3Cforme

Is the traveler running into a Transfer problem? Here's AF's Y fare transfer rule:

UNLIMITED TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION
ON AF ONLY IN EACH DIRECTION.
FARE BREAK SURFACE SECTORS NOT PERMITTED AND EMBEDDED
SURFACE SECTORS PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT.
OR - 2 TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION.
1 PERMITTED VIA AF ONLY IN FRANCE IN EACH
DIRECTION
1 PERMITTED IN UNITED STATES IN EACH
DIRECTION.
FARE BREAK SURFACE SECTORS NOT PERMITTED AND
EMBEDDED SURFACE SECTORS PERMITTED ON THE FARE
COMPONENT.

ThreeA4Me

100K skypesos -- all in biz

Oct 3 -- LAX-SLC-CDG
Oct 8 - CDG-AMS
Oct 9 - AMS-MSP-LAX

I did the booking online in segments and even though the last leg, MSP-LAX came up economy, I booked it. Then I called Delta and asked if they could upgrade me to biz on the final leg since I was flying biz all the way back and they said "sure."

MightyTravels

Thanks but don't award tickets have different rules i.e. <24hrs stop over internationally?

mtkeller

I can't rule it out, but I've never seen the transfers portion of a revenue fare rule come into play on an award ticket. I highly doubt that HKG-MU-PVG-DL-NRT-DL-ATL-DL-OMA matches the transfers portion of DL's fare rule for HKG-OMA, but I was able to book it. I think the transfers rule that applies on award tickets is what's in the award ticket fare rules available as part of a booking on DL.dumb: three transfers each direction.

<24 hours is a connection on all international tickets, revenue or award. I've used this multiple times, including once to avoid incurring US income tax liability but still get a Saturday night stay on a fare: LHR-CDG (overnight)-IAD-ATL-GTR. Award tickets do have different rules in some regards (a lot of revenue fares don't allow free stopovers, for instance, at least on deeply discounted fares), but I don't think that's coming into play here.

javabytes

After having booked 50 award ticket segments this year, I feel my biggest success is in the fact that I have burned my balance down to the low hundred thousands. Evolution of SkyMiles or not, I'm done carrying large balances.

packetshard

Four tickets in economy:

May 29, 2013 - MKE-ATL-MCO
June 5, 2013 - MCO-ATL-MKE

Each 25k SM and $10.00

Maybe not as special as an international destination in BE, but gets the kids to see Mickey and crew for a week.

beagleflyer1977

why are you done carrying large balances? How large is too large??

Deemus7

Be sure to check LHR as a connecting point to catch the KQ red-eye to NBO. Not sure what a 16 hour layover in NBO would be like, but Mrs. Deems and I decided that the overnight flight and 2.5 hour layover would work better. My preliminary research seemed to indicate that NBO airport hotels were not very plentiful nor luxurious. I highlighted my booking success in an earlier post.

FWIW, I had to press the agent several times about my flights, as she kept trying to tell me that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. I knew I had a valid routing that was within MPM, and she eventually came back with everything confirmed. If you don't like the first answer, call back!

Good luck with the booking! The Seychelles have been a dream destination of ours for a long time, and we're stoked to have made it happen with points & miles!!

Bowgie

45k for a RT First Class award on AS
YVR-LAX on January 1
LAX-YVR on June 26

Tax is about $50 for the first leg ex-YVR, and $3 for the return. I think the Canadians are ripping me off. I did not have time on January 1 to bus or train to Bellingham, WA (BLI) for a more tax-friendly flight.

These are positioning flights for the round 2 RGN error fare (now dead).

Oddly enough, for both days, the Delta award calendar did not show green (indicating no "low"), but the "low" on AS was there to book on Delta.com

OLYflyer

+1

For me its from over a million to under 200k in just over 12 months - all in Int'l J & all at low levels.

Have visited 4 continents and had some amazing trips!

3Cforme

The award calendar's color coding (the too-rare green days) won't show partner inventory, but clicking through to a specific date may, and date-specific searches by schedule point to point should show award inventory for those carriers supported.

OLYflyer

My latest

SFO-LAX (DL Y)
LAX-FCO (AZ J -777 refurb)
FCO-BCN (AZ J - 321) dest + o/j
CDG-FCO (AF J - 320) stop/ovr
FCO-LAX (AZ J - 777 again)
LAX- SFO (DL Y)

100k + $115tx (x2 pax)

wco81

What dates?

Did you find it online or call?

3Cforme

AZ award flights are not found on delta.com so one can be certain he called to book.

Can I use my miles on partner airlines?
Yes. Award Travel on delta.com is limited to travel on Delta, Delta Connection®, Air France, KLM, Hawaiian, Aeromexico, Alaska and Virgin Australia International Airlines. For travel on other SkyMiles airline partners, call 800-323-2323* or the number on the back of your SkyMiles membership card...

javabytes

It's risky. The programs are subject to change at any time, and the universal trend over the last few decades has been to devalue miles. This isn't limited to DL (though if you believe the Evolution of Skymiles is coming, this is particularly true).

But even more so than that, miles don't do you any good unless you actually fly with them. Miles have no value until you've exchanged them for something of value (i.e. a ticket).

So sure, I'll hold some around. Options are never a bad thing. But I won't sit on large stockpiles. They bigger they are, the harder they fall.