Jan 23, 2015, 12:14 pm
Last edit by: 3Cforme
2015 award rules:
All award travel booked with Delta miles must be booked online or through Delta reservations - even if all travel is on partner carriers.
As of 2/6/2015, award charts are gone from delta.com.
From ~April 7, 2017, partner awards at lowest level may cost more than DL awards at low level. Including a Delta-operated segment appears to yield DL pricing instead of partner pricing. Remember - awards are one way; you may need a Delta segment in each direction to avoid partner-level pricing.
You can book one-ways but a one-way departing Europe will incur international origin surcharges shown as YQ or YR in the detailed pricing breakdown.
Some of Delta's lowest award redemption levels require round-trip purchases, so searches one-way will not display these fares. Some of the lowest award levels can also have significant advance purchase requirements. These can be 14 or 21-days for domestic awards; as much as 90 days for international. Do Advanced Search on LBJ's posts for 'award, advance purchase'.
To see the lowest award prices/itineraries for a selected date it may be necessary to change the display sort order from Best Match to Price.
Between origin and destination one is allowed a max of three segments on US & Canada itins, and four segments internationally each way. City pairs or routings that require more segments will have a fare break and demand more miles.
Open-jaws are still allowed, for example you can book JFK-BCN, FCO-JFK.
Stopovers (spending more than 24 hours in any city on your international itinerary, or more than 4 hours domestic) are no longer allowed. Origin and destination are not stopovers. See posts #27 and #28 for examples of successful overnight connections on international itineraries.
Married segment logic may be applied to award tickets. Even if AAA-BBB is available in low and BBB-CCC is available in low, AAA-BBB-CCC may not price at the low level.
Multi-city award search may give odd results if you are trying to construct an itinerary segment by segment. Pricing may be additive, as AAA-BBB + BBB-CCC instead of through-pricing AAA-CCC as a single award redemption.
Awards that have segments on two or more award bands may price additively, not just the highest band applied between origin and destination. For example, if TVC-DTW is band 3 and DTW-FLL is band 1, the award TVC-DTW-FLL may price as band 3 + band 1. Because of this, if you are originating in or traveling to an area served by multiple airports you may find significant pricing differences at nearby airports.
Delta.com accepts NYC for LGA/JFK/EWR (but don't forget White Plains HPN, Islip ISP, and Newburgh SWF); WAS for BWI/DCA/IAD; CHI for ORD/MDW; PAR for CDG/ORY; LON for LGW/LHR/LCY; SAO for GRU/VCP/CGH; BUE for EZE/AEP. I'm not aware of single codes for the Bay Area, SoCal, nor SoFlorida.
Not tested with new partner pricing 4/4/17: This is not new but still in effect: mixing award level 2 - 5 DL flights with partner flights results in additive pricing because partner flights always book in the lowest award tier. For example, you travel US-AMS in DL medium level award and you connect AMS-anywhere in Europe on KLM, you will pay US-Europe medium level award cost + low level intra-Europe price.
AF/KL Classic Award flights you see at airfrance.us may not be bookable with DL miles, therefore you should not use airfrance.us to search for AF/KL flights if you want to book with DL miles. With DL miles, AF availability seems to be good at 10-11 months out.
Delta's mobile site - m.delta.com - may yield available partner flights even when delta.com does not. This was observed on ~9/12/17.
List of DL partners that can be booked online:
Aeroflot (first reported 3/25/2015)
Aerolineas Argentina AR (first reported 11 March 15)
Aeromexico (AM is back as of 7 March)
Air France
Alaska Airlines - terminated 4/30/2017
Alitalia
China Airlines (first reported 24 Feb 15)
China Eastern
China Southern
Garuda Indonesia (reported/confirmed 10 March 15)
GOL G3 (first reported 3/4/2015)
Jet Airways 9W, first reported 2/12/2017
KLM
Korean Air
Middle East Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Saudia Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Shanghai Airlines FM (spotted in late June 2016)
TAROM RO (spotted on 2/14/2016)
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
WestJet
Xiamen Airlines MF (spotted on 10/14/16)
Hawaiian HA can be booked online as inter-island, or as multi-city. Delta.com award searches will give an error instead of constructing a connection like ATL-HNL-ITO. If used in conjunction with another carrier to Hawaii mileage will be additive. Example: 22,500 miles SLC-HNL + 7,500 miles HNL-Hilo.
Any travel using any of the other partners must be booked by phone.
Air Europa UX
Air Tahiti Nui TN
Czech OK
Kenya Airways KQ - It's been reported that segments on KQ can only be booked by an agent familiar with the old-school long sell process. Details here: https://onemileatatime.com/long-sell-airline-tickets/
Delta.com now publishes the list of blackout dates for KE Korean Airlines: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...nditions.html# (click on AWARD TRAVEL AND PAY WITH MILES RULES & CONDITIONS, and then scroll down to "Blackout dates" section).
Useful threads:
Which DL Partners Incur Fuel Surcharges (YQ/YR) when Redeeming DL miles for an Award
2015 Korean Air Blackout dates for DL Skymiles redemptions Fare rules again show blackout dates for KE travel as mentioned by ENFO's post 2 May 15.
Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners Master Thread - Please do not post questions or discussion in this thread. For discussion, use this other thread: Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners: The Discussion Thread
Ongoing issues with booking awards on Kenya Airways
Anyone book a flight on KQ with Skymiles in 2015?
Phantom availability on AZ (and a possible solution)
Earn and redeem on Aerolineas Argentinas
Virgin Atlantic Award Seats Available at Delta.com but not on Phone, How to Book? (with possible solution in post #8)
New SkyMiles Award Pricing For Travel On or After October 1, 2016 New Award Pricing Travel after Oct 2016
All award travel booked with Delta miles must be booked online or through Delta reservations - even if all travel is on partner carriers.
As of 2/6/2015, award charts are gone from delta.com.
From ~April 7, 2017, partner awards at lowest level may cost more than DL awards at low level. Including a Delta-operated segment appears to yield DL pricing instead of partner pricing. Remember - awards are one way; you may need a Delta segment in each direction to avoid partner-level pricing.
You can book one-ways but a one-way departing Europe will incur international origin surcharges shown as YQ or YR in the detailed pricing breakdown.
Some of Delta's lowest award redemption levels require round-trip purchases, so searches one-way will not display these fares. Some of the lowest award levels can also have significant advance purchase requirements. These can be 14 or 21-days for domestic awards; as much as 90 days for international. Do Advanced Search on LBJ's posts for 'award, advance purchase'.
To see the lowest award prices/itineraries for a selected date it may be necessary to change the display sort order from Best Match to Price.
Between origin and destination one is allowed a max of three segments on US & Canada itins, and four segments internationally each way. City pairs or routings that require more segments will have a fare break and demand more miles.
Open-jaws are still allowed, for example you can book JFK-BCN, FCO-JFK.
Stopovers (spending more than 24 hours in any city on your international itinerary, or more than 4 hours domestic) are no longer allowed. Origin and destination are not stopovers. See posts #27 and #28 for examples of successful overnight connections on international itineraries.
Married segment logic may be applied to award tickets. Even if AAA-BBB is available in low and BBB-CCC is available in low, AAA-BBB-CCC may not price at the low level.
Multi-city award search may give odd results if you are trying to construct an itinerary segment by segment. Pricing may be additive, as AAA-BBB + BBB-CCC instead of through-pricing AAA-CCC as a single award redemption.
Awards that have segments on two or more award bands may price additively, not just the highest band applied between origin and destination. For example, if TVC-DTW is band 3 and DTW-FLL is band 1, the award TVC-DTW-FLL may price as band 3 + band 1. Because of this, if you are originating in or traveling to an area served by multiple airports you may find significant pricing differences at nearby airports.
Delta.com accepts NYC for LGA/JFK/EWR (but don't forget White Plains HPN, Islip ISP, and Newburgh SWF); WAS for BWI/DCA/IAD; CHI for ORD/MDW; PAR for CDG/ORY; LON for LGW/LHR/LCY; SAO for GRU/VCP/CGH; BUE for EZE/AEP. I'm not aware of single codes for the Bay Area, SoCal, nor SoFlorida.
Not tested with new partner pricing 4/4/17: This is not new but still in effect: mixing award level 2 - 5 DL flights with partner flights results in additive pricing because partner flights always book in the lowest award tier. For example, you travel US-AMS in DL medium level award and you connect AMS-anywhere in Europe on KLM, you will pay US-Europe medium level award cost + low level intra-Europe price.
AF/KL Classic Award flights you see at airfrance.us may not be bookable with DL miles, therefore you should not use airfrance.us to search for AF/KL flights if you want to book with DL miles. With DL miles, AF availability seems to be good at 10-11 months out.
Delta's mobile site - m.delta.com - may yield available partner flights even when delta.com does not. This was observed on ~9/12/17.
List of DL partners that can be booked online:
Aeroflot (first reported 3/25/2015)
Aerolineas Argentina AR (first reported 11 March 15)
Aeromexico (AM is back as of 7 March)
Air France
Alaska Airlines - terminated 4/30/2017
Alitalia
China Airlines (first reported 24 Feb 15)
China Eastern
China Southern
Garuda Indonesia (reported/confirmed 10 March 15)
GOL G3 (first reported 3/4/2015)
Jet Airways 9W, first reported 2/12/2017
KLM
Korean Air
Middle East Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Saudia Airlines, per SkyMilesTeam 1 April 15
Shanghai Airlines FM (spotted in late June 2016)
TAROM RO (spotted on 2/14/2016)
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
WestJet
Xiamen Airlines MF (spotted on 10/14/16)
Hawaiian HA can be booked online as inter-island, or as multi-city. Delta.com award searches will give an error instead of constructing a connection like ATL-HNL-ITO. If used in conjunction with another carrier to Hawaii mileage will be additive. Example: 22,500 miles SLC-HNL + 7,500 miles HNL-Hilo.
Any travel using any of the other partners must be booked by phone.
Air Europa UX
Air Tahiti Nui TN
Czech OK
Kenya Airways KQ - It's been reported that segments on KQ can only be booked by an agent familiar with the old-school long sell process. Details here: https://onemileatatime.com/long-sell-airline-tickets/
Delta.com now publishes the list of blackout dates for KE Korean Airlines: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...nditions.html# (click on AWARD TRAVEL AND PAY WITH MILES RULES & CONDITIONS, and then scroll down to "Blackout dates" section).
Useful threads:
Which DL Partners Incur Fuel Surcharges (YQ/YR) when Redeeming DL miles for an Award
2015 Korean Air Blackout dates for DL Skymiles redemptions Fare rules again show blackout dates for KE travel as mentioned by ENFO's post 2 May 15.
Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners Master Thread - Please do not post questions or discussion in this thread. For discussion, use this other thread: Using SkyMiles on SkyTeam & Other Partners: The Discussion Thread
Ongoing issues with booking awards on Kenya Airways
Anyone book a flight on KQ with Skymiles in 2015?
Phantom availability on AZ (and a possible solution)
Earn and redeem on Aerolineas Argentinas
Virgin Atlantic Award Seats Available at Delta.com but not on Phone, How to Book? (with possible solution in post #8)
New SkyMiles Award Pricing For Travel On or After October 1, 2016 New Award Pricing Travel after Oct 2016
Booking Delta Award Tickets, 2015 on
Feb 12, 2017, 12:35 am
#331
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Award travel on Jet Airways appears to be bookable online. This should open up travel to India via AMS-DEL, AMS-BOM, LHR-BOM, LHR-DEL, and CDG-DEL flights.
http://www.jetairways.com/EN/US/PopU...eMapFlash.aspx
9W might be useful as the alternate door to AMS, too, via a Toronto-AMS flight.
http://www.jetairways.com/EN/US/PopU...eMapFlash.aspx
9W might be useful as the alternate door to AMS, too, via a Toronto-AMS flight.
Last edited by 3Cforme; Feb 12, 2017 at 12:45 am
Feb 17, 2017, 10:05 am
#332
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat, Hertz Prez Circle, National Exec
Posts: 1,357
I tried reading through most of the thread so I apologize if I missed this being discussed...
I'm trying to book some flights to Cancun this fall using skymiles and I think I'm running in to some married segment logic and I'm wondering if there's any known way around it. What I'm trying to book is XXX-ATL-CUN roundtrip and the website is pricing me 60k miles, which is the same as if I booked XXX-ATL (25K miles) and ATL-CUN (35K miles) on separate tickets on those same dates for those same flights. Is there a trick to not just have the two flights add together?
I'm trying to book some flights to Cancun this fall using skymiles and I think I'm running in to some married segment logic and I'm wondering if there's any known way around it. What I'm trying to book is XXX-ATL-CUN roundtrip and the website is pricing me 60k miles, which is the same as if I booked XXX-ATL (25K miles) and ATL-CUN (35K miles) on separate tickets on those same dates for those same flights. Is there a trick to not just have the two flights add together?
Feb 18, 2017, 6:32 am
#333
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Responders could be more specific if you named your origin airport, not XXX. Let's assume it is a US-49 airport. If XXX-ATL is 25k and ATL-CUN is 35k, you appear to be mixing award levels with that itinerary. Maybe if you call they can push CUN-ATL up into the same inventory bucket and have this price as a single award -- but I won't bet on it. Please report back.
Feb 18, 2017, 5:26 pm
#334
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat, Hertz Prez Circle, National Exec
Posts: 1,357
Responders could be more specific if you named your origin airport, not XXX. Let's assume it is a US-49 airport. If XXX-ATL is 25k and ATL-CUN is 35k, you appear to be mixing award levels with that itinerary. Maybe if you call they can push CUN-ATL up into the same inventory bucket and have this price as a single award -- but I won't bet on it. Please report back.
Apr 8, 2017, 12:57 am
#336
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester
Posts: 18,926
Apr 16, 2017, 8:59 pm
#337
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Singapore
Programs: SQ KF Gold, HHonors Gold, SPG Plat
Posts: 300
I'm trying to redeem 3 tickets SIN-SEA or SIN-YVR (not particularly fussed) in J, but trying to avoid having to fly CZ or MU. DL and CI are acceptable, as is KE (though I understand 3 J tickets on KE are absolutely out of the question).
DL metal tickets are ridiculously priced (200K and up OW), while I am having difficulty getting it to price out properly on CI. I can find SIN-TPE and TPE-YVR without a problem (prices out 40K + 80K) but according to the mystical fare chart it should out be 80K (North American to South East Asia), which is what equivalent MU and CZ tickets are pricing out at. Any tips to force this or should I just call in to DL reservations for help?
DL metal tickets are ridiculously priced (200K and up OW), while I am having difficulty getting it to price out properly on CI. I can find SIN-TPE and TPE-YVR without a problem (prices out 40K + 80K) but according to the mystical fare chart it should out be 80K (North American to South East Asia), which is what equivalent MU and CZ tickets are pricing out at. Any tips to force this or should I just call in to DL reservations for help?
Apr 16, 2017, 10:05 pm
#338
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
I'm trying to redeem 3 tickets SIN-SEA or SIN-YVR (not particularly fussed) in J, but trying to avoid having to fly CZ or MU. DL and CI are acceptable, as is KE (though I understand 3 J tickets on KE are absolutely out of the question).
DL metal tickets are ridiculously priced (200K and up OW), while I am having difficulty getting it to price out properly on CI. I can find SIN-TPE and TPE-YVR without a problem (prices out 40K + 80K) but according to the mystical fare chart it should out be 80K (North American to South East Asia), which is what equivalent MU and CZ tickets are pricing out at. Any tips to force this or should I just call in to DL reservations for help?
DL metal tickets are ridiculously priced (200K and up OW), while I am having difficulty getting it to price out properly on CI. I can find SIN-TPE and TPE-YVR without a problem (prices out 40K + 80K) but according to the mystical fare chart it should out be 80K (North American to South East Asia), which is what equivalent MU and CZ tickets are pricing out at. Any tips to force this or should I just call in to DL reservations for help?
Apr 17, 2017, 2:00 am
#339
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Singapore
Programs: SQ KF Gold, HHonors Gold, SPG Plat
Posts: 300
Figured as much but the important question is - will I get charged SIN-TPE + TPE-YVR, or SIN-YVR? If its the former I won't even bother calling...
Apr 17, 2017, 2:37 am
#340
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester
Posts: 18,926
Apr 17, 2017, 10:59 am
#341
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Apr 18, 2017, 10:48 am
#343
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
While you weren't watching, Dullta devalued your SkyMiles many fold over.
Oct 11, 2017, 6:20 pm
#345
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Of course not. You will pay additive pricing, for each segment separately then, and not just the higher through fare, as the fare will be broken if the DL flight is not available at the normal price and is instead at one of the numerous other inflated levels.