Award Ticket Success - Post It Here

Old Oct 18, 2005, 6:42 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by odysseusinrtp
This thread would mean more to me if was focused on domestic SkySaver for Delta. And then if I could really focus the thread I would have it focused on secondary markets.

I think everyone is agreed that SkyChoice is almost always easy to obtain domestically and that SkySaver is obtainable internationally.

Those were skysaver seats I should have stated. Another follow up is another friend from florida just booked MLB-ATL-LAS on the same flights I just got all those awards on. So SkySaver seats are attainable.
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 7:01 pm
  #17  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
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For June 2006
3 BE JFK-CDG-VCE (skysaver)
The flight out is a day later then I would have preferred and the return has a stopover in Amsterdam. But I'm still happy.
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 7:36 pm
  #18  
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Need to go to the LYS Beaujolais Do in April of next year and saw nothing available for my dates (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) on delta.com to LYS, CDG, or NCE in BE.

A midnight call got me an offshore agent who, after considerable looking around got me a very good outbound, but the return was ridiculous, via MXP and YYZ.

A call this evening just got me the return exactly as I would like it, so for 4/27 thru 5/2 we have JFK-AMS-LYS and LYS-AMS-JFK SkySaver with the intra-Europe flights on KL. The international awards are indeed out there for the pickings.
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 7:49 pm
  #19  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Seattle , WA DL DM 2MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
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LAX-SIN-BOM 12/17 SQ in Raffles return 01/09 BOM-SIN-LAX SQ raffles.

got the dates I wanted and was surprised to see availability on SQ using DL miles.
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 8:10 pm
  #20  
JS
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I have had excellent success getting SkySaver tickets. I have never used SkyChoice and plan on keeping it that way.

I've booked several domestic coach award tickets for myself (just to fly some place new for a day or two), one trip of five First Class tickets, and just recently, a First Class award ticket for my wife with just two days advance notice. In fact, she is on the plane in the air as I write this!

There are some things I like better about flying UA, but in my experience, Delta availability is better. The most important thing to me, though, is the stopover on a domestic award ticket. 95% of the award tickets I have ever issued included a stopover, which is not allowed with UA domestically. Even on cheap city pairs, a stopover increases the value of an award ticket tremendously.
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 8:27 pm
  #21  
 
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Booked 5 SkySaver First Class Seats for the Christmas/Winter Break to San Juan with a Stopover in NYC for New Years Eve [Booked at the end of March]
21 Dec CVG-ATL
22 Dec ATL-SJU
30 Dec SJU-ATL-LGA
01 Jan LGA-CVG

We were very pleased with getting these reward seats [even happier we were able to score 7 nights at the Embassy Suites in San Juan using our Hilton Points...]

1 SkySaver Coach Class, Booked 2 Days in Advance
end of August CVG-EWR-CVG
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 8:49 pm
  #22  
 
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I got two INCREDIBLE awards, especially since you can't get it anymore now.
Got 2, let me repeat TWO FC awards on AF going from Denver to Bengalore India. I am taking the New AF F to Paris from IAH and then the old AF F between Paris and Bengalore. Same on the return.
WELL WORTH IT!
And the most incredible part is that though it is for the Xmas season, I reserved it only in early October.
Now that's what I call GOOD redemption
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Old Oct 18, 2005, 9:02 pm
  #23  
 
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Good idea for a thread. I could never understand why everyone was having trouble while I never had a problem.

Last winter on spring break, I booked three tickets for my kids to come visit me in CA. My youngest daughters friend was a late plan, but I still was able to get her tickets, even though she had to go back a day earlier. All tickets were Skysaver awards (I didn't have enough mileage at the time to afford all SkyChoice otherwise the friend would have been able to travel at the same time. I started buying the tickets after January 1st for the first one, the second in February, the 3rd in March and the last one two weeks before the trip.

I have since booked to SkySaver awards for a friend of my daughter to visit along with her boyfriend from Seattle to Ohio, a trip for a good friend in NY to visit his sister in North Carolina over Christmas with Skysaver.

I also booked a trip for my sister at the last minute with Sky Choice (only two weeks in advance).

Every time I contemplated taking a trip, I found SkySaver awards available. Maybe the locations I've done have been easy or the time of year was right, but I've had no trouble whatsoever.
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 12:48 am
  #24  
 
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More SkySaver/Partner success here too.

Over the many years that I've redeemed DL miles I've never had any issues with finding the dates and city pairs for ANY trips that I've taken.

Just two weeks ago at the stroke of midnight eastern time I was able to after being on the phone only 20 minutes (hold and talking to partner desk agent) obtain 2 FC seats from MIA to FCO via CDG on AF for my parents.

Just today I called at the stroke of midnight to get their return flights from FCO and I was speaking to an agent at 2 minutes past midnight and off the phone at 11 minutes after with email confirmation 12 minutes after midnight.

I probably would have been off the phone even earlier but the agent accidently keyed in the wrong dates and had to start over again. When doing that even better flights had availability.

Right now the flight from CDG to ATL is in Business Class (agent said nothing about no longer booking FC just that it was not available). I have to ticket it tomorrow so I will ask more probing questions then about the FC situation, but hey they are still in a premium cabin and they got the dates they wanted.

DL flights on the return were out of the question as my parents are returning that morning into port from a cruise and the N/S flight on DL into ATL would be leaving too early for them.

I can go on about all more bookings over the years. The agent was also very impressed at how prepared I was with listings of all flights, thanks FT for all the perperation!
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 1:12 am
  #25  
 
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Just got... with only 3 weeks notice...
2 business class awards
JFK-TLV on KLM thru AMS on DL and KLM
TLV-CDG on AF with a 10 day latover
CDG-JFK day before thanksgiving

(12 hour layover isn't very exciting, but better than the available EWR-TLV that would have added an extra 60K miles per ticket for "Business First")

Total cost $170 for both tickets taxes +$20 in fees...
oh, and 240K miles
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 2:29 am
  #26  
 
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Nice to see a more cheerful thread! And informative, too!

In Sept, I booked two coach SkySaver CAE-ATL-SEA for a Thurs - Sun in Dec. Booked a third coach SkySaver CAE-ATL-SEA for Fri - Mon. These were all the exact dates that I desired.

With some careful searching within Jan & Feb 2006, I booked two coach CAE-ATL-UVF (St Lucia) on a Tues - Sun. There were several options to choose from in Jan & Feb, but hard to organize a 5 night stay since DL doesn't fly there on Wed or Thurs.

Other SkySavers used in 2005 from CAE: 1 Saturday-to-Saturday seat to HNL via CVG at end of Jan 2005 (booked in Oct 2004). 1 seat to SLC via ATL in late Feb (booked in Jan 2005). 1 seat to EGE via ATL in mid-March's peak ski season (booked in Jan 2005).

I don't worry too much about the 331 day approach, but I'm never trying to line up more than 2 seats.
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 6:11 am
  #27  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Good Availability to SE Asia

In Aug. 2003 I scored my first DL award, which was for Raffles (Business) Class on Singapore Airlines, back at the 95K level, for travel at the Christmas-New Year's holiday in 2003. ATL-SFO-(HKG)-SIN-BKK, with eleven days in BKK, then BKK-SIN-(TPE)-LAX-ATL. Back in those days the domestic legs were in Economy on Delta. That changed when the award level went up to 120K. Got pretty much perfect dates, out on Dec. 18th, home on Jan. 2nd.

In Feb. 2004, SQ was not available, but I got Business Class on Korean. Had to go via IAD instead of the ATL nonstop, but no real inconvenience. Flew ATL-IAD-ICN-HKG, stayed a week, came home the same route in reverse. Pretty much the dates I wanted, which was for travel over the Memorial Day holiday in May 2004. This was the last of the 95K awards.

In December 2004, I booked a Business Class award on AF to BKK. SQ not available and KE blacked out. Would have entailed DL/AF ATL-YUL-CDG-BKK, return BKK-CDG-{ZRH or MXP}-ATL. Not the best dates for travel around Memorial Day 2005, and the outbound required an entire day in Paris. (There are worse things in the world, I know.) I kept trying to improve the ticket and in Feb. 2005 I lucked out. On a whim I asked about SQ availability and I got it. Wound up with fairly perfect dates in Raffles Class for the long-hauls. Flew ATL-LAX-(TPE)-SIN-BKK, open jaw, returned SIN-(NRT)-LAX-ATL. The SIN-BKK leg was in SQ Y. This was for a ten-day holiday over the Memorial Day 2005 period.

In May 2005, I booked my first FIRST CLASS award on SQ. After some juggling with routes and so forth, I have wound up with ATL-SFO-(HKG)-SIN-BKK, open jaw, HKG-SFO-ATL. The long-hauls are in SQ F, the SIN-BKK leg is in Raffles. I got perfect dates for travel over the upcoming Christmas-New Year's period, out on Dec. 16th, home on Jan. 2nd.

A few weeks ago I booked another award on SQ to SE Asia. This one is ATL-LAX-SIN-BKK, open jaw, SIN-LAX-ATL. The transpacific flights are on the ultra-long-haul nonstop A345 service in Raffles Class, while SIN-BKK is in Y. Got exactly the dates I asked for over the Memorial Day 2006 holiday. I did ask for the EWR-SIN nonstop but had to settle for LAX-SIN. Boo-hoo.

All in all, fairly pleased with the SkyMiles program. Got a good number of awards to essentially the destinations I want in premium cabins over high-demand periods, some on arguably the best airline in the sky. (All were for solo travel, as I usually meet up with Mr. Megatop in BKK.)

Can you tell why I'm a MegatopLover?

Last edited by MegatopLover; Oct 19, 2005 at 6:17 am
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 7:23 am
  #28  
 
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Last edited by vinnmann; Aug 10, 2007 at 8:33 am
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 7:32 am
  #29  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: stafford, VA, USA
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I have several "success stories" and honestly and personally, have never really had a problem getting what I want (ok, call me a princess, but it's true!)

One week notice CMH-DCA- 1 coach Delta (skysaver)
Zurich January- 1 coach AF (skysaver)

Feb Skiing in Tahoe: 2 tickets DCA-Reno connecting through Atlanta (coach-Delta skysaver)

Scuba Diving in Palau in March: DCA-JFK (one night stopover to graze)-NRT (3 day stopover to sightsee)-Guam-Palau. All Business Class (all two cabin config)
(DCA-NY- Delta Shuttle) (JFK-NRT:NWA), (NRT-Guam: NWA), (Guam-ROR:CO). (ROR-Guam: CO), (Guam-NRT:NWA), (NRT-ATL: Delta), ATL-DCA: Delta). All seats business class

oh- and miles for that Palau trip: 180k (before they went up to 240k). Cost was 150 and change in taxes. Trip went great- no problems, and had a great time. Business class all the way there made the trip!


Next trip: Emirites first class to Maldives March 07

LisaFlyer

Last edited by Lisa Flyer; Oct 19, 2005 at 7:39 am
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Old Oct 19, 2005, 8:03 am
  #30  
 
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