mra9955

Hello all. I'm a first-time poster/long-time reader of this forum and am writing to ask the experts a few questions about Delta and redeeming skymiles.

But let me say first that I have no status with the Skymiles program and our travel date is more than 330 days out.

Okay, here's what I'm trying to figure out:

What is the least expensive upgradeable fare from BWI to Tahiti on Delta and their partners?

My fiance and I would like to honeymoon in PPT but my 200,000 or so skymiles aren't enough for two biz class tickets. So we're wondering if we can buy a coach ticket at a less than outrageous price and use the miles to upgrade all the way from BWI to PPT and back.

We decided that 18 or so hours in the back is just too long, especially for a honeymoon.

Do you all have any advice on how we can make this happen with the greatest chance we'll score the upgrades at the lowest possible cash out-of-my-pocket expense?

Our fear is that we'd buy the coach tickets, plan the ceremony/reception and honeymoon departure date only to have Delta say that we can't actually upgrade and so we'll be stuck in roach class. That would be a major bummer.

I appreciate any hints, advice, or tips you all might be willing to share.

Thanks so much.

andymo99

PPT service is on partner AF via LAX.

You can't upgrade this route with miles.

I think your only option is to redeem 300K miles for two biz tickets. Perhaps you can earn the next 100K before your 330 day mark?

mra9955

Thanks for letting me know. I read that you can buy 1,000 Skymiles for $25. I suppose 100,000 is $2,500.

If I do that and have 300,000 how easy is it to claim this award ticket more than 330 days out without status?

jeffreyt

Unfortunately, buying miles is more than $25 per thousand and from DL, you can only buy a max of 15,000 a year. So that's not going to be an option for you. You can only receive up to 30,000 a year, so the total amount of purchased + gifted is only 45,000

The cost for either option is $54.56/k

I can't speak to the ease of getting an award 330 days out to PPT, but I recently checked 3-5 weeks out in January, and the award availability looked good in C and F. Not sure about Y.

mra9955

Thanks again for your reply. What would you suggest might be the least expensive way to accumulate 100,000 miles in 9 months?

kanerf

Get the Amex Platinum Skymiles card. It gives you 15K miles to start with your first purchase. You can also often get double miles on purchases such as groceries and such.

mra9955

I earned 80k using my amex plat for the past 18 or so months - I love this card!

Has anyone any advice on maybe using miles on a Delta Partner for a First award to Italy in early September? My fiance has given me the green light to look here for a honeymoon.

Dovster

You can fly Delta, Alitalia or Air France (via CDG) to Italy. It may not be easy to get Business Class but it should not be a problem to buy an M Class ticket (on Delta only) and upgrade it to Business Class.

RSSrsvp

I flew on my honeymoon with a DL business class award JFK-LAX-PPT. At the time it was only 125k miles per person. Trust me, if there is any way to earn the additional miles, go to French Polynesia. We stayed on Moorea and Bora Bora. They are two of the most beautiful beach settings that we have ever seen anywhere in the world. Tahiti is just a connecting point for one of the island hopping flights and most people just spend the last day of their trip there. Anyone can go to Europe, FP is really out of this world.

If you have Amex MR miles, they always offer bonuses to transfer them to DL. Perhaps you can pay your taxes and earn additional miles that way. I am sure that my fellow board members can offer some other mileage earning ideas.

USCGamecock

Check eBay. Some great deals can be had.

RSSrsvp

I hope that you are not suggesting that mra9955 purchase miles on Ebay. That is illegal and all of the airlines have cracked down on this practice. People that have purchased miles have had their FF accounts frozen.

NYBanker

If you're considering refinancing your mortgage or buying or selling real estate, you can pick up a bunch of points.

Or, if you'd be willing to temporarily open a brokerage account and park some cash for a bit (you needn't by stocks or anything), you can pick up upto 75,000 miles (ETrade, park $150k for a little while).

Plus 25,000 miles for an account at Ameritrade, and you're done at 100,000 miles.

3,500 miles for a new car loan from ELoan.

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/getmil...ners/index.jsp