Jon_R

If I can get One Way DL Coach Award Tickets MCO > SLC for 12,500 miles on the first day they are available is there any reason not to? I think that is the cheapest they will ever be and no gain waiting until the return flight is available to get round trip. Thoughts?

Short story

i am coordinating a large family trip to Yellowstone mid may to june 2018. I have already booked the sleeps 14 house in Island Park, ID so the house dates are set. It will be wife, adult kids, parents, and my sister and her family. Currently about 12 people though my sister and her family will probably come second week. It is far out but in about two weeks the tickets mco > slc will come up for sale. The first wave of people to go will be me, wife, 2 adult kids, and my parents. We need 4 coach tickets and 2F tickets. We want the earliest direct flight which looks like it will be 720ish am departure. Looking at the tickets available now farthest out which is early may I can get coach tickets for 12500 miles one way or 258 dollars cash so getting 2ppm for the miles right now if it holds for the day I want. First class tickets are ~450 (wife and I) and I would buy them. Last year I bought coach tickets for $260 round trip in feb flying in May 2016. Did the tickets double or do they actually go down if I wait 6 months?

Once I buy the first ticket I am pretty committed to that specific flight and day for the group of 6.

I am DL silver probably gold soon. I have 150k sky miles, 150k amex points, 100k ultimate rewards. I am trying to help my family best I can with the trip, parents, kids, and sister are tight on funds. I am providing the lodging.

If I can get DL one ways for 12.5k miles in coach should I book them? Any value in waiting? Does anyone have any other ideas on best way to get my family out there with the points I have?

Thanks.

Christefan

Grab the seats while they are available. No reason to wait. Two OW are the same as one RT. The only difference would be if you have to rebook and have to pay a fee (also for re-deposit). In that case you would have to pay the fee twice.

javabytes

It's always possible the flights could go sub-12.5k, as DL has been doing this with many routes for advance purchases. That's a long enough route that I doubt you'd see 5-6k, but 10k might be a possibility. Regardless, I'd still be happy locking in at 12.5k for a $250+ flight... though I'm a bit confused by your statement that you found the same flights for $260 RT last year... are you booking one way or round trip? If you're booking one way now and the return later... I am always hesitant to do so because it doubles the change/cancellation fees, complicates schedule
changes, and so forth.

You should also expect the cash fare to drop. Tickets booked 9 months out tend to be quite pricey, as airlines are in no mood to lock up seats for cheap that far out.

Mr. Tickets

Keep in mind that even though you are booking on the first available date, there is no guarantee Delta will offer the lowest award level. The risk you have is if you need to change or cancel, you will double your redeposit fees ($150.00 per ticket).

JohnnyRockets

Book the awards now if you will be going. Like Christefan says book RT to avoid double redeposit fee.

Also note, it might be worth getting a DL Amex card for the companion certificate in F.

For actual cash flights, price fluctuate all the time. Booking 1 month ahead my still get you the same cheapest fare class as 10 months ahead. But for the same fare class, the price jumps around. Now in your case I believe the cheapest fare class isn't available (yet).

Also be prepared to take different routing and let your parents fly F, they're not the in-laws

Jon_R

A group of 4 of us wife and 2 adult children went to yelllowstone in May 2016. We decided to go in Feb 2016 and bought tickets then. In Feb 2016 we bought RT tickets MCO > SLC first fligth in the morning For May2016 and the coach tickets where 260 per ticket RT.

Based on that the ticket price has doubled as that is the price for OW now or the ticket price I am seeing now for May 2018 travel will actually come down in a few months.

Hope that clears it up.

Thanks

javabytes

Looking at the fare calendar, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to book at similar cash rates this year too. Right when the calendar opens at 331 days out, fares are expensive, but if you look even 2-4 weeks earlier, fares are in that $200-300 range for many days. Personally, I would wait and see.

Jon_R

I have a delta plat amex but might upgrade to the reserve to get the companion F ticket.

The concern I have with waiting a while is I want that flight on that day as that is when I have the house scheduled. A later flight in the day would probably require spending the night in a hotel (3 rooms probably) plus paying for the house. It is a 4.5 hour drive and sometimes remote cabins are iffy finding them in the dark the first time.

Waiting 3-4 months probably okay. Waiting until April is a pretty big gamble. I started with the house as it is not super easy to secure one for 14 people that is not to outrageous in cost. Got two weeks for 4k.

I might put my parents in first. Depends If I am also renting them a car. :-)

Jon_R

Yeah I think I will wait until after July 4th and see where we are at. I basically want the first flight May 19th and the 5pmish flight home on June 2nd.

if I upgraded my Amex Plat to Reserve would I get the companion F cert soon or year from now? We travel a lot so it wouldnot go to waste either way.

runninaway

I upgraded platinum to reserve last year (July or so). I got the F cert on the original card anniversary in January. YMMV

JohnnyRockets

Ah, yes I completely forgot. You get the Amex certs on anniversary not when you apply. My bad.

Jon_R

Update.

The tickets I need outbound went on sale. Currently for coach they are $267 one way for 18th last flight and $232 one way for the Sat 19th first flight. Or 20K miles. I need 6 tickets probably 2F and 4Y.

I am waiting to see if they go down some. I would prefer the Friday night flight vs. having to leave the house Sat at ~430AM to catch the early flight.