business class miles to Europe
 

seems like Delta and Contintental will no longer honor whats posted for business class miles to Europe (~100,000 miles).....no matter what you do they will not let you use the non-elite or lower amount of miles , but try to herd you into using the 250,000 mile category....anyone found a way around this new scam? I have successfully used both Carriers in the past --but this seems like a new game they are playing.....

Where (in Europe) and when are you trying to go? I've always found it easy to redeem miles on Delta/BE to Europe. Continental I have no experience.

Last Wed Ibooked two Business Class tickets from ATL to Frankfurt on DL using skymiles.

A few suggestions..
1. BOOK EARLY. I booked last Wed for next Sept.
2. Call. The website for DL only shows DL flights, not any partner airline sites.
3. Be flexible. Yes you want the non stop from JFK, BOS or ATL. However, you may have to adjust. For example when flying to Athens a few years ago I had to go Nashville, Atanta, MIAMI, Zurich, Athens (last two were on Swissair) with the same deal on the return.

Not sure it is accurate to call it a scam, but the fact is that flights to Europe are quite full these days so reward seats are at a premium. The lower mileage "Standard" rewards have always been hard to come by and now are even more difficult to find. The "EasyPass" rewards that require higher mileage are much more available - as with anythign, you get what you pay for, whether it is dollars or miles. Another option is to buy a coach ticket an upgrade - costs a fee but the total price winds up being much less than buyuing a seat up front, and you earn miles to boot.

trying to book from NY area to Rome or Milan next September or October ..we are very flexible and have been able to book this twice in the past......from the tone of the conversations with Delta and Continental I can tell there are not going to help me find a flight....in the past , they would give you advice as to when to call etc etc...now they just keep pushing us to pay full fare or use double the miles , which we dont have......in a way its false advertising, because they are refusing to get me on a flight.......any other suggestions? I guess part of it is flying out of NY,,,,but you would think Milan flights are not so competitive, no?

I believe that Delta flies more to Italy than any other US carrier-Milan, Venice, Rome and soon to Florence(Pisa,Tuscany area) next spring. Between those cities and being able to fly out of JFk, Atlanta or Cincinnati,you should be able to find something if you are flexible. Although I know that those "Italian flights" are usually full at those times of the year.

Try going to Europe during the winter. During the summer months they would rather sell the tickets. Otherwise, call the airlines on the phone and tell them you want to fly to any city in Europe and out of any city. You can book a budget ticket within Europe on your own.

How about upgrading using miles? I had no trouble using miles last year during June and July with British Airways during June and July. However, they charged me $238 for taxes, fees, fuel surcharges and Internet booking fee. But the food was actually pretty good in coach class and the meal did include a before dinner drink (alcohol) and three wines.

In the meantime, I would avoid the Continental, Delta and Northwest credit cards unless you are retired or can fly on the dates that the airlines dictate.

I disagree with avoiding the Delta (at least) SkyMiles Amex card. I have one personal and one business and charge as much as possilbe on them. The result is I have enough miles (at the lower rate) for a pair of business class tix to Europe or Asia every year. And as I use them for leisure trips (and thus can book early) I've never had a problem getting what I wanted, within a day or two.

Also, by charging $25000 on each of the cards I get 20000 elite qualification miles (MQMs) which is 80% of the way to the lowest elite level. Unfortunately, they will not let me assign those qualifying miles to my wife (I don't need them as I have permanent elite already).

<i>Unfortunately, they will not let me assign those qualifying miles to my wife (I don't need them as I have permanent elite already)</i>

Perhaps if the card was in your wife's name?