Delta Sky Miles
 

I'm no business traveler but I gathered 80,000 Delta sky miles and when I called Delta, there were all these restrictions when I tried to find out if I could use the miles to upgrade from coach to first class. It was all so confusing. How do you do it? Can I do it on line? This is in reference to a flight to Paris. Thanks

We recently used miles to upgrade to London. In order to do this, you have to purchase an "upgrade-able" fare, which is usually $50 - $100 more than the regular fare that is offered to you. You must tell them when you make your reservation that this is what you intend to do so the upgrade-able fare is booked for you. They will then deduct 20,000 miles each way for your upgrade. I don't think this can be done online yet. Just call the number on your skymiles card and they should be able to walk you through it.

I fly Delta a lot..and have by most peoples standards accumulated a lot of Delta Sky Miles. Yes, there are restrictions and sometimes it is difficult to get the upgrade you want..on the exact day and flight that is convenient..but impossible it is not. <BR>First, circumstances change by the day..you can attempt to redeem Skymiles on a flight on Monday...and call back on Tuesday and have availablilty...It is a seating and scheduling thing. There are only so many Skymile seats available on each fligh in coach or business..there are only so many upgrade seats available, and there are only so many Skymile upgrade seats available. A certain # are reserved for free Skymile redemptions, a certain # for Medallion Level upgrades..and a certain # for Skymile upgrades...the problem is..that if the certain 'classification' of ticket you are seeking is already taken. Then you are not automatically bumped into one of the other ' upgrades' seats until it is known that they are not gone, and sometimes it is at the last minute.. I am fortunate, in that I live in a Delta hub and have a Delta ticket office very near to my office..Hence, I find it much more convenient to go there rather than on line or on the phone..Yes it is possible to upgrade and redeem Skymiles on line..but if you live in a city where there is a Delta ticket office..then my advice to you is to go there and talk to the the ticketing agents personally...You may be pleasantly surprised to find out how helpful they can be..and they will, I believe, attempt to do everything possible to accomodate your upgrade requests..That is what I do....and I have had good success. Good Luck

Did anyone get a free ticket from Delta? I have just collected 50,000 miles and want to get a US-Europe ticket. Do I have to get an award certificate first and then a ticket? It is too complicated on the Delta website.

You might want to have a look at the Delta forum on flyertalk.com.