matty884

Hi all! I was wondering what the best way to book award flights using Skymiles to Europe or Australia? When I run a search on Delta's site, the only availability shown is for Delta's own flights. I am based out of SFO, so for me redeeming a flight from SFO-CDG (AF), SFO-AMS (KL), or SFO-LHR (VX) would be ideal-- but nothing shows up! The only good searches for partner flights from SFO are going to Asia.

Is the best suggestion to search through FlyingBlue or Virgin Atlantic's page to look for award availability, and then calling Delta to see if the space is available for DL members? Seems a bit cumbersome, but wanted to see what you all have done in the past to find & book partner flights going to Europe/Australia using Skymiles.

Thanks so much!

CPMaverick

Well, EU and AU are two very different destinations that use different partners.

Delta should show partner awards on delta.com. But if you want another place to search.... For EU I would suggest AF/KLM to see what shows up; and for AU I would suggest checking Virgin Australia's website for availability.

I also use awardnexus.com to streamline the process depending on what I am trying to do.

If partners have low-level avalability it means there is a good chance Delta will offer the same... but it is no guarantee. If it isn't on delta.com, it is most likely not bookable, but you can call to double-check.

xliioper

Virgin Atlantic is VS (not VX). It'd be nice to know if you are talking coach or business. Coach tends have better availability than business on partners, so I'm guessing you are talking about business. I don't think searching on partner websites will tell you anything as it's pretty clear they only provide limited inventory to DL. Also, DL has a 60-day advance purchase requirement on all of it's EU partners except for VS where there are multiple levels (with the lowest having a 60-day advance purchase). KL and AF tend to be very difficult to find flights with availability in business. VS is typically easier to find. The below is a calendar search for SFO-LHR in business and the dates that show 86K are VS awards (that is the 60-day advance purchase VS business award level). So there are clearly VS flights with availability. DL's low level to Europe is 80K and has a 90-day advance purchase requirement. That is why you don't see any 80K awards before 2/6 as that is 90 days out.




Applying the non-stop filter makes seeing the dates with VS options easier. Here are dates with VS availability for SFO-LHR for late May through early July.