Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
 

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.

Great thread idea.

In the last year I've booked:

-SDF-ATL-CDG-FLR(stopover)-MXP-VLC-(stopover)-CDG-ATL-SDF in AF F for the long hauls, domestic F/J for all the shorthauls except CDG-FLR.
-CVG-SFO-HKG(open jaw)-SIN-LAX-CVG for 2 people in SQ J within 3 days of requested dates

Also, I helped a friend book GSO-ATL-OGG and back on the new BizElite configured ATL-OGG aircraft on days of choice with the old M2 award.


People need to stop complaining and be more realistic with what they want.

I have yet to ever have to cash in any of my DL miles but in the last month, I had two occasions where I thought I was going to use them for family trips. The first time, the exact flights to Europe had seats available on the dates I wanted. The second time, I was good on the outbound to Seattle, but there were no seats available the day I wanted to return, I would have had to return one day later or earlier (oh the horrors).

I'm sure it is YMMV, but I have had good experiences so far.

This is a great thread idea!

Most recent experience:

2 tickets
BZN-SLC-CVG-LGW Dec28 return LGW-CVG-SLC-BZN Jan15 in BusinessEilte
Booked in July for the dates we wanted. The connections are not the best, but it works.

Also reserved, but never ticketed:
SFO-AMS-KWI Dec27, KWI-CDG Jan9, and CDG-SFO Jan14
Also reserved in July in Business on NW, KL and AF.

I guess that I won the lotto. I scored a RTW in biz AND it is over the holidays.

ATL-EZE on DL, EZE-CDG-AMS on AF, AMS-CPT on KL, JNB-CDG-HKG on AF, HKG-ICN-SYD on KE, AKL-ICN-NRT-ATL on KE & DL.

So what's the magic secret? The advice I got here on FT: start calling 331 days out, be flexible, be flexible, and most importantly, be flexible. I am leaving on the date that I wanted, I am returning on the date that I wanted, and I got within 1 day of my preferred travel date for each leg. I did have to add a stopover in AMS that I hadn't planned on to get the other flights, but I can think of worse fates than spending two days in AMS.

Yes, it took a lot of planning and a fair amount of time on the phone with the RTW award desk (some of the best people in all of Delta-dom) but I gave DL my business, they gave me my miles, and I cashed them in for an award. The system does work. ^

Sadly, the system only seems to work for the type of people who read FT. I guess we need to keep it more of a secret.

That said, I agree with you and have no complaints about redemption.

In 18 months, I have successfully confirmed 7 resevations in premium cabins on VS, SQ and AF. Two of the itineraries were rescheduled, so only 5 tickets have actually been redeemed.

In my experience, if I can be flexible by a day or two, DL agents have been able to get me to my destination in the preferred cabin with my preferred cabin.

Interestingly, in the past 3 years I have never succeeded in obtaining a BE seat on DL to Europe and so have been using VS or AF.

For me, skymiles still works and I am one happy customer.

I have had to adjust dates a few times, but availability has not been a problem. In July obtained tixs around Christmas (YUL -SIN) on SIA. In Feb, obtained biz tixs DCA-JNB on SAA for July. Last year obtained biz tixs for May travel CDG-TNR on AFR. These have all been SkySaver.

I just booked 3 F awards and 2 Y awards ATL-LAS in april. All on the same flights.

There was actually availability in F for 5 award tickets but I wasn't feeling that generous to some of my friends.. the other two are footing the $ for the hotel so i flew them up front with me.. :D

My wife and I got the following:

ATL to OSL (connecting w/ KLM through AMS)--2 Sky Saver BE seats in Aug '05

ATL to MAN--2 Sky Saver BE seats in Sep '05

ATL to SRQ--2 Sky Saver FC in Oct '05

ATL to SRQ--2 Sky Saver FC for Jan' 06.

ATL to HNL, then HNL to SFO (for 4 days) to ATL--2 FC
(the M2 award, using "old miles"--75k total for both seats) for Aug '06.

Also, I gave a friend some miles to use in conjunction with some he had for three Sky Saver (on the same flight) coach from ATL to somewhere in the Caribbean for Jan '06.
And he has no medallion status.

We had 2 Sky Saver coach seats for my sister-in law and her husband for Mar '05 for ATL to SFO that we redeposited when they couldn't make the trip.

I had to use a Sky Choice award to fly me son home for Thanksgiving, but I did get the flight times I wanted. I also had no problem using a Sky Saver award ticket to fly my son home for the Christmas Holidays. No problems here.

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.

Just booked ATL-SEA for 10/22, SkyChoice, both ways direct flights.

I have got very good success rate with my SM redemption.

This July we went ATL-CDG-WAW (stop) WAW-PRG-BCN (stop) BCN-ATL in J. I was able to get all the dates I wanted, including July 1 (Friday before the holiday) departure.

Then I got a WAW-CDG-ATL (overnight) -CUN (stop) CUN-MEX-ATL (stop) ATL-CDG-WAW in Y for a family member. This is over this coming Thanksgiving, but reserved only a month ago. Had to be just a little bit flexible with the dates (return CUN-ATL pushed forward by 2 days).

Just this past Saturday I was able to get an emergency SkySaver ticket in Y on WAW-AMS-ATL for yesterday (just two days in advance).

Not counting numerous ATL-SLC tickets (which tend to be pricey) for skiing purposes (including this year's ski-do in SLC).

Award Ticket Success - Post It Here
 

Dec 2005 ATL - LAS Friday LAS-SLC-ATL Monday
Skysaver - firstclass on the weekend I wanted and the times I wanted
booked yesterday


Mar 2006 ATL - LAX - HNL Thursday HNL - LAX - HNL Thursday
Skysaver - coach had to book thursday before I wanted to go and leave but did get skysaver
booked 08/2005

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 ;)

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.

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!

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

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.

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? :D :D :D

Deleted

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

Deleted

Here are my recent SkySaver award experience:

December 2005 - Booked 1 ticket TPA-HNL-TPA in First Class for the week before Xmas, I originally booked it back in the Spring.

December 2005 - When Delta added the SLC-KOA flights (August I think), I called Delta and managed to hold 3 First Class tickets for TPA-KOA, HNL-TPA. I ended up only ticketing one of the 3.

December 2005 - In September, after a major schedule change, I managed to rebook my 1 First Class ticket to a very convenient TPA-SLC-KOA-SLC-TPA itinerary.

I list all three of the above even though I only have one ticket because I did find SkySavers for all three trips.

September 2005 - One week before the trip, I booked a coach TPA-SFO-TPA ticket for my baby's au pair (nanny). We had a few days flexibility on each end for her trip. I was not able to get her on any of the flights that my wife and I were traveling on (purchased tickets).

November 2005 - last week (about 5 weeks before scheduled travel), I held an upper class ticket MCO-LGW-MCO on Virgin. This is for a friend over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I had to make his return date one day later than his preferred date.

I did get for my wife and me for a vacation in New Mexico in the summer of 2006 SkySaver Economy Class TXL-JFK/EWR-CVG-ABQ-ATL-JFK-TXL (with stopover in NYC), all on Delta metal, by reserving 331 days in advance, but I can not get the first leg of this trip now for our daughter, because I called only about 310 days in advance for her. The german SMS says no routing between TXL and NYC at this date anymore at all with all the SkyTeam partners.

I'm not trying to bring a negative tone to a positive thread, but a quick calculation tells me that about 1/3 of the posters so far have obtained SkySaver tickets in coach on domestic routes. The far majority of posts have been FC or BE. It will be interesting to see as more people post.

The only thing I think we can conclude so far is something we all already know. Your miles are easiest and most efficiently used for FC/BE International or Domestic.

It will be interesting to watch how this thread evolves as more people post.

For myself:

2 BE to ATL FCO
1 BE to ATL IST
1 BE to ATL LGW

4 AVL DSM Northwest (SkySaver Coach)
4 CLT DEN Continental (SkySaver Coach)

Clearly you have complaints about the system, but thank you for posting your successes anyway.

IMO, it's a matter of economics. Savy travelers don't want to spend their miles for a ticket that can be obtained for $250. You aren't going to see a whole lot of people posting that they redeemed 25K miles for a ticket to ATL-BMH in Y.

It should also be noted that in 4 of the last 5 threads complaining about award availability, the OP was complaining that they couldn't get awards to international destinations. The one that was domestic was related to a trip to NC from PDX. In that case, I believe that other poster on the DL board were able to help the OP.

Last week I got two coach Skysavers from ORD to EDI for my kids for the first week in November..outbound on KLM, return on AF

Just booked award tickets for my wife and I in January. ATL-Vienna outbound and Munich-ATL inbound. I know it is off season, but it was easy as it could be to get the flights I wanted

August 2005--SJC-ATL-FLL-ATL-SFO
August 2005--SFO-JFK/BDL-CVG-SFO
October 2005--SFO-SLC-FLL-JFK-SFO
December 2005-- SFO-ATL-LGW-ATL-SFO
February 2006-- SFO-AMS-CPT-AMS-SFO (via KLM)

All Skysaver...........mixed between Coach and Business.

Had no troubles getting seats near the dates I wanted. Patience and sometimes a good agent goes a long way!!

12/30/31 returning on 1/1/06 fc saver fare lga to las rt.
I booked the flight on nwa.com using nwa miles, but I am flying on delta.

I was able to get 3 in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic in June, 2003 (2 originating in GSP, 1 in RIC) with the transatlantic flights the same flight from JFK-LHR and back. Wanted to spend an extra night in NYC on the way back and had no problem doing that. I think I booked the flights in either late 2002 or early 2003 BUT I was extremely flexible with my travel dates.

Best flying experience I've ever had, and that was in the "old" Virgin Upper Class and back in the day when you had to fly in coach domestically on a Virgin Upper Class award since it was regarded as "business" class. (Of course, I got around that somewhat by flying in a business-configured 763 ATL-JFK-ATL on those segments :))

Edited to add: It was a SkySaver itinerary all the way!

I redeemed a pile of miles for 2 FC RTW awards for my upcoming honeymoon. I was actually able to get FC seats on my first choice on every single segment that offered it except for one (where she is in first and I am in business). ^