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How to use DL miles to book MU (China Eastern) award flights?

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How to use DL miles to book MU (China Eastern) award flights?

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Old Mar 29, 2023, 9:01 pm
  #1  
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How to use DL miles to book MU (China Eastern) award flights?

I was looking for award tickets on some of MU's staple regional routes yesterday and noticed that Delta doesn't show any MU results. Then I tried some intra-China routes where I know there is almost always award inventory on offer (e.g. SHA-PEK, SHA-KMG; never waste mile on these btw)...also nothing on MU, but tons of options on CZ, which is leaving Skyteam. Isn't MU one of DL's core partners? This isn't a huge deal for me, but it would be nice to be able to use miles between Shanghai and Japan without having to stop in Korea. Maybe we need to book by phone? Thanks in advance for your insights.
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Old Mar 29, 2023, 10:39 pm
  #2  
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Originally Posted by moondog
I was looking for award tickets on some of MU's staple regional routes yesterday and noticed that Delta doesn't show any MU results. Then I tried some intra-China routes where I know there is almost always award inventory on offer (e.g. SHA-PEK, SHA-KMG; never waste mile on these btw)...also nothing on MU, but tons of options on CZ, which is leaving Skyteam. Isn't MU one of DL's core partners? This isn't a huge deal for me, but it would be nice to be able to use miles between Shanghai and Japan without having to stop in Korea. Maybe we need to book by phone? Thanks in advance for your insights.
There's no harm in calling DL to inquire, but DL's website says that award travel on MU can be booked online:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...-miles/#travel

(Some airlines might not make some of their award seats available to partners.)
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Old Mar 29, 2023, 11:05 pm
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MU‘s service sucks. Many flights they still serve packaged snacks instead of regular hot meal nowadays.
Check china's flyertea webside for MU award space if you read chinese........ www.flyert.com
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Old Mar 30, 2023, 12:44 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by Frank_Mao
MU‘s service sucks. Many flights they still serve packaged snacks instead of regular hot meal nowadays.
While few would dispute the fact that MU's service used to suck (i.e. remember the 等方·days and those aging MD11s they flew to LAX), I personally prefer their current and hard product to most US carriers now. But, that's beside the point. Whether or not I liked them, I would still fly with them because I live in Shanghai and they dominate both airports here.

Check china's flyertea webside for MU award space if you read chinese........ www.flyert.com
What specific threads there discuss redeeming award flights on MU using DL miles?
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Old Mar 30, 2023, 12:49 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by guv1976
There's no harm in calling DL to inquire, but DL's website says that award travel on MU can be booked online:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...-miles/#travel

(Some airlines might not make some of their award seats available to partners.)
I dm'ed them instead of calling, but the person I chatted with was reasonably helpful. After a bit of back and forth, she told me that MU hasn't released any forward inventory to Delta and that they would make an online announcement when this is no longer the case. So, to answer my own question, there is apparently no way (i.e. calling phone reservations wouldn't help) to book MU flights with DL miles at present.
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Old Mar 30, 2023, 1:36 pm
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Originally Posted by moondog
While few would dispute the fact that MU's service used to suck (i.e. remember the 等方·days and those aging MD11s they flew to LAX), I personally prefer their current and hard product to most US carriers now. But, that's beside the point. Whether or not I liked them, I would still fly with them because I live in Shanghai and they dominate both airports here.


What specific threads there discuss redeeming award flights on MU using DL miles?
You can check their Skyteam Threads that includes Delta. But I searched a few posts and found they were also saying very hard to use DL miles to book MU flghts.
I remembered DL used to able to redeem 7.5K for domestic first class on MU/CZ/MF, and 6K for economy. Yes, 7.5K only for FC. Maybe since they fixed this, MU award space became limit. Old good days are gone.
https://www.flyert.com/t-3953410-1-1.html
https://www.flyert.com/t-4080908-1-1.html

You live in Shanghai, well you can just call DL's Mandarin line for MU award space.
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Old Mar 31, 2023, 3:02 pm
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MU does not release any trans-pac to Skymiles. Neither CI..KE is the best bet.

I do have good exp with MU when ST E+
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Old Mar 31, 2023, 4:08 pm
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Originally Posted by yupenn
MU does not release any trans-pac to Skymiles. Neither CI..KE is the best bet.

I do have good exp with MU when ST E+
KE? For X (Y), may be. But not for O (J). When speaking of O availability, KE practically never releases any flights but regional flights only, which are only ever available Mon-Fri (never on the weekends or holidays in O or X). Long-haul flights KE only releases X (Y), for practical intents and purposes close to zero O (J) inventory.
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Old Mar 31, 2023, 8:41 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by yupenn
MU does not release any trans-pac to Skymiles. Neither CI..KE is the best bet.

I do have good exp with MU when ST E+
I don't care about tpac, and I wouldn't expect them to release those flights anyway. I care about intra-Asia. The point is that they supposedly haven't released ANY inventory to Skymiles.
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Old Jun 14, 2023, 10:02 pm
  #10  
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I'm frustrated. I found China Eastern award flights from LAX-PVG and onward. I moved a substantial amount of AMEX points to Delta. I then attempted to book - and attempted - and on and on. The award seats show until I get to the final step when it says that the seats have already been claimed. But of course they show up again and again when I attempt to book again. Is it common for Delta to show phantom availability for China Eastern?
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 1:47 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I'm frustrated. I found China Eastern award flights from LAX-PVG and onward. I moved a substantial amount of AMEX points to Delta. I then attempted to book - and attempted - and on and on. The award seats show until I get to the final step when it says that the seats have already been claimed. But of course they show up again and again when I attempt to book again. Is it common for Delta to show phantom availability for China Eastern?
This is better than no availability which was the case when I started this thread. I've resorted to using CI and KE, which is annoying because I need to connect every time, but it would work for you.
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 8:15 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by moondog
This is better than no availability which was the case when I started this thread.
I would say this is worse. I moved 330K AMEX points to Delta to cover the cost of the award seats that I am unable to book. I now have those points sitting in an account that I rarely use.
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 9:26 am
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I'm frustrated. I found China Eastern award flights from LAX-PVG and onward. I moved a substantial amount of AMEX points to Delta. I then attempted to book - and attempted - and on and on. The award seats show until I get to the final step when it says that the seats have already been claimed. But of course they show up again and again when I attempt to book again. Is it common for Delta to show phantom availability for China Eastern?
I have been able to successfully book MU flights using DL miles on the DL website, so it's not 100% phantom availability. Have you tried calling DL to see what they say?
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 9:33 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by LoganFlyer
Have you tried calling DL to see what they say?
I have. I was on hold for 1 hr 15 min last night. The agent immediately said there was no award space. I checked again today and the award no longer shows up.
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Old Jan 8, 2024, 6:30 pm
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Any update on booking MU using DL miles? I don't see any space online on DL.com for TPAC routes.
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