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Dayle,
Cancelling the card is a smart thing if it takes a long time to accumulate points. These cards cost $$$$$ and if you only build points with purchases,it is one of the biggest scams yet.
Try a card that has no ties with an airline and has no annual fee. I dont travel as much as past,so it works well for me. There are no blackout dates and no specific carriers. When you purchase a ticket,just call the CC company,they purchase the ticket and deduct the points,that easy.

mgib

I understand your frustration, but FF business class seats are very desirable and hard to get. My wife and I are flying business class on American Airlines from Chicago to Rome in October 2004. AA opens seats 331 days ahead of time. I called at midnight on the first day available and was awarded the last two business class seats.

AP6380

I just booked my coach seat for Newark to Cagliari, and from Calabria back to Newark for August with my Delta miles. It was really easy, maybe because it's coach?

Hayley5

I have to reply to this message because I just had a very similar, frustrating experience. I wanted tickets using Delta miles to Europe from DC in June. We had enough tickets to go coach or business and were willing to go through any city and were flexible on our flying dates (within a week). Still nothing. There was also nothing if we paid for a ticket in coach and wanted to upgrade to business with miles. VERY FRUSTRATING. THese FF programs are not what they used to be.

GAC

AP: way to go!!! How did you manage to get free seats in August (on Alitalia, I presume?). When AZ was partering with Continental, I managed to get two free coach seats LAX-MXP-FCO-CAG; return AHO-LIN; MXP-LAX. This was in June/July 2001.

Madison

Never give up trying to get Frequent Flyer seats. I booked about 5 months ago and got seats in both directons, however I only got the class I wanted going to London Delta/First Class/Business Elite. My return Northwest coach out of Paris. I kept calling and calling to see if anything had opened up in First/Business Elite from Paris to LAX. Finally this past Saturday I got my upgrade Business Elite/First Class. One layover each way. My miles are with Northwest but they are in partnership with Delta and Continental. When I called on Saturday she said nothing was available. I said could you check Delta and Continental. She did and found what I wanted.

FHurdle

Last year I had zero luck with Delta getting two business class tickets to Europe, which I wanted so we could take a cruise. After several failed attempts I pressed the button for partner travel and ended up getting booked on DELTA metal! I'm convinced that Delta didn't want to pay it's partners whatever the agreed on rate is, and so they intercepted the request.

Anyway, we booked into Milan and out of Venice, and were later able to pay $100 each to change to Venice only. So it worked out for me.

Last summer was weak for travel. Not sure we could ever do it again.

Madison

I also think it was easier for me because I'm flying solo.

GregC

Keep trying and you may be pleasantly surprised. Just yesterday I got 2 roundtrip tickets Miami/Palm Beach to Paris for early next month. Sweet-talking, rather than berating, the person on the other end of the phone never hurts.

AP6380

GAC-

Now that I sort of have my itinerary worked out, I had called Delta about a week and a half ago. I told them the dates that I want to go from Newark to Cagliari, and return from Lamezia to Newark. they had the exact dates I wanted and I booked it with no problem. Although the itinerary is changing so I may have to call back, because instead of ferrying it to Naples I may fly. I would like to get this all on one ticket if I could. This was my 1st experience getting a ff ticket, and so far it's been smooth.

AnneO

I booked my FF business class seat for next Sept last October, as soon as the seats opened. Booked my outbound, then called back 11 days later for my return. A friend booked on a different outbound (in coach) for the same day. When we called for our returns, she tried to switch to the same outbound as me (New Orleans-JFK-Venice instead of New Orleans - Paris- Venice)... no more seats available on the JFK-Venice part. This was almost a year in advance! We also tried to switch our flights to go into Munich and out of Venice about a month later...no go without really bad connections. Seems like the way to do it is to decide where you want to go, then book the day the flights open.

Anne

CarolA

I booked mine about 11 to 10 months in advance. The return is one day sooner then I want, but.... I plan to start calling every week or so. I have often been able to change or add at the LAST minute. (I think that is when the airlines give up hope that someone will actually PAY for that seat!)