I need help! I need someone who can help me figure out a very special trip for my husband and me (his first trip to Europe) while using FF miles AND while going during a set time period.

Our FF account info:
Delta SkyMiles account: 155,599 miles
My NW account: a little over 27,000 miles
His NW account: a little over 24,000 miles
His US Airways account: a little over 45,000 miles

Our IDEAL goals:
Dates: 8/27-9/4
Direct RT flights from MSP to LGW
First class

Our ACCEPTABLE goals:
Dates: Roughly 7-8 days anytime between 8/26 and 9/5
Direct RT flights anywhere close by in Europe (Amsterdam, Paris, etc.) then we can figure out how to get to or from London once there.
Coach, as long as we're at a window

My husband is convinced this is simply not possible. I spent about an hour and a half with two different Delta agents (since that's where the bulk of my miles are) and came away very discouraged. Will I get a different result if I approach the trip through NW? They are the ones, after all, that have direct flights between MSP and those cities I named above. Delta swore to me that since they're partners with NW that they had all the flight info right there.

The FIRST Delta agent told me she had a direct outbound (flight 44) on 8/27 (perfect!) and a Continental connecting inbound through Houston on 9/5 (not ideal, so I said I'd call hubby).

The SECOND Delta agent told me no, that there was NOTHING available the ENTIRE acceptable time I'd given her, unless I want to use SkyChoice (aka SkyScam) and use double the FF points to get any available coach seat on the plane. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

So where do I go from here? Just for fun I'm going to call NW and find out what I can do from their end. But are there avenues I haven't thought of? Specific agents I should be talking to? Since this is the first international trip I've coordinated, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the possibilities.

Can you help? WWFTD? (What Would FlyerTalk Do?)

Dyanne

First award saver seats are hard to come by regardless of season to Europe. Summer is difficult for all saver seats to the Continent.

You're doing the right thing by calling everyday since inventory changes daily. If you find a couple seats that might work, make sure to reserve them. They might be gone the next time you call back. You can always cancel the hold on them if you choose not to book them.

I'm not a SkyTeam flyer, but I thought I read that different availability showed up for CO/DL/NW at times. Try searching the SkyTeam and the CO/DL/NW boards.

If you called NW and found availability, you'd still have to call DL for them to find it and use your DL miles. You don't have enough miles in any of your other accounts for two Europe tickets. Good luck.

Advice:

1. get your husband to accept the option of a connection
2. consider LHR as well as LGW

as these ideas exponentially increase your available routing possibilities, and hence award avails.

Delta is part of Skyteam, so your routing choices are huge:

NW:
MSP-LGW
MSP-DTW-LGW
MSP-MEM-LGW

CO:
MSP-CLE-LGW
MSP-EWR-LGW
MSP-IAH-LGW

DL:
MSP-CVG-LGW
MSP-ATL-LGW

KLM:
MSP-AMS-LGW/LHR/LCY

AF:
MSP-CDG-LHR/LGW/LCY (I think AF flies to MSP, maybe not!)

Or maybe an FTer with a bunch of Star Alliance or oneworld miles would swap you for your DL miles; now you really have more options:

UA:
MSP-ORD-LHR
MSP-IAD-LHR

AC:
MSP-YYZ-LHR
MSP-YUL-LHR

US:
MSP-PHL-LGW

AA:
MSP-ORD-LHR

BA:
MSP-ORD-LHR

Good luck!

I think your first challenge is how to come up with 200,000 miles for two first/business class tickets to Europe, which is the going rate for standard award seats. You only have about 155K miles, and combining miles from accounts is essentially impossible.

I think your only options are:
1) to fly coach using award mileage
2) trying to find one first/business award ticket and purchasing a second
3) accumulating and/or buying enough miles to reach 200K so that you might be able to get two standard first/business seats

You could also buy miles, but that is usually an expensive endeavor, and I don't think you can buy 45K miles outright.

There are various threads that discuss accumulating miles, you might look into those. Good luck.

...or buy coach (Y/B) and upgrade to C. With NW, it's an expensive way to go, but the OP has the miles for this one.

Do business one way and coach the other, Continental usually has flights into Manchester or Bristol, not too far from London and Busines Elites seats are usually available. These flights are all out of Newark, so a connection would be required. I found a seat for July 8th Newark to London in Business Elite.

Cheers,

Timo

I am very excited about all these possibilities. I've now emotionally let go of flying 1st class or business class. That takes some of the pressure off.

I put a hold on the itinerary the 1st agent suggested (MSP direct to LGW, then Continental back with a connection in Houston) and I'll work hard to convince him that's the way to go.

Other thoughts are still welcome.

Dyanne

It sounds like you may be a good candidate for www.awardplanner.com. This is run by our host her on flyertalk, Randy Peterson.

You only need 90k each/180k total to fly business on Delta. Go ahead and book coach, scramble to come up with 25K one way or another (credit card?) and then redeposit your coach award and rebook biz if/when it comes available near your trip.

This is an idea I hadn't thought of. It's possible we'll have enough miles by the flight date, so I'll have to keep my eye out and keep calling.

And Chobby100, thanks for the heads up on www.awardplanner.com. I wish I had known a day ahead! Fortunately, I feel confident now that the ones I am holding are probably about as good as are available on such "short" notice. This is a great service, though. I can't tell you how many times today I was banging my head against the wall, saying, "Why isn't there a service to take care of this?!"

Lesson learned, though; I'll definitely start planning well ahead of time for the next set of flights. I have a feeling our next international trip will involve the three kids as well, so I'll have to have a BIG lead time for all five of us to get on!

Dyanne

My thought is that most FTers would be utterly thrilled to have found this routing, with no connections on the way there and only 1 on the way back. You have to grab this, I would think things would only get worse if you don't.

I'm looking at some domestic award seats this summer and some of the only saver seats I'm able to find have two connections in at least one direction, with long layovers inbetween. It might be nice to have the non-stop, but it really limits the available options you could have -- take anything you can get and enjoy it!

FYI: Bristol is a 1.5hr train ride from London - �35/45 off peak rtn, �100 peak

Manchester - cheap flights to LHR/LGW are as low as �50/60 if you book far enough in advance (non ref / non changeable) - train is just over 2hrs - �50/�60 off-peak, �150 peak

I dont know if this helps but i booked in April for June on first class on virgin thru delta -- maybe that would work?

Getting award ticket for the return leg is going to be the most difficult. If you are just a bit more flexible and ready for coach, I see availability on NW for 8/27-9/6. You just need to get the exact flight numbers from NW site, and then call Delta with your itinerary and ask them to look for award tickets on the flights you got from NW site. Has always worked for me, so far.