injera

Used skymiles to fly to Brazil this September/October. Reasonably used ~140,000 miles to fly in J (Delta down, Aeromexico back) from JFK to GRU.

I'll need to book a few internal flights. Gol is a skyteam partner, gets decent reviews and has prices/schedules that work for us. Is there a way to book this through Delta? Do they codeshare? The Delta website doesnt show anything but if i can earn a few thousand extra MQM while down there i'd love to book these tickets via Delta instead of Gol.

Thoughts?

Thanks

TTT

You don't need to book via Delta to earn MQMs or MQDs on GOL. See the earning chart here:
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...lines/gol.html

GOL is a group 1 airline which gives the most generous earnings.

Note: to earn MQDs and RDMs via the Delta method (based on ticket price) you will need to ticket via Delta (call to do this or use this method http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...gs-006-dl.html). If you want to earn via a % of distance flown book via GOL and enter your SkyMiles number.

MQM earning will be the same regardless of how it is ticketed.

In all cases make sure you keep a copy of your eTicket receipt and your boarding passes in case credit doesn't post as expected.

injera

Thanks TTT, this is great news.

I'm finding some extremely cheap fares on Gol ($54 GRU->GIG, GIG->REC for $111, GRU->MAO with a stop in BEL for $148). If I had more time, I could certainly see Brazil being a great place for a mileage run.

Given that flights are pretty cheap im assuming i'm better booking with Gol.

I'm also going to assume that if my JFK->GRU delta flight is delayed i'll have no luck getting any favors from Gol since its a totally separate ticket, right?

TTT

If you are focused on MQMs it doesn't matter where you book but if you want to maximize RDMs and MQDs you will need to do the math to see if booking via GOL or DL is a better deal.

Looking at an example:
GRU-GIG for $54 (base fare)
Fare Class: N

If booked via DL:
MQD: $ 54
RDM: 54*medallion multiplier. A DM would earn 594 miles.
MQM: 500 (minimum, 210 actually flown)

If booked via G3:
MQD: $21 (10% of 210 miles traveled)
RDM: 105 (50% of 210 miles traveled) + any Medallion bonus
MQM: 500 (minimum, 210 actually flown)

In that example, booking via Delta would make the most sense for MQDs and RDMs. The difficulty will be whether Delta can issue that fare. Some fares, especially the cheapest, require purchase directly from the operating airline, but you won't know unless you call to find out (probably not worth the effort for a relatively small number of miles).

ornulfkittelsen

Note that even though DL owns a large chunk of Gol, most Gol employees are not aware. I got no special treatment as Diamond, no comfort+!me ven questioned when I boarded early even though I was happily moved along when explaining DL Diamond.

I ordered through my corporate travel site and got all the miles including MQM and bonus. Can't recall MQD as this was fall of last year and I didn't look at the MQD portion in details.

I did have access to Gol lounge.

-ok

TrojanTraveler

If you are going to Rio, don't forget about SDU. I have booked JFK-GRU-SDU, with the GRU-SDU on Gol. SDU is far more convenient than GIG, and there are lots of flights out of each Sao Paolo airport.

lamont2718

Gol is a Delta partner, but it is not in SkyTeam. In fact, Gol has stated that it would prefer not to join any alliance, although that may change given Delta's influence. Source: http://centreforaviation.com/analysi...stments-236344

By a large chunk, do you mean 2.9% until last month? Even pro forma for the latest preferred stock issuance, DL's ownership is still in the single digits. Do you think most employees working for public companies know the cap tables down to the single-digit shareholders?

HMO

If you are going to stay a couple of days in Rio de Janeiro, book SDU instead GIG.
It's usually a little more expensive, but SDU is far more central than GIG, and you may end up saving the difference in the taxi fare. ^