montflier

So I'm a cheap college student trying to find a reasonable ticket home from study abroad. I saw an option to fly Aeroflot, Delta and Alaska on one ticket on google flights in the combination above for the end of the July, and it seemed perfect, considering i have a delta skymiles account. Tried calling aeroflot reservation number and going to the airport desk. (google flights said to book with aeroflot). Well, apparenty they could only see the schedule as far as seattle. Should I try calling Delta? Would they be able to book this as one ticket for me?

As an alternative, I'm looking at buying separate tickets with Aeroflot from Berlin to JFK and Delta/Alaska from JFK to GTF. $1500 sure beats the $3000 KLM option. I am very cautious of split tickets on international flights, so I built in an overnight at JFK- should I miss my flight, the next flight from SVO would still get in before my domestic Delta flight at 3:55 pm the following day. The connection at SVO would be 55 min, so it's very possible that the connection could be missed. Can i still check my baggage all the way through to GTF, even with the overnight?

MSPeconomist

You don't lose anything by calling DL (on Skype or otherwise for free or almost free) and asking whether they can book what you want on a single ticket. You can also ask for DL ticket stock if you wish, for MQD credit although a cheap ticket might earn more redeemable miles if not booked with DL ticket stock or DL flight numbers, so check the applicable rules carefully before doing anything. Often phone agents can put together specific segments and fares that cannot be booked on line.

IIRC delta.dumb can only put together four segments in each direction, so that might explain the difficulties you're seeing.

If your ticket has a potential missed connection leading to an overnight in Russia, be sure you understand the visa rules and transit procedures. If you're forced to take a transit hotel for the night (and be trapped in your room on a guarded floor with meals through room service), this can become a very expensive bad experience. You might want to check out the comments on SVO in the "sleeping in airports" website, but be aware that the new terminals at SVO have changed the situation and procedures considerably.

montflier

Thanks! I'll report back once i've put in a call. I've tried a few times, and their wait time of 2 hours didn't exactly fit into my schedule. That's good to know about delta.com; that's especially limiting when you fly out of a little regional airport.

Would they automatically issue delta flight numbers for the aeroflot flights, or would that be something i would have to request? If I fly premium comfort economy on aeroflot, it looks like i could retain 100% of miles flown. I would hate to lose that because of a few letters on the boarding pass. Not that SkyMiles are worth that much anyway....

delta.com doesn't even recognize the SXF airport code, only the other airport serving Berlin, TXL. KLM and AirFrance fly out of TXL, Aeroflot out SXF. Hope that doesn't hurt my chances.

DC777Fan

Did you try orbitz or forcing the routing with hipmunk?

Goldorak

You can have DL flight numbers only if there is a code-share agreement in place for this specific route(s). And, if yes, there is nothing automatic as you can book one or the other.

montflier

Ok, I got it to go on Hipmunk/priceline using the multicity function. Nifty tool. Flight #1=SXF-SVO-JFK; Flight #2=JFK-SEA-GTF

I'm assuming this was basically like buying two separate tickets anyway, right? That if I don't make my connection in JFK I'd have to buy another ticket? I still have the overnight worked in at JFK, so I'm not too worried.