Delta and frequent flyer miles
 

What is the status of frequent flyer miles in the light of Delta's bankruptcy. I have 150,00 and have been holding them until I can get the whole family to Europe.

Who knows. Bankruptcy does not mean airline will cease to exist anytime soon - but they could. Just as with USAir, there are no answers as to what would happen to miles if airline totally sinks. (Less immediately likely for Delta). And it is not that someone is with-holding info from us - if an airline liquidates, assets as sold/transferred - and I don't see that FF miles are an asset.

I think the days of gathering miles for years on the older airlines is over. Many of us have been cashing in miles for many months, hoping to get some value for them while they still have any value.

So - will you be madder if the miles become worthless or if you use them for a lesser purpose sooner - only you can decide. (I have used miles on USAir for flights costing only $200 - just to get something for them. Have flown first class on flights when I would not have ordinarily done so)

IMHO you're worrying about this a little prematurely. First of all Delta hasn't even declared Ch 11 bankruptcy. And if they do, they will continue to operate normally. It's not like they're going to liquidate immediately. I'd be concerned about US miles but not DL. You say you're trying to get the whole family to Europe. How many more miles do you need and how long do you think it'll take you to accumulate these miles? As a rule, I don't like to hold on to miles for a long time, not because of bankruptcy fears but because of possible devaluation.

I was looking at maybe using them this summer.

My guess - and it is only that - would be you should be fine for the summer IF you can get flights - while I have never tried to use FF miles for Europe, many posts here lamenting difficulty of using miles, especially for more than 1-2 seats/flight, to go desirable places at peak times.

I agree with gail, your more difficult task will be getting awards seats for the peak summer season to Europe. And it sounds like you're looking for 3 or more seats which will make it more difficult. When you call Delta, select the option that gets you to the partner award desk (the prompt will be something like "For award travel on partner airlines..."). Those agents are generally the most knowledgeable and can look up availability on Delta as well as all partner airlines. On a Delta/Skyteam award, you can use any one or a combination of all Skyteam carriers which opens up the possibility of Air France, Northwest, Continental, KLM, Alitalia, and Czech Airlines in addition to Delta flights to Europe. Hopefully, they'll be able find flights for you somewhere. In my experience, Air France is one of the more generous partners as far as award seats. If that doesn't work, have them check non-Skyteam partners like Virgin Atlantic. You won't be able to mix and match carriers with non-Skyteam partner awards and the Virgin awards will only get you as far as the UK, but you can buy your own ticket from the UK pretty inexpensively. And if you're planning to stop in London anyway, that works out well. Finally, you may have to consider redeeming 1 or 2 awards and purchasing the remaining tickets. Good luck!