Completely new to booking award flights, so I can't tell if this is user error...
Apr 25, 2021, 10:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 68
Completely new to booking award flights, so I can't tell if this is user error...
So, I have AMEX MR points I'd like to use. If I'm looking from mainland U.S. to HNL, I'm following instructions for Korean Air SKYPASS:
Also, I assume you would transfer AMEX MR -> Delta Skymiles -> Korean Air SKYPASS miles at a 1:1 ratio for both sets of transfers and that both sets of transfers are instant?
EDIT: Same with AirFrance - every search I do comes back as no availability for any combination of airports or dates. Even if I search for LAX to JFK, I get "The departure or arrival city you have selected is not permitted." ??? This is so confusing, Detla definitely flies between JFK and LAX, so I don't understand why I can't even see any listings.
EDIT2: Just tried with KLM. Every search I do I get "Sorry, there are no flights available for this combination of departure airport, arrival airport and travel dates. Please try again." I'm not even putting any dates in to try to pull up a monthly calendar (https://thepointsguy.com/guide/searc...m-availability), but it's not working at all. I'm so puzzled by this.
- Go to Korean Air’s website.
- Select Redeem Miles.
- Log in with your user ID or SKYPASS number.
- Select SkyTeam Award.
- Select your origin and destination.
- Select your travel dates.
- Select Prestige Class to find Delta One space.
- Select your flights.
- Find flights that are operated by Delta Air Lines.
Also, I assume you would transfer AMEX MR -> Delta Skymiles -> Korean Air SKYPASS miles at a 1:1 ratio for both sets of transfers and that both sets of transfers are instant?
EDIT: Same with AirFrance - every search I do comes back as no availability for any combination of airports or dates. Even if I search for LAX to JFK, I get "The departure or arrival city you have selected is not permitted." ??? This is so confusing, Detla definitely flies between JFK and LAX, so I don't understand why I can't even see any listings.
EDIT2: Just tried with KLM. Every search I do I get "Sorry, there are no flights available for this combination of departure airport, arrival airport and travel dates. Please try again." I'm not even putting any dates in to try to pull up a monthly calendar (https://thepointsguy.com/guide/searc...m-availability), but it's not working at all. I'm so puzzled by this.
Last edited by joe318; Apr 25, 2021 at 10:58 pm
Apr 26, 2021, 9:22 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,040
You transfer points to the program you're booking with, not the airline you want to fly on.
Airlines can offer more seats to their own program members. Thus DL may be offering DL Skymiles members a seat on a flight, but partners can't book a seat on same flight.
Airlines can offer more seats to their own program members. Thus DL may be offering DL Skymiles members a seat on a flight, but partners can't book a seat on same flight.
Apr 26, 2021, 10:25 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: EDI/GLA
Programs: DL 2 MM Unobtainum | UA 1.1MM Gold | MR Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 2,268
Also it’s very, very rare to get the lowest available award available for SkyTeam Partners in the premium cabins because Delta does not price them low enough for the availability to appear to partners.
Apr 26, 2021, 12:06 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: AA PPro
Posts: 632
Welcome to points and miles (no really)! Just because you see people on the internet taking exciting "free" flights doesn't mean it doesn't have its limitations! Sincerely I mean, you need to do quite a bit of work and get some knowledge to get the best redemptions.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
Apr 26, 2021, 3:21 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: jfk area
Programs: AA platinum; 2MM AA, Delta Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,291
Welcome to points and miles (no really)! Just because you see people on the internet taking exciting "free" flights doesn't mean it doesn't have its limitations! Sincerely I mean, you need to do quite a bit of work and get some knowledge to get the best redemptions.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
Why should a pax have to learn the nuances of the "mile redemption" world--yes, that's the way it IS
Apr 28, 2021, 10:56 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 68
Welcome to points and miles (no really)! Just because you see people on the internet taking exciting "free" flights doesn't mean it doesn't have its limitations! Sincerely I mean, you need to do quite a bit of work and get some knowledge to get the best redemptions.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
As you are quickly finding out you can't simply say "yay I have enough miles, let me book my flights!" Unlike paid tickets, discounted award tickets as you see on redemption charts are very difficult to obtain, especially on the "major" routes you are referencing, like LA to Hawaii. So you can't just say I want to fly from A to B, on these dates, for X# of tickets because I have the miles banked and expect that to happen.
Delta in particular uses a "dynamic" award pricing that makes more availability through their own search engine, at usually very high cost. However for their partners they need to release actual award seats, which is going to be very limited on popular routes as you have noted.
Also no, you cannot transfer points from amex to one airline and then another airline to redeem. You can only transfer the amex points to the airline partner that you are redeeming the points with (of course every rule has an exception, like British avios transfer to Iberia avios). Many airlines you may actually find the best redemption charts with don't accept transfers from Amex, so you need to work with whatever partner you can actually use your points with. In this case Korean Air is not an Amex transfer partner, so even if you found the space you could not book it with Amex points.
Keep at it, you have some learning to do, points and miles can be lucrative, it just isn't as easy as the first travel blogger you find makes it look.
Apr 28, 2021, 10:59 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,040
Thank you all for your replies. I now understand that just because the points are earned, doesn't mean the award travel options are available. I just thought it was just like spending cash or cash-equivalents in points and that these airlines want you to spend your points, or at least that was the impression I got from all of the travel blog posts I read. It could also be that 2021 is going to be a "pent up demand" year so I may have missed my window and need to book my trips with cash, saving these points for 2022 and beyond. Thank you all.
Apr 28, 2021, 3:43 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
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