Swiss Tony

Hi,

It looks like the 5 of us - 2 adults and 3 kids - are about to make a TATL r/t flight on Delta in J (booked on KLM flight numbers). Where should I put the miles?

(You can probably start answering from that, but here's where I've got to...)

I used to have status with FB but that lapsed years back (and I wasn't impressed as I lost a bunch of miles - grrr.....). Also the fees ex Europe are crazy now.

Anyway, it's unlikely that we'll do any great volume of travel with SkyTeam after this. Our next big trip is Summer 2015 and that's likely to be an award booking on OneWorld.

So, does anyone have any great ideas as to how a family can take advantage of the 55k miles we'll accrue between the five of us? I know Korean have a family scheme but I believe you have to redeem on them too - I don't see Seoul featuring in my travel plans any time soon.

I'm wondering if Alaskan is the solution. I know they're not SkyTeam but they partner with many of the members, plus a few other useful (to me) carriers like EK and CX. I can combine the miles at a price if needed, top them up in the occasional sales Alaskan run etc and probably find a useful redemption channel at the end of the day.

I've also seen the Aeromexico scheme - will allow free transfers between family members but I can't get an idea as to how the miles accrue!

However I'd welcome any better ideas that you may have. Would any of the FFPs let me tip the accrued points into Hilton or IHG at an attractive rate (especially from multiple accounts?)

Many thanks

Tony

dvs7310

Well, DL miles don't expire so you can sit on them for a while until you accumulate more.

I wouldn't consider a paid consolidation as an option normally, unless some special promo like US runs occasionally. Usually you pay the same to transfer them as you do just to straight out buy them which is no bargain at all.

The AM family transfer would be intriguing, I wasn't aware of that. You'll need to check your fare class and make sure it earns at 100% but since you're on DL metal most DL fares earn at 100%, a few at 75%. Even at 75% you'll be better off once consolidated into one account. Then you can use them on any Skyteam flight or other AM partner. Their award chart isn't bad, similar to DL... keep in mind they are in Kilometers not Miles.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/CPcms/pdf/t...kyteam_ing.jpg

Swiss Tony

Thanks...

I'm having no joy with the AM account - I've registered and have a membership number, but can't get any functionality out of the website. I've also seen a slew of Spanish/Mexican spam e-mails since I registered, which isn't very impressive...

Alaska let you transfer at 1c a mile, which is well below the purchase price. I'm just trying to think about the useful options....

Tony

MSPeconomist

IIRC DL imposes European origination fees on award tickets to more or less match the FB program, so DL award tickets exEU aren't a great option but DL miles have the advantage of currently not expiring and you're likely to earn 100% on a KLM ticket, but you should check this carefully as job one.

Swiss Tony

It's actually been ticketed as all DL flight numbers on 006 ticket stock.

Most sectors are in Z, with one short hop in P.

Is there a definitive list anywhere of all the FFPs that allow you to collect miles when you fly Delta?

Just to update - have now been able to get into the AM account and have a dig around. I can't see what the taxes are like as it only allows dummy bookings with AM flights, but these don't seem outrageous.

The other bargain is the fact that from Europe to anywhere in the continental US in J is 128k kms/80k miles.

MSPeconomist

To see DL miles earning rates on various SkyTeam and other DL partners, go to the DL website, click on SkyMiles in upper right, then Earn Miles, and then scroll down or look for a link to the miles earning charts.