Cimbrone

In the course of this afternoon, I have gone from finding a June roundtrip flight to Europe for 60,000 skymiles. When I went to purchase tickets with my miles, it said the seats had been sold. Then I went to seeing only flights for 75,000 miles (more than I have.) And now Delta.com is saying there are no flights on the dates I'm inquiring about. None. At any price it would seem. Is this normal? It's as if they know what I'm searching for and are purposely snatching the possibilities away as I go! Any advice would be welcome.

LoveItaly

Cimbrtone, I am sure no expert to put it midly but it seems to me that some computer savy Fodorites have in the past said to delete your cookies and temporary files before again trying to obtain a flight with FF miles. Do you know how to do that?

Also, you might also want to post this in the Lounge as it gets more activity than this Air Travel Forum.

Or, if nothing else have you thought of phoning Delta. I know booking a flight via the phone cost some money ($15.00 or $25.00 if memory serves me right) but it might be worth it, just a thought. Best wishes and good luck!

kybourbon

I think this is the right forum as there are some hard core FF people that regularly check this forum. Patty used to be one of the Delta experts, but I haven't seen many posts by her lately.

Delta's FF webpage is difficult and quirky. Often it doesn't show all available flights unless you keep tweaking times. It also doesn't show all partner flights so it may work to call, but you will be charged.

If you are wanting help with awards you need to state dates/cities. Some of the FF Fodorites have access to websites for flights that you don't.

tengohambre

Delta is generally considered one of the wort carriers for FF redemptions, which is precisely my experience.

Try calling an agent on the phone. If the agent is unhelpful, or not well versed in possible options, thank the agent, hang up, and try again with another agent. I have often found myself on the phone with an agent who knew substantially less than I did about possible flight options and the like. Good luck.

travelgourmet

Where are you going, and what dates? If you can give some more info, I can try to help you find something.

The Delta booking engine is, well, problematic. You may be better off calling to book, but you will want to be well armed with information.

pavot

I agree with the advice to call Delta AND to be better armed with options for the rep you speak with on the phone.

Since you're looking at Europe, remember that both KLM and Air France are Delta partners, and you may be able to fly with them rather than on Delta planes exclusively. Look at their schedules in relation to where you want to go, and ask the partner desk rep you speak with to look at the flights you find. The main thing is to stay as flexible as possible with regard to both dates and routings.

For a trip to Provence one summer, we ended up flying to Zurich and spending a few days there first, because that's what Delta had available. A year ahead.

Another trip to France found us in Amsterdam at first for a few nights: again, flights to Nice and Paris were not available, but one to Amsterdam was.

Good luck with your search; I hope you find something acceptable.

beaux

I've been able to redeem some delta ff miles to europe several times in the last few years and have experienced the same thing you described.

What has generally ended up working for me is just to keep at it.

Also, if you have some flexibility with your dates, places of departure and arrival that helps--lots of permutations of combinations.

Sometimes these things disappear and then reappear and you have to be ready to jump on it when you see something that will work for you. You can always pay a fee to redeposit your miles if you change your mind.

TC

The Delta system is quite messed up right now. I had a horrid time trying to make a change to a fully paid (Y fare) ticket last month. On the phone, two agents told me that there were no seats on flights I needed for an entire week. In desperation, I booked with a connection through a distant city. Upton arriving at the airport, I was told, that connection flight was completely oversold and would I mind being "bumped" to the non-stop flight -- the very one I had tried so hard to book.

I say, phone them, and if you don't get a good response, phone again and again, and again. It is something of a muck up just now. All the worse if your flights happen to include Delta/KLM.

CarolA

Today is probably NOT a good day to call and honestly, it's probably not a good IT day for Delta either. Things have been REALLY screwed up by the weather. I couldn't even see my booked trips for two days.

That said phone works better for me and is worth the $25 I pay.