another airfare/frequent flier question
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:35 AM
#1
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another airfare/frequent flier question
As of today, Delta has a round trip ticket from Boston to Paris, direct, for 50,000 miles, for the dates my husband and I would like to go next May. Here's my dilemma:
I only have enough miles for one ticket. The second ticket will cost $1221! This will be the first time I've used miles to get a ticket so I don't know if I need to grab this ticket right now or if it'll be available for a while.
And if I do grab it, should I just buy that second ticket at this price or wait a while and hope the price drops some and the flight doesn't fill? Any advice is welcome.
I only have enough miles for one ticket. The second ticket will cost $1221! This will be the first time I've used miles to get a ticket so I don't know if I need to grab this ticket right now or if it'll be available for a while.
And if I do grab it, should I just buy that second ticket at this price or wait a while and hope the price drops some and the flight doesn't fill? Any advice is welcome.
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:41 AM
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If I could answer that I'd be a millionaire, but here are my thoughts:
How important is the date?
You're really paying 610 each since one flight is free.
If you can't get the FF ticket, then no way any deal is going to be lower than 610.
Hopefully the people who have used FF miles can give better advice.
How important is the date?
You're really paying 610 each since one flight is free.
If you can't get the FF ticket, then no way any deal is going to be lower than 610.
Hopefully the people who have used FF miles can give better advice.
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:42 AM
#3
It's a tough call, but personally I'd wait a tad. You have the better part of a year to monitor airfares, and airlines can and do release more seats into award inventory over time; the "330 day" rule (in my experience) really applies more to very hard-to-get tickets (e.g., USA-Australia, or Hawaii in December) than to the very densely crowded skies over the North Atlantic. Plus, Delta has many partners in the TATL game, so your miles may well be usable on other airlines in the intervening months.
As to whether $1200 for a BOS-CDG ticket is a good price, IMO no, but anybody who says they know if ticket prices will go up or down under current circumstances is totally blowing smoke. Me, I'd take that $1200 and put it into something that earns interest for you, rather than letting Delta do the same thing for 10 or 11 months.
As to whether $1200 for a BOS-CDG ticket is a good price, IMO no, but anybody who says they know if ticket prices will go up or down under current circumstances is totally blowing smoke. Me, I'd take that $1200 and put it into something that earns interest for you, rather than letting Delta do the same thing for 10 or 11 months.
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:46 AM
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Someone on AOL just posted that they got a FF ticket for this weekend, this week. Who knows.
BUT it is projected that air fares are going to go up, and seats are going to go down. Factor that into the equation. I kind of liked the poster who deduced that the final fare was $600 each-- a good fare at almost any time now.
BUT it is projected that air fares are going to go up, and seats are going to go down. Factor that into the equation. I kind of liked the poster who deduced that the final fare was $600 each-- a good fare at almost any time now.
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:55 AM
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I use SkyMiles a lot, mostly for transatlantic travel, and I in this situation I would:
1. Go ahead and book the award ticket for 50K miles. It's a direct flight, and it's the dates you'd like to go. Award availability could still be around if you wait, but then again it might not (and chance that it won't be availabe are actually pretty high), and there's certainly no point in waiting from a price point of view because there isn't lower price to be had (with miles).
2. You can either buy the paid ticket now or wait. Buying now means that you're all set: you can start planning (and dreaming about) the other aspects of your trip. Waiting means that the price may (1) stay the same, (2) go up, or (3) go down. Option 2 is a very definite possibility given the price of oil these days, and option is also a possibility if you're going early enough in May that Delta offers a sale for that period (as May is about as late as your going to see spring sale prices).
This does not strike me as an outrageously expensive ticket, by the way.
In the end, if you decide to cancel the trip altogether after you've booked the award ticket, you can simply redeposit those miles in your account (typically with a fee, though this may be waived if you've got sufficient status with the airline---given your question I'll assume this isn't the case) and use them later.
1. Go ahead and book the award ticket for 50K miles. It's a direct flight, and it's the dates you'd like to go. Award availability could still be around if you wait, but then again it might not (and chance that it won't be availabe are actually pretty high), and there's certainly no point in waiting from a price point of view because there isn't lower price to be had (with miles).
2. You can either buy the paid ticket now or wait. Buying now means that you're all set: you can start planning (and dreaming about) the other aspects of your trip. Waiting means that the price may (1) stay the same, (2) go up, or (3) go down. Option 2 is a very definite possibility given the price of oil these days, and option is also a possibility if you're going early enough in May that Delta offers a sale for that period (as May is about as late as your going to see spring sale prices).
This does not strike me as an outrageously expensive ticket, by the way.
In the end, if you decide to cancel the trip altogether after you've booked the award ticket, you can simply redeposit those miles in your account (typically with a fee, though this may be waived if you've got sufficient status with the airline---given your question I'll assume this isn't the case) and use them later.
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:55 AM
#7
I would get the FF ticket booked now. They are not always available. Since you only have enough points for the one, book it. Now, I think you have time to wait to buy the other ticket. I would probably book sometime in the fall if the prices are the same or good. Then, request the seating to be together. I would check the prices daily though because you may get a drop one day and then book the paid ticket~
Jul 10th, 2008, 09:58 AM
#8
One more thing, we booked our tickets to Paris for this past June last summer. We had 4 tickets on Continental connecting through Cleveland.
Our tickets were worth 1500. when ticketed.
I checked every so often to see what the current pricing would be and it never dropped below 1250 a ticket.
Our tickets were worth 1500. when ticketed.
I checked every so often to see what the current pricing would be and it never dropped below 1250 a ticket.
Jul 10th, 2008, 10:11 AM
#9
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Here's another recommendation for booking the miles ticket ASAP. You just never know with miles...
But, check other resources for buying the second ticket. You may be able to get the same flights on www.1800flyeurope.com (I've had terrific luck with them from Boston the past few years) for less. Whenever I've booked this far ahead with them, I've never seen a lower fare later for the same flights. In fact, they often run out of seats. Sometimes they have more later, but not at a lower price.
If you have a choice, recommend the later flight home...more time to spend in Paris.
But, check other resources for buying the second ticket. You may be able to get the same flights on www.1800flyeurope.com (I've had terrific luck with them from Boston the past few years) for less. Whenever I've booked this far ahead with them, I've never seen a lower fare later for the same flights. In fact, they often run out of seats. Sometimes they have more later, but not at a lower price.
If you have a choice, recommend the later flight home...more time to spend in Paris.
Jul 10th, 2008, 10:14 AM
#10
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Something else to factor in although maybe it doesn't apply to U.S. carriers? For my "free" premium coach frequent flyer seat on Virgin out of NYC to London, I paid more than $400 in taxes. Flight is in late July '08.
Jul 10th, 2008, 11:39 AM
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Sher, That could be the reason. When we booked we were told, if I remember, fuel and airport taxes. We probably should have pursued but it's one of those instances where asking more questions wasn't going to change the outcome as I don't think Virgin flies New York-Gatwick, for example.
Jul 10th, 2008, 11:46 AM
#13
The high "tax" (actually UK passenger duty) on premium cabin tickets is for flights <i>leaving</i> the UK. Taxes and fees on coach departures are considerably less, and are roughly comparable to similar routes from other European airports. You can avoid the UK fee by connecting through UK airports with less than a 24 hour connection, provided both flights are on the same ticket.
If you want to secure the FF ticket now, fine, no problem. I would, however, wait a little while on the purchased ticket; let's see what's happening to fuel surcharges and other fees in the meantime.
One other thing to mention - if you happen to have more than 50,000 miles but less than 100,000 (for 2 award tickets) you might think about buying additional miles from DL at 2.75 cents/mi (plus 7.5% tax). In general buying miles is a lousy deal, but if you had, say, 80,000 miles between you, you could buy the additional 20,000 miles for $600 or so, thereby reducing your out-of-pocket cost for the ticket substantially.
If you want to secure the FF ticket now, fine, no problem. I would, however, wait a little while on the purchased ticket; let's see what's happening to fuel surcharges and other fees in the meantime.
One other thing to mention - if you happen to have more than 50,000 miles but less than 100,000 (for 2 award tickets) you might think about buying additional miles from DL at 2.75 cents/mi (plus 7.5% tax). In general buying miles is a lousy deal, but if you had, say, 80,000 miles between you, you could buy the additional 20,000 miles for $600 or so, thereby reducing your out-of-pocket cost for the ticket substantially.
Jul 10th, 2008, 12:26 PM
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Gardyloo: If I understand you correctly, if I have 65,000 miles and my husband has 15,000 we'd spend 50,000 of my miles for the first award ticket, then we have to buy 20,000, plus pay the fee to transfer miles from one account to the other (I think it's $100) so we'd get the second ticket for $550 (20,000 X $2.75) plus the fee is $650 plus tax (7.5)=48.75 so the second ticket would cost about $700. Oh and then there's the tax and surcharge of $110 on the second award ticket, making the total cost of the second ticket $810 dollars. A considerable savings.
The question is, can I do all this online myself to avoid paying the additional booking charge of having an agent do it on the phone?
If so we'd get 2 RT direct flight tickets on our desired dates in and out of our desired airport for the grand total $920 ($460 a ticket.) Not a bad deal given the cost of oil and the probability that prices are not going to drop in the next year.
The question is, can I do all this online myself to avoid paying the additional booking charge of having an agent do it on the phone?
If so we'd get 2 RT direct flight tickets on our desired dates in and out of our desired airport for the grand total $920 ($460 a ticket.) Not a bad deal given the cost of oil and the probability that prices are not going to drop in the next year.
Jul 10th, 2008, 12:50 PM
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Starting August 15th, Delta will add a $50 per ticket fuel surcharge to international award itineraries originating in the US/Canada. If you're certain about your travel date, I'd book the award now.
Unfortunately, starting today the $25 per ticket partner award fee is applicable to awards booked online as well, so that one's unavoidable.
You can hold award reservations for 2 days online. Wait for the buy/transfer miles to post and redeem online. You'll save $25 per ticket in telephone ticketing fees.
It would cost you $180 to transfer 15,000 miles from your account to your husband ($0.01 per mile plus $30). Right now there's a 25% transfer bonus for both parties so you'd get an extra 3750 and your husband would get an extra 3750. However, I wouldn't count on the bonus posting in time as the terms & conditions state it could take up to 4-6 weeks. For the actual miles transfered, my last transfers were processed in 1 day.
The 20,000 purchased miles would cost you $591.25 (if you have an Amex charge card with Membership Rewards, it's slightly cheaper to buy points from Amex and transfer them to Delta vs buying miles from Delta).
So you're looking at closer to $900 for the second ticket. Personally, I wouldn't buy/transfer miles in this scenario but it's your call.
Unfortunately, starting today the $25 per ticket partner award fee is applicable to awards booked online as well, so that one's unavoidable.
You can hold award reservations for 2 days online. Wait for the buy/transfer miles to post and redeem online. You'll save $25 per ticket in telephone ticketing fees.
It would cost you $180 to transfer 15,000 miles from your account to your husband ($0.01 per mile plus $30). Right now there's a 25% transfer bonus for both parties so you'd get an extra 3750 and your husband would get an extra 3750. However, I wouldn't count on the bonus posting in time as the terms & conditions state it could take up to 4-6 weeks. For the actual miles transfered, my last transfers were processed in 1 day.
The 20,000 purchased miles would cost you $591.25 (if you have an Amex charge card with Membership Rewards, it's slightly cheaper to buy points from Amex and transfer them to Delta vs buying miles from Delta).
So you're looking at closer to $900 for the second ticket. Personally, I wouldn't buy/transfer miles in this scenario but it's your call.
Jul 10th, 2008, 01:12 PM
#17
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If you get the one ticket now using FF miles, how important is it that you fly together?
Perhaps you can wait on the second ticket and just accept that one of you may have to be on a different flight or airline.
You'll still eventually be in Paris!
I just booked a FF Delta ticket for May using miles and I'm excited. My 2 adult daughters are flying another airline....we'll meet at the apartment.
Perhaps you can wait on the second ticket and just accept that one of you may have to be on a different flight or airline.
You'll still eventually be in Paris!
I just booked a FF Delta ticket for May using miles and I'm excited. My 2 adult daughters are flying another airline....we'll meet at the apartment.
Jul 11th, 2008, 02:09 AM
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<i>Gas prices are suppose to go up. Tickets will stay high then. That said, prices do drop at the end of Aug.</i>
Prices are not determined by totaling up the costs and adding a profit. Prices are determined by the inter-play of supply and demand. Only if supply decreases and demand increases will you see increased costs.
We are seeing supply decreases, but these are most notable in the domestic market. And we are certainly not seeing demand increases. On the contrary, any increase in prices will likely see decreased demand.
I think we will see price increases, but if the lowest price we see for BOS-CDG between now and next May is over $1200, then I would be astonished. And I don't think the direct flight would even be a concern, as the flight would surely be cancelled to cut supply.
Prices are not determined by totaling up the costs and adding a profit. Prices are determined by the inter-play of supply and demand. Only if supply decreases and demand increases will you see increased costs.
We are seeing supply decreases, but these are most notable in the domestic market. And we are certainly not seeing demand increases. On the contrary, any increase in prices will likely see decreased demand.
I think we will see price increases, but if the lowest price we see for BOS-CDG between now and next May is over $1200, then I would be astonished. And I don't think the direct flight would even be a concern, as the flight would surely be cancelled to cut supply.
