O class awards on AF when not originating or arriving in the US?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: SLC
Programs: DL DM, UA, IC Royal Amb, HH Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis First
Posts: 100
O class awards on AF when not originating or arriving in the US?
Hi everyone.
I'm planning to take my spouse around the world for our anniversary early next year (if COVID is over, knock on wood). The second leg of our trip will be CUN-CDG-SEZ. Has anyone heard of AF having O class award availability on the CUN-CDG leg (AF 651) for SkyMiles members?
I'm planning to take my spouse around the world for our anniversary early next year (if COVID is over, knock on wood). The second leg of our trip will be CUN-CDG-SEZ. Has anyone heard of AF having O class award availability on the CUN-CDG leg (AF 651) for SkyMiles members?
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
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Have you tried to search for it? In fact, have you checked whether this is a legal routing on AF/DL? [Can you buy a ticket without a broken fare? If not, you might need to do it as two separate award tickets.]
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: SLC
Programs: DL DM, UA, IC Royal Amb, HH Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis First
Posts: 100
I'm planning to do a bunch of one-way itineraries. I'm also curious to see if they'll let us go straight from CUN to CDG, or if we'll need to add a stopover in the US first. I checked codeshares for AF 651 and the only ones they have are for KLM and VA. Adding a stopover wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen by far, but it would be nice to be able to go straight there. Our total trip will last about 3 weeks, and I'm sure when we come home, we'll need a vacation from the vacation!
#4
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,407
You can use DL miles for award tickets on partner flights that aren't marketed as DL codeshares.
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,054
Interestingly, DL metal D1 awards from Caribbean/Mexico to the EU seem to be stuck in a bit of time warp and are available from 65K each way (compared to 105K from US/Canada). I checked from NAS and CUN. Asia D1 awards are still 80K each way (vs. 120K each-way from US/Canada).
Last edited by xliioper; Feb 9, 2021 at 6:22 am
#6
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,630
Not all O inventory is made available to DL. Many times I transferred Amex points to AF when I found the availability in AF but not in DL. Although the required amount of miles was often higher on AF, the taxes and fees were lower since DL charges an international origination surcharge on tickets from EU/Middle East (something to keep in mind if you are planning a one-way return).
I used to book SDQ-CDG nonstop on AF for 50K and SDQ-JFK-CDG for 65K each way. Not traveling between the two locations since 2017 but last time I checked it was still the case.
Interestingly, DL metal D1 awards from Caribbean/Mexico to the EU seem to be stuck in a bit of time warp and are available from 65K each way (compared to 105K from US/Canada). I checked from NAS and CUN. Asia D1 awards are still 80K each way (vs. 120K each-way from US/Canada).
#8
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,054
Much better yes, but not quite that dramatic. Latest low-level rates for DL metal is 105K each way (partners 120K) for US-EU. You just have to be cognizant of the advance purchase requirements (and RT booking for DL).