Patty

panecott,
You can't look up partner award availability on delta.com. You have to call Delta and speak with a rep at the Partner Award Desk. You CAN get to this dept through the automated phone tree if you follow the prompts. Somewhere along the way, you'll enter your Skymiles # and pin. Also the Partner Award Desk isn't available 24 hours a day. IIRC they close sometime before midnight Pacific time.

Another option is to use the Northwest Japan site to check award availability - http://book3.nwa.com/jp/booking/asp/...S&TYPE=NEW (click English if you see Japanese characters). This site only works for Skyteam partners like Air France and KLM. Set the bottom pull down menu to Standard if you want to search for availability on KLM, set to Air France for Air France, etc. The rest is fairly self explanatory, but let me know if you need help navigating. Once you've found an itinerary that works, call Delta's Partner Award Desk to book it. The agent you speak with will be amazed that every flight you picked is magically available

I don't know of any way to search for award availability on non-Skyteam partners like SAA or Emirates.

okow68,
SkyChoice awards (unrestricted/double miles) are only an option on Delta operated flights. Unfortunately, there's no way to get there all on Delta.

panecott

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I did find a perfect flight on SAA online - NYC/CPT/LVI/NYC - and called Delta's partners awards desk. The outbound wasn't available on the date I wanted, but I got the next day, which was fine. It was really more than I'd hoped for since I'm traveling fairly soon. Only disappointment is not getting mileage credit for the 16,000+ miles!

The agent was very chatty and told me that business class awards seats are extremely limited and are snatched up immediately and almost impossible to get. He advised against waiting. He also said Delta miles on SAA can be redeemed thru' Sept. 06, and used thru' Sept. 07.

thit_cho

Did you get two business class seats in August? That's great if you did.

What do you mean by they were "more than you'd hoped". Did they charge you double miles?

Thanks

panecott

Hi thit_cho,
I think you're confusing me with the OP. I asked questions midway in the thread and people responded. Sorry for the confusion.
But since you asked,,I got one seat, in coach, for May 12. When I said it was "more than I'd hoped for" I meant that I didn't expect to get anything since I booked fairly late and there don't seem to be that many FF seats available, so I consider myself lucky.
Again, sorry for the confusion.

Patty

panecott,
Congrats on securing your ff seat for May! The fact that you only needed one seat in coach probably helped.

I also need to amend my earlier statement that there's no way to get there all on Delta. By December 2006, Delta may be operating their own ATL-JNb flights (with fuel stop in Dakar).

panecott

Thanks, Patty.
And yes, the Delat agent also told me about that proposed Atlanta/JNB route. I think someone posted on this board a few days ago that it was just approved.

panecott

>>the Delat agent >>>

the Delta agent

lvk

This has been a very informative thread. I'm just starting to research a trip for next year.

Does anyone have experience trying to use miles on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to JNB?

stamiya

I booked economy seats on Lufthansa from LAX to Frankfurt to JNB for May 2006, through United, using united miles. I used the Lufthansa website to find the flights, then booked by phone through United (the only way you can book international travel with United is by phone). There doesn't seem to be a lot of difficulty
scoring FF seats in coach. I second (or third) the suggestion to call late at night or very early in the morning to avoid waiting and to get really good service. I've always found the United reservations people to be very helpful.

Gardyloo

Award inventory for United/Lufthansa FF plan members should improve with South African Airways' entrance into Star Alliance's redemption programs. Effective now.