Adventures in using Delta FF Miles
Jan 12th, 2009, 07:41 AM
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Adventures in using Delta FF Miles
Although I don’t post much, I follow the boards when I have time. I thought that my recent experience trying to use my Delta FF miles might prove interest/amusing. Sorry if this is a little long.
Background: My wife and I have been flying Delta almost exclusively since the 90s. At that time her job involved travel and she received the miles as a perk (sadly she no longer works there). We used to book the outbound leg of the journey at 331 days out, and then the return when the 331 came up for that. We usually had pretty good luck finding the flights we wanted.
But for a summer 2007 trip we got so exasperated that we just went ahead and purchased one ticket using 100K FF miles.
We now have a 3-week trip to France planned for June 2009. At the 331 day I called about using 100K FF miles for two tickets. I almost fell out of the chair when about ten minutes later I had two outbound tickets to Marseille.
Three weeks later I called again, and that’s when it go interesting. An agent could get me as far as NY, but no further (we live in Florida). Call again she said. So I called about once a week with no luck.
The day after Thanksgiving I called and got someone who was new. Before long we had our return itinerary. Celebrations! But the ticket didn’t show. When I called, an agent said that the other agent had made a mistake and given us flights for which we needed a lot more sky miles (Delta has gone to a three-tiered system).
Back to calling. Agents now could get us to Atlanta or Houston, but couldn’t find any US flights to get us back to Florida.
I called last Wednesday. The agent said, “no flights are available”—beginning middle and end of story. I thanked her, hung up, and called again and got a much nicer agent who worked hard but still came up short in Atlanta. Called Saturday, and the agent lectured me about how I should have booked the whole trip at once and would need to cancel and rebook, blah, blah, blah. I asked if he could just check, and he came back and said the only available flight was on June 30, not the 27, which we needed.
So I hung up redialed, and got a nice woman who asked if I was particular about details. I said no, and she found a return flight for us on for June 27. The only downside is that the flight out of Marseille is at 6:15 a.m., but we can live with that. And we have our tickets, so it is official.
Don’t know if there is any moral here except try, try, and try again. But we now have about $2,600 worth of tickets for almost free (there were some fees). Now we can celebrate!
Background: My wife and I have been flying Delta almost exclusively since the 90s. At that time her job involved travel and she received the miles as a perk (sadly she no longer works there). We used to book the outbound leg of the journey at 331 days out, and then the return when the 331 came up for that. We usually had pretty good luck finding the flights we wanted.
But for a summer 2007 trip we got so exasperated that we just went ahead and purchased one ticket using 100K FF miles.
We now have a 3-week trip to France planned for June 2009. At the 331 day I called about using 100K FF miles for two tickets. I almost fell out of the chair when about ten minutes later I had two outbound tickets to Marseille.
Three weeks later I called again, and that’s when it go interesting. An agent could get me as far as NY, but no further (we live in Florida). Call again she said. So I called about once a week with no luck.
The day after Thanksgiving I called and got someone who was new. Before long we had our return itinerary. Celebrations! But the ticket didn’t show. When I called, an agent said that the other agent had made a mistake and given us flights for which we needed a lot more sky miles (Delta has gone to a three-tiered system).
Back to calling. Agents now could get us to Atlanta or Houston, but couldn’t find any US flights to get us back to Florida.
I called last Wednesday. The agent said, “no flights are available”—beginning middle and end of story. I thanked her, hung up, and called again and got a much nicer agent who worked hard but still came up short in Atlanta. Called Saturday, and the agent lectured me about how I should have booked the whole trip at once and would need to cancel and rebook, blah, blah, blah. I asked if he could just check, and he came back and said the only available flight was on June 30, not the 27, which we needed.
So I hung up redialed, and got a nice woman who asked if I was particular about details. I said no, and she found a return flight for us on for June 27. The only downside is that the flight out of Marseille is at 6:15 a.m., but we can live with that. And we have our tickets, so it is official.
Don’t know if there is any moral here except try, try, and try again. But we now have about $2,600 worth of tickets for almost free (there were some fees). Now we can celebrate!
Jan 12th, 2009, 07:48 AM
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My son and family went to Brazil over Christmas and New Years - flew Delta. Their luggage got to them 6 days late. They had no clothes for Christmas and had to buy new clothes. Upon returning - yep - no luggage. Took an hour in line to file a lost luggage claim.
So do not check your luggage in unless you have to. Or be sure to pack enough items in a carry on in case your luggage doesn't make it with you. Seems like it was a big problem with Delta.
So do not check your luggage in unless you have to. Or be sure to pack enough items in a carry on in case your luggage doesn't make it with you. Seems like it was a big problem with Delta.
Jan 12th, 2009, 08:36 AM
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(Delta has gone to a three-tiered system).
It looks like Northwest is going to the three-tiered system January 15th to bring it in line with Delta. You will need more miles for a round trip between the U.S. and Europe, so I booked our trip last week. It took me about 10 minutes to book 2 tickets into Rome and out of Amsterdam. I was afraid if I waited it would not only cost me more(I would have had to buy more miles for my husband), it wouldn't have been as easy to get seats(unknowns always scare me). It seems like every time I see something good from the airlines and I hesitate, I lose out. Have fun on your vacation.
It looks like Northwest is going to the three-tiered system January 15th to bring it in line with Delta. You will need more miles for a round trip between the U.S. and Europe, so I booked our trip last week. It took me about 10 minutes to book 2 tickets into Rome and out of Amsterdam. I was afraid if I waited it would not only cost me more(I would have had to buy more miles for my husband), it wouldn't have been as easy to get seats(unknowns always scare me). It seems like every time I see something good from the airlines and I hesitate, I lose out. Have fun on your vacation.
Jan 12th, 2009, 08:53 AM
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I have been "having fun" with Delta's FF program for many years!!
It has constantly changed until it has now the 3 tier system, with the 60,000 miles as the least for Europe. It used to be 50,000.
Another change is for the 331 days out, you can not longer purchase the outbound on hold for the return ticket at 331 days.
They now have packges..i.e. if you have connections, you cannot change one of the connections.
The new purchase with miles is not a good deal. They sent me a double miles purchase til the end of January..or half price. so, you buy 20,000 at the half price 0f $295. When you use the 20,000 for pay with miles, you get $200 for the 20,000 miles!
I do have FF tickets for my April/May one month trip. That was a fun experience..too involved to tell you..and too hard to believe.
At any rate, they aren't giving you any real bargains.
You might be better off just accumulating the points on Capital One and asking for a check every so often.
Enjoy,
Joan
It has constantly changed until it has now the 3 tier system, with the 60,000 miles as the least for Europe. It used to be 50,000.
Another change is for the 331 days out, you can not longer purchase the outbound on hold for the return ticket at 331 days.
They now have packges..i.e. if you have connections, you cannot change one of the connections.
The new purchase with miles is not a good deal. They sent me a double miles purchase til the end of January..or half price. so, you buy 20,000 at the half price 0f $295. When you use the 20,000 for pay with miles, you get $200 for the 20,000 miles!
I do have FF tickets for my April/May one month trip. That was a fun experience..too involved to tell you..and too hard to believe.
At any rate, they aren't giving you any real bargains.
You might be better off just accumulating the points on Capital One and asking for a check every so often.
Enjoy,
Joan
Jan 12th, 2009, 09:05 AM
#5
I have Delta and NWA ff accounts. Since I'm not sure when I will be going to Europe this year and I didn't quite have enough miles in either account (48,000 Delta and 35,000 NWA), I took advantage of the Delta offer of 30% bonus transferring AmEx points. I transferred enough points to Delta so when the bonus was added on, I would have enough for flights on both airlines. NWA wasn't an AmEx partner, but once they combine with Delta I will be able to use the points for NWA.
