Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Jul 19, 2006, 1:30 pm
#301
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: DC metro
Programs: PC Platinum Ambassador, Marriott Gold Elite, UA 2P, Starwood Gold, Avis First, Bolt Bus $1 Rider
Posts: 1,175
a friend has been dating a woman in the ukraine
on tuesday, june 27 her visa to america was approved
on wednesday, june 28, he called me for help
i gave him the password to my delta account, and he added 21k points from his amex account to raise the total to 100k
so he then had enough for 2 50k flights to europe
he called delta and found a flight from denver to kiev leaving june 30
denver-houston-atl-paris with a day layover - kiev
came back on July 5 - with his bride to be
Kiev - manchester - with a day layover - Atlanta - Houston - Denver
and she has a return ticket for july 5 2007
i never expected him to find seats but he did
now i have a balance of 46 miles in my delta account
but i now have possession of his amex rewards account until i get back a total of 79k miles (I have already used 43k to top off my other accounts)
on tuesday, june 27 her visa to america was approved
on wednesday, june 28, he called me for help
i gave him the password to my delta account, and he added 21k points from his amex account to raise the total to 100k
so he then had enough for 2 50k flights to europe
he called delta and found a flight from denver to kiev leaving june 30
denver-houston-atl-paris with a day layover - kiev
came back on July 5 - with his bride to be
Kiev - manchester - with a day layover - Atlanta - Houston - Denver
and she has a return ticket for july 5 2007
i never expected him to find seats but he did
now i have a balance of 46 miles in my delta account
but i now have possession of his amex rewards account until i get back a total of 79k miles (I have already used 43k to top off my other accounts)
Jul 20, 2006, 6:25 am
#302
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Madison, NJ
Programs: DL PM, Marriot Platinum
Posts: 2,560
For Oct. I got two skysaver coach tickets on KLM for JFK-AMS-MAD. Departing on a Friday night and returning Sunday day. Not bad at all. Just not sure though if $1400 in tickets was worth 100,000 miles. Guess it is just a matter of economics.
Jul 23, 2006, 2:31 am
#303
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by El Boocho
I for one am tired of the BALing over DAL's Award availability. My personal experience has been that when I, or a family member, need a ticket, I have been able to get acceptable flight times and dates on DL or a partner airline. I have twice used a SkyChoice type award. Both times were for Thanksgiving holiday travel booked less than 2 months prior to the holiday.
I would like to propose that those who feel comfortable posting their successes, do so in this thread. Please feel free to be as specific or vague as you like. Please list flights using DL miles on DL or Partner airlines.
I will begin:
I booked travel for 3 FC SkySaver tickets on DL from PVD-LAX in Aug. 2005
I booked travel for 2 FC SkySaver tickets on DL and KE from IAD-LAX (stopover to get hitched)-ICN-IAD in Aug. 2005
I booked travel for 2 BC SkySaver tickets on KE from ICN-BKK in Aug. 2005
In all cases I was able to book for the day of my choice. The PVD-LAX tickets were not at the most desirable times.
I would like to propose that those who feel comfortable posting their successes, do so in this thread. Please feel free to be as specific or vague as you like. Please list flights using DL miles on DL or Partner airlines.
I will begin:
I booked travel for 3 FC SkySaver tickets on DL from PVD-LAX in Aug. 2005
I booked travel for 2 FC SkySaver tickets on DL and KE from IAD-LAX (stopover to get hitched)-ICN-IAD in Aug. 2005
I booked travel for 2 BC SkySaver tickets on KE from ICN-BKK in Aug. 2005
In all cases I was able to book for the day of my choice. The PVD-LAX tickets were not at the most desirable times.
Jul 23, 2006, 9:56 pm
#305
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: DFW
Programs: DL PM, .6MM; AA Plat; Marriott Platinum Premier
Posts: 4,891
Just got 2 y-class tix (for Mrs. nd_eric_77 and our daughter) dfw-icn-cgk and cgk-icn-dfw in early september / mid october. Got the exact date they wanted on the outbound. On the return, had to go a week earlier to get the exact flights wanted. Getting to CGK and back with 1 stop each way will be a blessing for Mrs. nd_eric_77, as our daughter is <1 yr old. Only drawback is the 22 hr stopover in ICN, but the mrs. preferred this routing with a hotel room instead of getting to ICN at like 5am and then having to wait till 15:30 for the ICN-CGK connection.
Jul 24, 2006, 8:48 pm
#306
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: DL MM/FC/FO; UA PS; AA GLD
Posts: 2,063
I called the partner desk to try to improve the return on an upcoming award trip to Italy--made in April, btw. At the time, I would have been glad to get anything, but was able to book the whole trip in J on DL and partners. The bad news was that it was going to take me three days to get back. Today, on a lark, I talked with a very (almost overly) enthusiastic agent who was able to get me from TRN to CDG on AF to pick up the TATL leg on AF to IAD. Then she found first class seats on DL for the final two (domestic) legs. Now, instead of spending one night in Milan to fly AZ to JFK where I would have had to spend another night, I'm making the whole trip in one day. I don't know how she did it--I was on hold most of the time--but it didn't even take very long. Once again, however, I had to persuade a DL agent that Turin and Torino really are the same city. 
Jul 25, 2006, 8:31 am
#307
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM MM SC; GE; Bonvoy Titanium; IHG Diamond
Posts: 2,310
This year, I booked DL award travel for the first time: one seat in April LGA-ATL-LGW/CDG-JFK (SkyChoice) and 2 seats in May LGA-MSY/MSY-LGA (SkySaver). Both were booked about six weeks before the flights, so I was happy to find any award seats available.
When my LGA-ATL flight was cancelled, they re-routed me LGA-CVG-LGW and upgraded me to BE for the transatlantic.
When my LGA-ATL flight was cancelled, they re-routed me LGA-CVG-LGW and upgraded me to BE for the transatlantic.
Jul 25, 2006, 5:36 pm
#308
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 115
I had success on a 50,000 mile SkySaver in March 2006 for KLM IAH-AMS, 1 day stop-over in AMS, KLM AMS-ABZ, and coming back on AF CDG-IAH. I was even offered a 600 Euro bump on the AF leg back to Houston. I also just recently reserved a 35,000 SkySaver June 2007 IAH-HNL and HNL-IAH on CO.
Jul 26, 2006, 10:41 pm
#310
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Lafayette, CO, USA
Programs: SPG Lifetime Plat, AA Gold, UA Gold, DL Silver, HH Gold, Vail Epic
Posts: 9,096
Oct 26-31 Two Coach SkySavers CAE-ATL-PUJ (Punta Cana, DR)
I put these on hold but decided to let the hold expire after arranging CAE-ATL-CUN with SMS in leiu of the CAE-ATL-UVF SkySavers that I had on flights that got cancelled by Delta a couple months ago. Still, I count this as a success because it was my second choice destination that was available on the exact dates that we wanted to travel. (It was first choice until I read the most recent reviews for the resort that we wanted to go to.) Perhaps someone else here will be interested in these seats, though.
I've also seen decent availability to Barbados during my quest for my late October trip.
I put these on hold but decided to let the hold expire after arranging CAE-ATL-CUN with SMS in leiu of the CAE-ATL-UVF SkySavers that I had on flights that got cancelled by Delta a couple months ago. Still, I count this as a success because it was my second choice destination that was available on the exact dates that we wanted to travel. (It was first choice until I read the most recent reviews for the resort that we wanted to go to.) Perhaps someone else here will be interested in these seats, though.
I've also seen decent availability to Barbados during my quest for my late October trip.
Jul 28, 2006, 8:22 am
#311
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Kfar Saba, Israel
Posts: 4,172
Not so fair with the low traffic to TLV these days but I was able to score 2 saver tickets on BE TLV-ATL on CO miles for Aug 9th. This replaces the awful AF-NW-NW connection to CLE I was able to secure 2 months ago. Now I connect to CO express in ATL. Because of the "unrest travel warning", I did not even pay change fees.
Jul 28, 2006, 9:04 am
#312
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: SPG Plat, PC Plat, AA ExPlat, LT Gold
Posts: 1,896
Good for me as well
Okay, I'll play:
Nov '05 BOS-IAD-PTY (All CO) // PTY-(CO) IAD-(NW) DTW-(NW) BOS, 2 Skysaver seats. I wasn't thrilled about the extra connection through Detroit on the way back but I did get the dates and flight to/from PTY that we wanted. Booked about 3 months ahead
Tommorow, 7/29/06 BOS-NAS//NAS-BOS, 2 Skysaver seats. Got the exact flights I wanted on this once per week direct service. ^
Nov '05 BOS-IAD-PTY (All CO) // PTY-(CO) IAD-(NW) DTW-(NW) BOS, 2 Skysaver seats. I wasn't thrilled about the extra connection through Detroit on the way back but I did get the dates and flight to/from PTY that we wanted. Booked about 3 months ahead
Tommorow, 7/29/06
BOS-NAS//NAS-BOS, 2 Skysaver seats. Got the exact flights I wanted on this once per week direct service. ^
Jul 29, 2006, 5:01 am
#314
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Madison, NJ
Programs: DL PM, Marriot Platinum
Posts: 2,560
Just cancelled two skysaver tickets JFK-AMS-MAD in October on KLM and returning on same.
Opted to buy the tickets for $400 each, still on KLM though better flight times (which added two days to our trip).
And will now earn some CO miles toward Elite Status. 
Opted to buy the tickets for $400 each, still on KLM though better flight times (which added two days to our trip).
And will now earn some CO miles toward Elite Status.
Jul 29, 2006, 6:25 am
#315
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Orlando, FL, USA
Posts: 2,398
Two days ago I got two F/BE skysaver seats from MCO-OGG. Out through SLC on 8/7 and back on the BE flight to ATL on 8/14. And there were a few other options around those dates as well. Even more amazing to me, I found them online without calling DL. These dates opened up for me and my wife for a last minute vacation and I could not believe the OGG awards were there. Just goes to show it never hurts to try.