fti

Well, that doesn't really mean anything. I did my test simultaneously to compare both CO/DL and my results were accurate when posted.

Plus, I challenge you to find 45K in F with DL on the dates that CO still shows 50K in F. That ain't gonna happen. And who would pay 50K for Y when they can pay 50K for F on the same flights/dates? I thought you were brighter than that

PS to add: I just checked continental.com again and they show SaverPass economy on July 1:
US308/US1431 ATL-CLT-LAX

Not to say it was there when you looked, but I will challenge anyone on any date at any time to compare continental.com and delta.com for the same awards. I would bet that continental.com would always price out equal to or fewer miles than delta.com. If I were a betting man, that person would lose almost every time and I would be rich.

stephem

I finally locked in an outbound for 4 of us on the SEA-JFK nonstop in early August at the low level. In years past it had been much easier to find something, anything and then slowly wait for better flights to open up. Our initial outbound involved an overnight in MSP, ouch, and then a continuation on to EWR early the next morning. I was really hoping we would not have to fly that itinerary!

Today I spoted 4x 25k seats on one day in August that worked for us and so switched us all to that. The rest of the month was mostly 32k, so I think "32k is the new low" is probably about right. It was a bit of work to get down to 25k, but I refused to cave for 32k. In the end 100k SkyPesos instead of $2000 for paid seats seems like a pretty good deal.

mnredfox

fti, knowing you you've always managed to do well with your VDB's and get better routings. Now too bad DL doesn't have the VDB policy NW had and give automatic UG's to VDB's if a GM/PM. Wouldn't be bad to book low saver MSP-ATL-ANC in Y, and walk away with F MSP-ANC with voucher in hand.

Though the 763 ATL-ANC wouldn't be that bad (in F that is).

GrantParish

I fly regularly from MEM to various Louisiana airports and in past could almost always get a 25K tier ticket. Since Delta dropped the fee for late purchases, I can't seem to find anything under 40K. Is this a coincidence?

Taz

I was able to get AZO-DTW-TPA in early November with the return just before Christmas for 40,000 in first (at least DTW-TPA-DTW, there are no planes with first out of AZO). Coach came up 50,000 for the same flights. I'm allergic to coach anyway, but why would I want to spend MORE for it?

3Cforme

100K for Business DTW-CDG-IST-CDG-DTW in October.

lostone

This weekend MSP-BKK via NRT opened up with low awards in economy for January outbound and February return.

60K for 1/24 - 2/9.

DLATL777

ATL-JNB-ATL on the nonstops in whY for 80K for a friend of mine.
ATL-JNB-ATL on the nonstops in Business for 120K for myself (I reported this earlier)

Exiled in Express

Personal best after learning how to use the stopover benefit from one of fti's posts a few weeks ago. Thanks fti! ^

YVR-MSP and MSP-OMA several weeks later, 25k and $45 for Canadian fees.
For an extra $5, I upsized to a speculative OMA-YVR next spring.

Current cash price for the first two segments is $767, if I make use of the return leg, $1180. Cheapest full routing on my days of travel (any airline) is $817. Just over 3 cents per mile.

necmergitur

I did it! Redeemed my last 100,000 miles (had to transfer a few SPG points) for a J class ticket, CMN-CDG-YUL, departing July 28 returning August 8. Middle of summer, with flights running $1,500 in Y-class, this is definitely a great deal. As soon as I redeemed, availability was zeroed out for those dates. Better yet, used a $400 e-cert to pay for taxes, so it was totally free.

So it's possible. Just sit tight and wait for the right time to zero out your SkyMiles account!

necmergitur

avidflyer

AF is usually pretty good for availability at low. It is DL that is bad. Is this on DL metal or AF?

DL2SXM

For the month of August, JFK to FRA in J rings in at 100K miles. I'd say that over 80% of the outbound and 75% of the return are available at the low level. Same holds true for coach.

psychtobe

after several weeks of searching for standard (low) availability PDX-DFW in July, with nothing being available at all, all of a sudden yesterday there was tons of availability, especially on the return - though the outbound was still quite limited and we had to travel AS/QX to get low awards. We were able to book a standard F/Y return for 35k miles (low) on preferred dates of travel.

There was a huge difference in inventory when logging in with a GM account.

We were able to call online support and have them book Mrs. Psychtobe as the traveler using my miles (we are both GM). Kind of a neat trick. I understand that wouldn't have worked with my daughter flying (she's Silver) which is a bummer - and means she's not going on the trip and instead staying with me.

In this instance it looks like DL released a bunch of seats just in the last week or two?

necmergitur

AF metal the whole way. Yeah, I have been actually findings LOTS of J class availability on AF. It seems like AF's problem is with Y class availability! But hey, that would be a nice problem to have if it was DL's...

Bicostal

3 25K RT SAN-RDU in September. Surprised me a bit since I tried to book one yesterday and the best I could do was 40K (though I opted for the 80K FC). Now the SO and RR want to go, too, so got all three in coach for less than one in FC.^ Let's hope the upgrade on awards is operational by then.

The website allowed me to enter the traveler and cc data four times and seats three times so I had plenty of finger exercises today.