Consolidating ff miles
Jul 23rd, 2003, 06:00 PM
#1
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Consolidating ff miles
Would appreciate any feedback on redeeming frequent flyer miles from several airlines. Specifically, I'm interested in Continental/Delta/Northwest partnership. The promotional stuff sounds like one can merge miles from all three and secure a ticket, but I wonder??
Goal is using all miles for two business or first class tickets Houston to Europe next summer (outside of posted blackout dates) on either Continental or Delta.
Suggestions? Thanks.
Goal is using all miles for two business or first class tickets Houston to Europe next summer (outside of posted blackout dates) on either Continental or Delta.
Suggestions? Thanks.
Jul 23rd, 2003, 07:19 PM
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That's not my understanding of how the partnership works, but I would be interested in hearing what others have to say.
I think that you would need to have enough miles in a single program to redeem for a ticket. You could redeem miles from another program to get a second ticket. I believe those would be totally separate operations with each respective carrier's program, so you would have to call Delta's program to redeem Delta miles, Continental for Continental miles, etc. Then you would want to call in with the record locator numbers and have the seats assigned together. But I do not believe you can mix and match miles from different programs on the same award ticket.
Going forward, I think your best strategy will be to choose one of those programs and accumulate all of your miles there, regardless of which carrier's metal you happen to be flying on. (There may be certain situations where that doesn't provide greatest benefit to you, so examine the rules carefully. Also, you will want to top off and redeem any orphan balances, as you are able to do that).
I think that you would need to have enough miles in a single program to redeem for a ticket. You could redeem miles from another program to get a second ticket. I believe those would be totally separate operations with each respective carrier's program, so you would have to call Delta's program to redeem Delta miles, Continental for Continental miles, etc. Then you would want to call in with the record locator numbers and have the seats assigned together. But I do not believe you can mix and match miles from different programs on the same award ticket.
Going forward, I think your best strategy will be to choose one of those programs and accumulate all of your miles there, regardless of which carrier's metal you happen to be flying on. (There may be certain situations where that doesn't provide greatest benefit to you, so examine the rules carefully. Also, you will want to top off and redeem any orphan balances, as you are able to do that).
Jul 23rd, 2003, 09:09 PM
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I agree with all of you. That's not how it works. If the flight you want is not available on Continental (and they never are - the MOST difficult airline to redeem awards on), then they will put you on Northwest or Delta, etc.
Just an example for a trip to Bangkok I was trying to use my miles for R/T tix to BKK and was very flexible with my dates. Basically the only seats available were the easypass seats so it would take 280k each to make this trip. I am doing the trip in FIRST class in Singapore airlines through Delta for 120k.
Good luck!
Just an example for a trip to Bangkok I was trying to use my miles for R/T tix to BKK and was very flexible with my dates. Basically the only seats available were the easypass seats so it would take 280k each to make this trip. I am doing the trip in FIRST class in Singapore airlines through Delta for 120k.
Good luck!
Jul 24th, 2003, 07:45 AM
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I would read the promotional stuff fine print and call an airline - as recently as 2 years ago one was able to combine miles on American and USAir (I know it was, because we did it to get 4 tickets to Seattle). It is no longer possible to combine AA and USAir, but USAir for a while was promising the same arrangement with United - it never materialized.
I think these combining deals are fading away as the health of airlines declines, but I would certainly check it out with specific airlines and not just ever-so-knowledgeable posters
I think these combining deals are fading away as the health of airlines declines, but I would certainly check it out with specific airlines and not just ever-so-knowledgeable posters
Jul 24th, 2003, 09:48 AM
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Gail,
A Fodorite asks a question, some of us with some knowledge of the business give him the answers, true, maybe not the ones he wants to hear, but unfortunately the 'REAL' answers. True, the poster could check and should check, I for one always advocate that policy, but please don't slam the folks that try to be helpful.
Let me make the new policy clear for others. The NWA/DL/CO alliance means that you could use any one of the airlines miles to redeem for ticket on any other airline, NOT pull in 5K from #1, 5K from #2 and 15K from #3 to make one ticket. That would defeat any and all purpose of a "LOYALTY" program, or as we know a Frequent Flyers programs with all the airlines.
A Fodorite asks a question, some of us with some knowledge of the business give him the answers, true, maybe not the ones he wants to hear, but unfortunately the 'REAL' answers. True, the poster could check and should check, I for one always advocate that policy, but please don't slam the folks that try to be helpful.
Let me make the new policy clear for others. The NWA/DL/CO alliance means that you could use any one of the airlines miles to redeem for ticket on any other airline, NOT pull in 5K from #1, 5K from #2 and 15K from #3 to make one ticket. That would defeat any and all purpose of a "LOYALTY" program, or as we know a Frequent Flyers programs with all the airlines.
Jul 24th, 2003, 11:52 AM
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With the exception of gail's post, everyone else here is correct. The new DL/CO/NW alliance doesn't allow you to combine the miles from your various accounts to redeem one ticket. Wouldn't that be wonderful if we could? I switched the ff# on my NW reservations from my Worldperks account to my Skymiles account one week after the official start of the alliance and have been earning Skymiles on my NW flights. In my experience, DL has better award availability than CO or NW but I'm worried that may change soon.
Jul 24th, 2003, 12:07 PM
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P.S. - If you're thinking about redeeming flights to Europe on DL, it has been my experience that there is often more availability on flights operated by DL's partners than DL itself in which case you would need to use Skymiles. I don't believe you can use NW or CO miles to redeem on DL's partner airlines and vice versa.
Jul 24th, 2003, 04:36 PM
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Good point, Patty. The "partner of a partner" thing also comes up from time to time with people who believe they will earn miles and then find out that they can't. For example, a DL skymiles member can earn miles on Air France or Northwest, but a Northwest flier can't earn Northwest ff miles on Air France.
