ma91pmh

I am looking at potentially using a good stash of Delta SM miles to book a family trip to Europe next year using AF.

I have access to FlyingBlue and ExpertFlyer. I am seeing plenty of availability but some confusion. Can anyone please clarify:

1) If there is availability showing (O class) does that mean I can book those awards at "low" level Delta SM awards? (i.e. 100k each roundtrip JFK-CDG)

2) ExpertFlyer shows availability beyond the window that I can check with FlyingBlue. e.g. I am looking at 8/13/2011 CDG-JFK. EF shows 5 O class available on AF6. Is this even bookable?

Thanks for any help/clarity!

acjflyer

I'm not sure about O class or what ExpertFlyer shows, but based on my experience, anything that appears as a Classic award in the FlyingBlue search engine can be booked as a low award on delta.com (but you might need to use the multi-city tool to get the exact routing).

Good luck!

cityflyer369

On AF flights, O class is indeed the booking class for FB Classic Awards, so if acjflyer is correct in saying that FB Classic Awards can be booked as low level Delta awards, your problem is solved.

tfong007

I just booked an RTW business classs award ticket. All of the europe portion is on AF O class.

redheadlover

Having just booked a low award trip in biz ORD - AMS - CDG - ATH IST- AMS-ORD for 100K miles all on AF or KLM, let me share some of the stuff I found out along the way:
1. Started on flyingblue, looked for award seating - found classic award flights(all in green vs the light blue which will be flex) which are the lowest mileage fares.
2. went to Delta.com and used the "multi city" option with the same dates and "search by schedule" and found (also confirmed this with delta agents) that not ALL the classic fare flights will a) be available to delta for award seats at low mile and b) if they are available (i.e. you do see those flights on delta, when the final ticket prices out, you may be asked to pay more than the low mileage amount of miles)

My strategy was to be a bit flexible and get the list of all "classic fare " flights on the days I wanted to travel and then call delta with the dates and identify those flights and keep changing the flight options till the magic 100K number popped up. I hope this works for you.

redheadlover

mind if I ask how many miles did that take and how you ended up booking all the legs? Was it just through Delta's search or did you go to partner airlines/EF search and find seats?

ande777emt

Hard to believe DL miles actually got used for something worthwhile. It's definitely easier to use them on KE or Af than it is DL.

sbm12

FWIW, DL miles cannot be used for AF F award seats.

As for DL charging more than the low rate when booking partner award inventory, I suppose that's just more of DL doing what they do best.

NCommander

AF doesn't have F, they have J/business, and you can use your miles for them; I've had no issues once I learned the magic to get these to pop up on delta.dumb.

sbm12

This statement is completely and totally false. AF absolutely does have a first class product. It is branded as "La Premičre" and you can read all about it here: http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common..._airfrance.htm.

And you can only book an award seat in it if you have FB points and are FB elite. And maybe with KE points but I'm not sure.

NCommander

I stand very much corrected! Does AF intentionally block partner awards into F, or is this simply DL failing more?

GenevaFlyer

Hi,

I believe that this is AF policy. They only make standard awards available to Skyteam partners, and F awards can only be obtained as Flex awards, at double the cost.

As such, as an FB member, you not only need to be an elite member, but the cost is exorbitant. For a return award from Europe to the US:

- In C, it is 100k miles
- In F, it is 400k miles (Flex award, double the cost of standard awards)

Thus, the value proposition simply is not there.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

NCommander

Truth be told, for Y/J redemption,m AF/KL are some of the best carriers I've seen for actually find space commonly; I'm looking to redeem 100k for a J reward for mom, but due to blackout dates, I can't snag a ticket with US Airways miles (boo) :-/.

The biggest problem is its hard to earn miles on FB, and hard to use miles on DL :-/. (incidentally, I'm guessing FB members can only book low DL awards, or are they not plagued with the same inventory trouble we are?)

In truth, I have found SkyTeam in general to have great availability, lousy prices; if Delta was to fix their award availability, I think they might have an honest shot at trying to go toe for toe with AA on availability and usability of miles (though no so much on the overall quality :-/).

Goldorak

In F, Europe-US round trip is 250 k miles, not 400 k (400 k is for Europe-Asia).
But 250 k is still a lot

GenevaFlyer

Hi Goldorak,

I would check ... but the award chart at:

http://www.airfrance.fr/XX/en/local/...kyteam.htm#bc2

does not have F awards listed anymore.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

PS = Just tried a booking, and you are correct indeed. Thanks for pointing this out.