Who is easier to deal with for award travel NW or DL
Sep 6, 2007, 8:54 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: united 1p, usair silver, nz gold, hilton gold, starwood gold
Posts: 509
Who is easier to deal with for award travel NW or DL
I am trying to book Business class travel to Europe for next April (Athens). I have enough points in either DL or NW and looks like I'll have to call to book the flights.
Is the customer service at either airline better as being helpful to find award seats on skymile members?
Is the customer service at either airline better as being helpful to find award seats on skymile members?
Sep 6, 2007, 5:32 pm
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
I called DL about a year ago for a friend and they were pretty good. I haven't had a chance to call NW for a reward, but either one should be fine. Don't expect the world, and if they aren't being helpful just hang up and call back.
Sep 7, 2007, 2:00 am
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Silver, BA Gold, DL Gold
Posts: 9,779
Unless you are elite with one or the other, I don't think it should matter too much. The only thing that might tip it one way or the other is that DL should be 10k miles cheaper.
One other note, intra-European J is a really bad joke, particularly on KL. The seating is indistinguishable from economy and the food can be worse than what you get in Y if the dish is ill-conceived. I think AF blocks the middle seats, but I can't be sure of that.
This means two things:
1) Getting on one of the nonstops from the US is probably worth pursuing, hard. The flight from both CDG and AMS is something like 3 ½ hours in something akin Y, which can be tough to swallow after shelling out all of that mileage. I would keep calling until D-Day to see if anything opens up and shell out the change fee.
2) Because intra-European J is so bad, don't get hung up on whether a CDG or AMS to ATH leg is in Y. Take what you can get. I would book according to schedule and ignore the class of service. The only downside is that you might not get lounge access.
One other note, intra-European J is a really bad joke, particularly on KL. The seating is indistinguishable from economy and the food can be worse than what you get in Y if the dish is ill-conceived. I think AF blocks the middle seats, but I can't be sure of that.
This means two things:
1) Getting on one of the nonstops from the US is probably worth pursuing, hard. The flight from both CDG and AMS is something like 3 ½ hours in something akin Y, which can be tough to swallow after shelling out all of that mileage. I would keep calling until D-Day to see if anything opens up and shell out the change fee.
2) Because intra-European J is so bad, don't get hung up on whether a CDG or AMS to ATH leg is in Y. Take what you can get. I would book according to schedule and ignore the class of service. The only downside is that you might not get lounge access.
Sep 7, 2007, 5:24 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Circle City
Posts: 3,568
I don't have experience with Northwest, but I can tell you that Delta for international was great. For reasons out of my control, i had to have a lot of contact with the res desk. They were always patient, thoughtful and accommodating. I was very, yet gladly, surprised. I was on the phone for well over 45 minutes on two occasions with no complaints or anything. While I have been told domestic is a different story, I have no experience with them.