qofmiwok

Can anyone compare Delta One to Aeroflot Business? I'm currently booked with Delta on KLM BCN-AMS business, DL AMS-SEA Delta One (A330-300), DL SEA-KOA first. That is 70,000 Delta miles plus about $400, and we bought the last leg for about $850. But now the SEA-KOA has been cancelled on that day and they want us to have another leg through LA. So I started looking for alternate flights.

Now for 70,000 miles all the way (plus $400 fuel) there's Delta partner Aeroflot BCN-Moscow business, Moscow-LAX Aeroflot business 777-300ER, LAX-KOA DL First. That flight is not only $1700 less for 2, it saves us having to check into a hotel overnight along the way. The reviews for Aeroflot business seem good, but is it a mistake compared to Delta one? (I also found some on AA metal, dreamliner, BCN-ORD-LAX-KOA for 110,000 miles and $50. So that might be an option also. I loved the AA dreamliner in first but haven't been in business. Also I might not have to pay cancellation fees if I re-book through Delta since it started with their flight cancellation.)

Thanks!

3Cforme

If you flew American on a 787-8 or 787-9 it wasn't in international First - they don't have First. Perhaps you flew a 777-300ER?

I don't know about Aeroflot but I would ask Delta for a lot more direct routing than BCN-SVO-LAX-KOA. BCN-CDG-LAX-KOA, or BCN-CDG-SLC-LAX-KOA would be my requests.

qofmiwok

You're right, I remember now. It was AA miles but on BA Dreamliner First Austin to Rome.

I'm not sure how cooperative Delta is going to be since it's a combination of 2 tickets, a miles ticket and a paid ticket. I might just be able to cancel them both and rebook, but I'm not finding other 70k options. I'm calling to see what they have to say.

As far as the routing, it's not very direct but it's pretty hard to find a very direct routing when you're going half way around the globe. I almost wonder if going the opposite direct on an Asian carrier might be better. We do this one direction every year, either Kona to Europe or Europe to Kona, and it's never pretty. But I'd take 3 stops instead of 4 any day.

kmersh

The catering on Aeroflot was really good and the seat was good too.

Of course like all airlines it comes to down to crew and Aeroflot crews can be excellent or pretty bad (have had both) and SVO is not the best airport to deal with (though not horrible either).

CPMaverick

I flew Aeroflot on the 777 SVO-LAX, also on a DL award, just about exactly one year ago. I really enjoyed it. The crew was great, and the food quite good. The views on this flight are exceptional, especially over Greenland.

The seat is nowhere near as nice as Delta One seats, because they are in pairs, less space and much less privacy. But, for two people, it might be preferable.

Just make sure the Aeroflot flight is actually bookable before you cancel your DL flight. There have been a lot of issues reported here booking Aeroflot awards.

AntonS

- SU seat is on 777 is good, but a bit narrow and no direct isle access.
- Food is good, but in my experience it went downhill in the last two years, but YMMV.
- Service is usually better on SU than on DL.
- BCN - SVO will feature normal business class with seats similar to first class domestic, beats KL BCN-AMS.
- Moscow lounges are nothing to write home about, but SVO is not a bad airport to connect Intl to Intl.

Overall it will be a good flight, but not amazing. I would easily take it instead of BCN-AMS-SEA on DL, especially if it saves you extra hop.

Keep in mind that SU award redemptions using partner miles were blocked on long haul flights for at least 6 months. I have seen a lot of phantom availability USA - SVO - Europe, which was not available on USA - SVO segment when you tried to book. If SVO-LAX is not available separately, you are probably seeing the same issue. If you can really book SU to LAX do it right now!

moondog

It's against FT rules to post the same question in multiple forums.

spudley007

I would add that the BCN-SVO service will actually beat a lot of domestic first class services. I recently did this flight and the food is good, seats are extremely comfortable, and service is top notch. I also find the Aeroflot service to beat outstanding, and if you're in pairs, like another poster mentioned, dual seats wouldn't be terrible. I'll also say I enjoy transiting SVO and find the International - International transit quite easy.

CPMaverick

KE could get from BCN to HNL in one stop. JAL too I think? Not KOA I know, but those seem like reasonably good options, especially if you can fly J.

flyerCO

I would see about flying to HNL instead of KOA. You'd be able to get widebodies the whole way. One a day ATL/MSP-HNL and one or two a day LAX-HNL. I would happily accept the extra stop in LAX if the connecting flight was a 767. SLC-HNL is also 767, but it's a domestic 767, so no lay flats up front. HNL-KOA can then be bought separate for very little. You might even get them to route you the whole way via LAX. Ie SEA-LAX-HNL-KOA. with LAX-HNL on 767.

As for DL A330 vs SU 777, A330 wins for seat hands down. For service onboard, have to give win to SU. Only issue with connecting in SVO is IRROPS. If something happens it can be a true pain. Also unless have a visa, no exiting airport for hotel if stuck overnight.

qofmiwok

That's what Delta recommended when I first contacted them. BCN-ATL-HNL-KOA. Once I found out the ATL-HNL was lie flat, I was all over that. But the notes the supervisor said he put in the system were really crappy, didn't talk about routing at all just said they would waive the change fee. Not that they'd do it for the same amount of miles or with that routing or at the same number of miles. When I called back they had to check with another supervisor who said there was no HNL-KOA available. I'd have to book that myself, and that they would also keep the $700 we paid for the SEA-KOA leg. I'm not sure how that would work; how do they even charge for a route I'm no longer taking, just add a "fee" to the other route? I was willing to pay that to get the MQD, not sure if I'd still get that.

Anyway the second agent suggested BCN-ATL-LAX-KOA but that whole trip ends up taking 11 more hours than my original, for a whopping total of 46 hours of travel time. Yuk! My original routing was 35 hours. The BCN-ATL-HNL-KOA takes almost that long too (43 hours) but I thought it might be worth it for lie flat all the way to Hawaii. We're certainly going to be tired since the flight from Europe is during the day and we won't be able to sleep.

Now I'm back to Aeroflot if it really exists, and if not maybe just keep my original routing and move the days to one that has the direct SEA-KOA flight. Ironically the one that does a couple days later has dropped in price to $462 from $700. Wonder if I could just cancel mine and rebook that one, after they move the award ticket. This seems to be agent dependent so any advice on how to improve my results is appreciated. I am gold.

qofmiwok

It seems to be 2 2 2 and every seat has direct aisle access. Am I misunderstanding?

pvn

The window seats do NOT have direct aisle access.

More importantly, I would not count these chickens until you actually book them. As another poster has noted, a huge amount of aeroflot availability that shows up on delta.com is phantom and not actually bookable.

qofmiwok

I tried on KE website and it said "itinerary cannot be booked online."
I tried on JAL website and it doesn't offer me any choices of European cities.
I guess these need to be searched from other tools?

But I did find some interesting options on google flights to look into for future travels. Korean/Hawaiian through Seoul gets to Kona in 2 stops and only 29 hours. I wonder how hard those tickets would be to get with miles.
BCN-CDG-LAX-KOA on AF/Delta is nice. I have been finding Delta reluctant to rebook me on partner flights, is that normal? Everytime I mention one with a partner they steer me to Delta flights.
Other interesting flights. Swiss/United or Lufthansa/United. Alitalia through Rome. Really a lot of options that don't require an overnight hotel stay somewhere, so take about 25 hours. I'm bad at searching for awards on partner flights though so might need to pay someone to find me some.

I did find AA BCN-ORD-LAX-KOA not a saver but only 110k for anytime award in business. Could just pay the Delta change fee and switch to that. I chose the AMS-SEA so I could at least get to the west coast with lie flat seats.

zitozac

What date are your searching for?