ATOBTTR

It is a great tip - I've used it to my advantage many times, including to get a DL 747 flight. As with other airlines, also remember "HUCA" (Hang Up & Call Again). While I was looking for TYO-SEA tickets, NRT-DTW-SEA was 160K miles one-way per person. HND-LAX-SEA was 80K miles per person. I booked the HND-LAX-SEA option since I couldn't justify 80K additional miles per person (160K total for my and my wife). Eventually a schedule on HND-LAX gave me some flexibility. I decided to push my luck, since HND and NRT are "co-terminals" for Tokyo to see if DL would route us out of Narita on NRT-DTW-SEA to get the 747. First call the agent hesitated. Used HUCA a few hours later. On the second call, the agent pushed it through no problem and I got my 747 ride on the upper deck.

If you get a schedule change and the first agent you speak with balks, don't push too hard with that agent. Simply say "Okay, thanks for your assistance. I would like more time to think over my options before making any changes and will call back once I decide." (If you get too confrontational, an agent could put a note in your ticket record as a notice to other agents).

JayTeaBee

I've still never seen LAX-SYD price less than 110k one way on DL metal. I stopped habitually searching a while ago. Miraculously I was able to able to snag 2 RT BOS-LAX-SYD for 220k each about 300 days out. Due to a nice schedule change the itnerary now is BOS-LAX-SYD-LAX-DTW-PWM to take us all the way home. Long live the schedule change!

ATOBTTR

Yea, I do recall DL metal being 110K one-way, while VA was 95K. A little odd (especially since VA is the far superior product. ). I initially had a ticket for two on CZ booked via CAN for 95K one-way (I booked this just days before DL changed the policy regarding routing via Asia to Australia/New Zealand - the change occurred between me booking the outbound and the two weeks I was waiting for the return date to finally roll into the booking window). A few weeks after finally getting everything squared away, I saw the VA option for 95K open up on the calendar and snagged it, though it was for a date which wasn't 100% ideal (but still acceptable). I kept checking the award options to see if anything else opened up. I occasionally saw DL metal options for 110K but never saw anything for 95K or anymore VA options for 95K (except for a few days in - I have noticed VA will open award space with 3-4 days to go to departure).

Between schedule changes and award-redeposits, I ended up changing all three primary legs (US-Australia, then New Zealand-Asia, and then Japan-US) at least once.

Back on topic for the OP when looking for mileage options - the reason we had three legs and stopped via Asia (Japan) on the way back from New Zealand was because of the DL pricing scheme for award tickets. DL wanted 350K per person to get from NZ back to the US, which I didn't have and even if I did, I wasn't going to spend. What we did instead was we built our own stopover in Asia (Tokyo), booking NZ to TYO for 65K per person and then TYO-SEA for 80K per person, for 145K total. Not as ideal as 95K per person but certainly better than 350K per person and we got a mini-trip to Japan on the way back. As a side note (and thanks to re-deposit), I ended up canceling the award ticket booked for AKL-TYO on CZ when I found an amazing deal for J for AKL-SIN-NRT on NZ/SQ and got to experience SQ's J product (and nearly just as great, NZ's on the 787).

SanDiego1K

That's a fantastic job of effectively using the Delta system to book an award. Thanks for patiently taking us along this learning curve.

SanDiego1K

This was interesting to me. I got the outbound flight for 30K miles. The flight operates two days a week, returning on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday flights were routinely showing up at 37.5K in the few weeks prior to the date that I needed. Two days ago, award seats showed up but at 45K plus $51 in fees. At that point, I'm better off buying the flight. So I waited and did nothing, but did check both yesterday and today. I had been checking for two seats, but decided to check for one. Low and behold, there was one seat at the 30K level. I grabbed it because it is the flight that I want.

What is your advise to me?

1) Wait and see if another seat becomes available at 30K points + $51.
2) Buy now at a relatively reasonable $400. The trip is 11 months out.
3) Wait to buy and gamble on the price increasing.

Flights the next two Thursdays are running $450 to $500 til a huge jump at the end of the month.

SanDiego1K

1 1/2 years on and I had the same question. I googled and found my own thread. I really didn't want to stay up til midnight Thanksgiving eve. Thanks to @ATOBTTR, I don't need to. I switched my computer to east coast time and - voila - up pops inventory for the day that I wanted. I've got my tickets, I've got my seats, and I'm off to bed. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

ATOBTTR