Hi, newbie here with 200k miles on AE (platinum).

Really want to take a flight on Emirates to Dubai/Nairobi from NY. Called Continental to see if I could transfer miles to its FF program and then book on Emirates. CO says they are not booking flights on Emirates at all right now, and to check in September. This means absolutely no seats available at all for 2007 as of now.

Any advice? Other airlines to transfer AE miles for this route?

Thank you!

Brigitte

Not sure if you can get them transferred in time but you can use Delta miles to book on Emirates until December 31, 2006, when DL's agreement with Emirates expires. As long as you book with DL miles by 12/31 you can schedule the actual flights anytime during 2007. I just yesterday got two JFK-Dubai business awards for use in March using DL miles. You need to call the DL Partners desk to do that. The only issue would be having the transferred AMEX MR miles in your DL account by 12/31/06 so they can be used to cover the Emirates tickets. My experience has been that the MR miles transfer quickly to DL but I've not done it in quite some time. Can anyone else help the OP with the timing of MR to DL transfers? I would also suggest that the OP post this transfer timing question in the DL forum right away to see if the DL experts can give you the answer. Good luck. Oh, and welcome to FT.

Great tip, glad I asked the question before the 31st!

what do you mean transfer the miles?

AE = Mandarin Airlines??

I assume you are trying to redeem American Express Membership Rewards points? Referring to them as "miles on AE" is confusing because, as Kagehitokiri mentioned, "AE" is the code for Mandarin Airlines.

Membership Rewards points can be transferred online to Delta Skymiles. Normally the transaction is instantaneous. You simply need to logon to membershiprewards.com, link to your Skymiles account, and authorize the transfer.

However, you should not transfer the miles to Delta until they confirm availability of the award you need. This is the part that may be difficult to accomplish over a holiday weekend. I would call Delta promptly to see if they can still issue such a ticket.

dennis

ah, gotcha.

yeah, DL is the only partner, and it ends tomorrow

its 80/120/160 IIRC

I'm in a bind because I want to book for February 2008 on Emirates (using AE points transfered to DA, hope I got that lingo spot on for you FT experts). Must do so tomorrow (Dec. 31) but apparently my requested dates are too far out as there's a 330-day rule when booking award tickets.

Anybody know a way around this?

Many thanks from a newbie with a load of AE points who really, really wants to fly Emirates to Kenya in February 2008.

Brigitte

It is generally the case that airline tickets are not issued more than 11 months before the date of travel, this is true of paid travel as well as award tickets. I don't believe you will be able to do this through Delta if their partnership with Emirates ends now. It would seem to bring you back to dealing with Continental in March.

Do you know the approximate cash price for the tickets?

It's DL and not DA. In any case, welcome to FT!

Ahem, back to the topic!

if they start partnering in Sept, that should mean they have at least 1 seat allocated in F per flight.. so if you book the day they start, you should be able to get around the date you want in Feb..