-MSP, MSP-CVG, and CVG-CDG, you can run this through Milecalc and see that it comes out to 6,340 miles. 6,340 is less than the maximum permitted mileage, so when you string it all together it should price at the low (I refuse to call it "saver") level for US-Europe.

Then find the same for your return - availability over the pond to US gateways, then back on to home.

Once you have all the flights you want, do a multi-city search by schedule to piece it all together.

akcae

Yeah, the colors on the calendar are a) pretty meaningless, they will change almost every time you re-do the search (and many here will argue it's working as intended), b) designed to tease you with visions of low (or is it saver now?) awards dancing in your dreams, and c) absolutely show no partner availability (which are, of course, always at low/saver).

Happy hunting!

Dieuwer

How about this: SFO-SEA-CDG-SEA-SFO, 6/25-6/29, AS307/DL615//DL614/AS378. All in low.

sorka

I was not aware of that. What is the MPM for a SFO-CDG trip? Also, is there a restriction as far as number of segment each way? I.e, can I do 3 segments each way (6 total)?

Thank you for the suggestion. But we are looking for a 2.5 to 3.5 week trip to France.

javabytes

You'd have to look it up. ExpertFlyer has a free 5 day trial. 3 segments each way shouldn't be a problem. IIRC the most you can do is 4 each way, 8 total, but not 100% sure on that and someone can correct me if I'm wrong. I've done 4 segments one direction to Europe when that was all I could get.

Chuckmsp

dieuwer2, how did you find this ? Expertflyer ? or airfrance.com and then worked your way back to delta.dumb.?

fti

You are certainly not dumb, but you haven't read the sticky that talks about searching for low level award availability. If you had, you would have found out that you don't use the calendar. It doesn't work. You do the things mentioned above - look point-to-point between gateways in the US to gateways in Europe.

MPM for SFO-CDG is 6,687 miles (or thereabouts since different sources have slightly different miles).

Dieuwer

6/1-6/16, SFO-SEA-CDG-SEA-SFO, DL5736/DL615//DL614/AS316. If you prefer to return on 6/17 you can take AF84 CDG-SFO. And if you prefer to return on 6/23 you take DL614/AS316 again.

mgoflyer

Wow! You are a super hero....I know whom to beg for help next time I am trying to piece an award together over the pond. Now if I can only get Delta to agree with me that the family needs to get away to Florida this coming weekend for 25K per ticket and not the 40-50K I am getting. Seriously though, the tips on how to do this are really appreciated.

vatraveler

It's sad how DL makes one jump through hoops to get low awards. I nabbed EWR-OSL-BKK-SIN-CAI-IST-JFK on UA miles (on a variety of Star carriers including UA, SQ, TG, and TK) in low J last year (120,000 miles) with about five minutes of effort.

Marq

Given Delta does not charge to use their agents to book award travel, I don't even bother with delta.com to book international awards; especially multi-carrier and open jaw. Even for domestic trips, if "low" does not show as available, I still call and try.

Marc