katie56

Need help from those of you who travel alot (unfortunately I don't.) I'm hoping to go to NYC with a friend at the end of this month (dates flexible). My husband has enough Delta miles to pay for one RT ticket. So confused about how to coordinate the free ticket with buying an air/hotel package with Orbitz (or Priceline, etc.) Don't want to get separated at the airport. Also, it may be cheaper at this point to get a package deal and not use the miles. Any suggestions?

rkkwan

Most package sites will give you the airline and flight number ahead. [Except Priceline - you won't know anything, if you use &quot;Name your own price&quot;; so don't do that.] Write down the available flights, but <b>don't book it yet</b>. You can use DL, NW or CO flights.

Then go to delta.com or call Delta to find if any of those flights are available. If you find one, then put that on hold. <b>Do not issue it yet.</b>

Now, go back to the package site and buy it. Then go to DL and issue the award ticket.

After you get both, call the airline to link up the two reservations so you won't get seperated.

gail

As usual good advice above - but I am not sure how it works for hotel, since OP would be buying hotel and air for 1 person on the site - but I imagine a phone call to hotel could clear that up.

Don't get too excited about the free ticket yet - tickets with the minimum number of required miles on Delta (and most other airlines) are not all that easy to get these days - even with flexible dates.

rkkwan

You can still buy a package for just one person. Of course, the per person price will be more. The important thing is that rooms in NYC are usually small, so you need to make sure the room can sleep two.

AAFrequentFlyer

but that's where the problem is - a hotel/air package deal for 1 will be a lot more money, so I'm not sure the package may be as attractive to the OP.

If she priced the package for 2 and just assumed that she could just slice the price in half then she may be in for a surprise.

OTOH, if she did price the package for 1 and it was acceptable to her, then I don't see a problem with the hotel. As <b>Gail</b> said, just call the hotel after she's done with all the reservations.

If she did price the package for 1, I would play with fares and hotel rates seperately. The difference may not be as big as she thinks and she could save the miles for future use. Just a suggestion.

Seamus

If the question is, &quot;can I book a package for two and pay for the air travel by one of those two with FF mile&quot;, the answer is no, you cannot. If the OP measn that she and her friend would each book separately and jut want to coordinte flights the strategy by rkkwan should work.

rkkwan

A package is simply getting air/hotel/car (or 2 out of three) at the same time, hopefully cheaper than getting them independently.

The hotel cost in a package, as advertised, is based on 2 persons sharing a room. You can buy a package for one person - I have done it myself; it just raises the price per person. It can still make sense for the OP, as the final cost may still be cheaper than booking everything seperately.

There's really nothing special about buying a package. You find out the final price for everybody, package and no-package, and do the cheaper way.

SAnParis

Not sure why you would want to use Orbitz anyway. You can probably do just as good (or better) yourself.

Seamus

rk - my comment refers to air+hotel packages, as I assumed that hotel+car didn't make a lot of sense in NYC. If you book an air + hotel package as a single you get a room that will sleep one. You may luck out and get assigned a room that would actually accommodate two and the extra person could sleep on the sneak, but it is not a sure bet. And given the smaller size of many (if not most) NYC hotel rooms, it would be a gamble about comfort.
All may be moot anyway since FF seats are so hard to come by these days!

rkkwan

Seamus - I agree with you. That's why I mentioned in my reply 7/19 1:12am that ones need to make sure the room can sleep two before booking the package.

katie56

Thanks for everyone's input. It's been really helpful. Haven't decided yet what I'll do, but wanted you to know I appreciate your responses.

katie56

Update; ending up buying a package from Priceline. Less $ and less hassle. Thanks everybody.