Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
Jul 17, 2008, 12:01 am
#781
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 492
booking award ticket around christmas, is it possbile?
I have been trying to book two award tickets to China (either PEK/PVG/HKG/CAN) around this Christmas for over a month -- checking delta.com every day and calling the skymiles partners center twiced per week, but still could not find any availability. Wondering whether the available tickets are really few and I am too late for anything this year? Will more seats be released later this year? Should I keep waiting and checking or just buy two regular tickets? Anybody has experience/tip to share with me success booking award ticket around Christmas?
Jul 17, 2008, 11:51 am
#782
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 237
18 months ago we flew, using ff miles, in first... IAH to CDG and then on to PVG the next day...all on AF. Returned via HKG thru CDG to IAH...Flight originated the day before Christmas and return was the day after New Years. Most of the flights were less than half full in first...and all flights were wonderful!
Jul 22, 2008, 10:19 pm
#783
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: DFW
Programs: DL PM, .6MM; AA Plat; Marriott Platinum Premier
Posts: 4,891
SUCCESS!
After my wife, daughter and I were able to book tix on AS & KE earlier this yr, I scored roundtrip tix from CGK - ICN - DFW and return for my m-i-l on the exact dates she wanted (she is coming to see our second child who will be delivered sometime around end of November). It has been a very good miles-burning year for us
nb: all these are in Y, but KE Y is such a pleasant experience that none of us are complaining!
After my wife, daughter and I were able to book tix on AS & KE earlier this yr, I scored roundtrip tix from CGK - ICN - DFW and return for my m-i-l on the exact dates she wanted (she is coming to see our second child who will be delivered sometime around end of November). It has been a very good miles-burning year for us
nb: all these are in Y, but KE Y is such a pleasant experience that none of us are complaining!
Jul 22, 2008, 10:37 pm
#784
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: West of CLE
Programs: Delta DM/3 MM; Hertz PC; National EE; Amtrak GR; Bonvoy Silver; Via Rail Préférence
Posts: 5,384
I Just Got a Great Itinerary . . .
95,000 miles for Business Class on an Open Jaw
6 August, IAD-DTW-AMS on NW
11 August, EDI-CDG-IAD on AF
After a day and a half touring Amsterdam and The Hague, I'm taking an overnight "cruise ferry" from Amsterdam's IJmuiden ferry port to Newcastle, UK, then taking a train to Berwick-upon-Tweed, then a bus to the incredible Holy Island of Lindisfarne, then back to Berwick-upon-Tweed for a 2 hour train ride to Glasgow, then attending Celtic FC's opening day soccer match on Sunday afternoon (100% Celtic and 100% Notre Dame). Flying home Monday from Edinburgh.
6 August, IAD-DTW-AMS on NW
11 August, EDI-CDG-IAD on AF
After a day and a half touring Amsterdam and The Hague, I'm taking an overnight "cruise ferry" from Amsterdam's IJmuiden ferry port to Newcastle, UK, then taking a train to Berwick-upon-Tweed, then a bus to the incredible Holy Island of Lindisfarne, then back to Berwick-upon-Tweed for a 2 hour train ride to Glasgow, then attending Celtic FC's opening day soccer match on Sunday afternoon (100% Celtic and 100% Notre Dame). Flying home Monday from Edinburgh.
Jul 23, 2008, 4:07 am
#785
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Boston, MA,
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, Delta PM, *wood Ambassador Plat, Marriott Self-Imposed Exile
Posts: 679
that's how the calendar plays with you... my experience has been that N/A refers to no award availability... even for SkyChoice...
Jul 24, 2008, 7:42 pm
#786
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: DL GM
Posts: 471
Lax - Lhr
Decided it was time for a trip this fall. Plugged in LAX to LHR and found a nice non-stop roundtrip in Business Class on Air France for 90,000 miles.
Sept 18, 2008 AF61 LAX - LHR
Sept 28, 2008 AF60 LHR - LAX
Very happy. Sure it wasn't my first choice, I was looking for something in Asia, but I can't complain. A nice non-stop in Business class on Air France from my home airport! Woohoo! Time for a vacation!
Booked online with no major issues. The only quick I noticed was I held them once and they expired. When I went back to search for them, one of the days showed no skysaver availability on the calendar, but when I clicked in on the day it did have the same flight that I had held earlier but for which it had lapsed. My guess is the calendar view updates on some sort of schedule instead of every time you search?
Sept 18, 2008 AF61 LAX - LHR
Sept 28, 2008 AF60 LHR - LAX
Very happy. Sure it wasn't my first choice, I was looking for something in Asia, but I can't complain. A nice non-stop in Business class on Air France from my home airport! Woohoo! Time for a vacation!
Booked online with no major issues. The only quick I noticed was I held them once and they expired. When I went back to search for them, one of the days showed no skysaver availability on the calendar, but when I clicked in on the day it did have the same flight that I had held earlier but for which it had lapsed. My guess is the calendar view updates on some sort of schedule instead of every time you search?
Jul 25, 2008, 12:07 pm
#787
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: United Premier Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 20
Sfo - Nce, Nce - Jfk, Jfk - Sfo @ 70,000 Miles
Was able to find an almost perfect mix of Coach and Business class SkySavers during Christmas time to return home and visit friends.
December 20, 2008
SFO to CDG to NCE on Air France (Coach SkySaver)
January 1, 2008
NCE to JFK on Delta (Business SkySaver)
January 4, 2008
JFK to SEA to PDX to SFO on Delta, Horizon, Alaska (Business SkySaver)
Only downside is the return which has a few unnecessary hops but for 70,000 miles total and less than $200 in taxes and partner fees, I'm not going to complain!
December 20, 2008
SFO to CDG to NCE on Air France (Coach SkySaver)
January 1, 2008
NCE to JFK on Delta (Business SkySaver)
January 4, 2008
JFK to SEA to PDX to SFO on Delta, Horizon, Alaska (Business SkySaver)
Only downside is the return which has a few unnecessary hops but for 70,000 miles total and less than $200 in taxes and partner fees, I'm not going to complain!
Jul 25, 2008, 3:33 pm
#788
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: USA
Programs: AA2, DL2, Amtrak2, US2, SPG1, MAR2
Posts: 2,550
Good Availability Over Labor Day
My first choice (ATH) wasnt available...everything else was (IST, NCE, FCO, BCN, etc.)
So I got 2x JFK-CDG-IST and IST-CDG-JFK all in AF business skysaver for 90,000 each.
So I got 2x JFK-CDG-IST and IST-CDG-JFK all in AF business skysaver for 90,000 each.
Jul 25, 2008, 7:48 pm
#789
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: BOCA RATON,FL--FLL OR PBI
Programs: DELTA PM, CO Platinum, PLAT AMEX
Posts: 312
140,000 SQ frist class LAX-SIN-DPS (SIN-DPS)economy, but got upgraded to business)
DPS(economy)-SIN-LAX(First class)-LAX-CVG-ATL-FLL (domestic first class)
one economy for a friend on SQ for 70,000 sfo-sin-dps-sin-sfo
DPS(economy)-SIN-LAX(First class)-LAX-CVG-ATL-FLL (domestic first class)
one economy for a friend on SQ for 70,000 sfo-sin-dps-sin-sfo
Jul 28, 2008, 2:11 am
#790
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Syracuse NY
Posts: 83
two fairly recent successes: SFO-LAX-LHR-LAX-SFO in biz class in late october through mid-november ... and SFO-EWR-SFO in first for the thanksgiving holiday (this was only organized a few weeks ago ... both were booked as SkySaver awards (!!)
but ... today i looked in on my reservations and the SFO-LAX legs of my london trip became SFO-SLC-LAX legs ... does DL (or its partners) no longer fly SFO-LAX nonstop anymore?
but ... today i looked in on my reservations and the SFO-LAX legs of my london trip became SFO-SLC-LAX legs ... does DL (or its partners) no longer fly SFO-LAX nonstop anymore?
Jul 28, 2008, 11:20 pm
#793
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Syracuse NY
Posts: 83
Jul 29, 2008, 6:13 am
#794
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Orlando, FL, USA
Posts: 2,398
On one week's notice - two BE tickets from MCO-ATL-ZRH, (stopover): ZRH-CDG-CPH, and finally, return from CPH-ATL-MCO. Great one-stop short connection out to Zurich, four hours total time from ZRH-CPH and great one-stop short connection CPH-MCO return. All done online in twenty minutes with only one change in hoped-for schedule and that was just to come back a day later than planned. Very easy! Another example that if you can wait until the last week or two to schedule there are a lot of great BE award seats out there. We've waited until very late several times and always been able to work out BE tickets to Europe in May to August with little flexibility needed. 
Jul 29, 2008, 2:18 pm
#795
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Marylebone
Programs: BA/BD Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 1,873
Is it just me or has the delta.com chart showing award levels for redemptions not originating in North America disappeared? It advises me to click through to the calendar, but then I get error messages when trying to use it for KE award.
I would like to see a chart that lists all the skymiles award levels.
I would like to see a chart that lists all the skymiles award levels.