ltfdrebbin

Thank you for your help, and bear with me as I'm trying to learn.
I've got these Delta miles, companion certificates and vouchers that I would like to use.
Flying Delta just does not seem to make sense to me.
In the scenario you posted using Delta costs $481 for 2 people. Flying the same dates through Frontier would cost $296. And I would not have to fly a red eye. I know there would be bag fees, but I'm shipping my bike, so I can add whatever I need to that shipment and fly without luggage. Do I just need to wait until closer to the date hoping that flights get cheaper, or am I missing something?
Thank you.

xliioper

Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant are all considered Ultra Low Cost Carriers (ULCCs) and the big legacy carriers do not really compete with them on pricing. Aside from various fees they charge, these carriers have very tight seating pitch (tighter than standard seating pitch on legacy carriers) and if you are taller it can be quite painful unless you pay for a roomier exit row seat on them. There are other drawbacks -- they don't have any interline carrier agreements and schedules tend to be more limited which increases your chances of getting stuck somewhere overnight or longer when there are irregular operations unless you are willing to pay out of pocket to fly another carrier (if you do so, you can only expect to have your ticket refunded and they won't re-imburse you for any additional amount you pay to fly someone else -- there are no mandatory compensation laws in the United States for flight delays even when it is due to something under airline control).

Bottomline, Delta is not going to lower their prices to match Frontier pricing as they don't really compete in the same market segment.

kgypson

I have 95,000 SkyMiles plus a $100 AmEX flight award credit that I am trying to use to book flights for two passengers from any Washington, DC airport to Glasgow, Scotland to hike the West Highland Way. I booked this lifelong dream trip for the summer of 2020 and again in the summer of 2021 - each time it was cancelled due to COVID. Now my boyfriend wants to come along this time and I had hopes my miles could cover both our flights - after all, I booked a RT to Rome in 2018 on Delta for only 45,000 miles.

I know Delta did away with the award chart years ago so I've been using the price calendar to identify low fare days. Once I spot those days I type in the dates and change it to pay with miles. All of the economy fares are sold out for using with miles.

I'm pretty frustrated - I've been saving these miles for three years now. We are incredibly flexible with our travel plans - we can fly out for a ten-day trip anytime starting in late April and running through early October. But I don't even have the option to use miles. Please chime in to tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, missing any shortcuts, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help - I'm going to make sure this trip happens in 2023!

beachmouse

If you’re trying to use the ‘pay with miles’ to reduce the ticket cost and not redeeming miles for an award ticket, there are two choke points- the first is that you need to have an active American Express card, even the no annual fee one will do, and the second is that your flights must be on Delta or Delta Connection planes and not partner airlines. And IIRC, Glasgow doesn’t have direct Delta service, you need to connect onto an Air France/KLM partner flight.

A couple of ideas to help bring the cost down-

1. Do a new AmEx Delta SkyMiles credit card for the sign-up bonus. That will typically get you another 60-80K miles by largely throwing grocery shopping and utility bills onto the card for a few months

2. Look into flying into Edinburgh- they are lots more options at that airport including Delta ‘metal’ and at least you can get a penny a mile toward the ticket cost under ‘pay with miles’ if you’re got a Delta AmEx card that way.

3. Explore Delta Vacations packages. You can get a penny per mile redemption there whether or not you have a card and there's frequently a coupon for another $100-$200 off a Delta Vacations package. Their flight plus hotel packages can often be cheaper than flight alone costs. And if you call customer service, you don’t have to book hotels through them for the entire length of the trip, you can just say you want a 10 night trip with one night hotel.

xliioper

Unfortunately, it's not 2018 anymore. WAS-GLA coach awards are available for 54K miles roundtrip and that is the best award pricing you will get these days. You'll need 13K more miles to book two tickets roundtrip for this itin with miles. The credit card sign-up bonus option mentioned above is one way to generate more miles. You could just buy the miles you are short directly from Delta, but that would cost over $400. Note from the pricing below that there would still be a charge of $373 in taxes and fees for 2 award tickets ($186.68 x 2).





There are options to use miles to offset the cost of cash tickets (Pay with Miles) as mentioned above and requires a Delta Amex and destination be served by Delta equipment (GLA is not served by Delta equipment, but EDI is as shown below). Otherwise, the Delta Vacations option mentioned above can be partially paid with miles and does not require Delta Amex or that the destination be served by Delta equipment. All-in pricing below is $341.96 which includes all taxes and fees, but these are Basic Economy fares which have a number of limitations (change fees if you want to make a change to flights and no seat selection). The awards above are Main Cabin awards and can be changed or re-deposited with no fees.

beachmouse

Also most UK airports, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London Heathrow level a pretty significant departure tax for long haul routes leaving that airport so they’ll show up on all those award tickets because Delta doesn’t pay the tax for you.

kklems

Did a little searching in delta forum and didn't find an answer. Can anyone explain why if I book a ticket with miles, than before checkin pay for an upgrade to F and than the flight cancels, get rescheduled but doesn't have open F seats I don't get at least a partial refund for the F fare paid. (Delta reassigned the flight, I didn't pick the reschedule) I tried reaching out to Delta for an explanation but the digital rep couldn't help, didn't seem to really understand what the issue was and told me to submit via the complaint form since he couldn't issue a refund. Filed out the complaint form and it gives an error and says it can't be sent. I do understand if I cancelled or changed the flight it was non-refundable and I can't change it to another flight but Delta cancelled the flight and rebooked. (it was weather FWIW not mechanical or other flight crew)

xliioper

Yes, you should get a refund in this case of involuntary downgrade due to schedule change. Maybe something getting lost in translation here with first agent. I would try again with another agent.

kgypson

Thank you so much for these ideas!
I do have a Delta AmEx and I am using the "Pay with Miles" option. Would it be better to book an award ticket - I guess I'm not entirely clear on the difference.
I'll definitely look into flying into Edinburgh instead - great idea!
The Delta vacations option sounds interesting too but we are pretty tied down to some remote B&Bs since we are hiking the West Highland Way.

kamchatsky

I have an upcoming flight SYD-LAX on DL Premium Select next month for 2 adults and 2 kids. I have signed up for the challenge and became Gold Medallion. Can all 4 of us have access to the Skyteam Lounge at SYD?

beachmouse

Apparenty with Delta Vaations, if you call in and talk to customer service, they can set it up so that you only have Delta Vacations cover, say one night out of a ten night trip, leaving you to pick your own hotel for the rest of the time. So use that hotel night for something close to the airport the night before you head home.

Zorak

SkyTeam Elite Plus status (via GM) only gets one guest into the lounge.

rajhyd99

Just wanted to confirm if Award Tickets booked using Miles are eligible for MQM calculating for Status ? Is it for Both Domestic and Intl or only Intl Award Tickets ?

rajhyd99

Is there is common Thread for sharing the expiring RUC or should I just post in General category? I am looking for 2 RUC if somebody can share them if they are expiring soon and if they can't use them.

ATOBTTR

Award tickets are eligible to earn MQMs (and MQDs) providing you are on a DL operated/marketed flight booked with DL SkyMiles as long as you don’t book a Basic Economy award.