Delta FF tickets - getting the dates you want
 

Re: the 331 day rule: Did those of you who have tried to reserved FF seats on the 331st day prior to travel have success? Any "tricks" you'd be willing to share? I'm aware to start calling at 12:01 am, I'm assuming that's EST?

Delta is in Atlanta, which is on Central time, I believe. Anyway, I called at 10:05 PST for a SFO to Rome flight in June. The reservationist said that the flights were displayed, but no FF seats were available. I called twice a day for about 2 weeks & still nothing. I asked if I could be wait-listed, and the reservationists said "yes - but only in a blue moon does something open up". I finally bought regular tickets. Two weeks ago, Delta called me & asked if I would like to change my flights to a much earlier time (longer layover), since the flight I was booked on was oversold. I said "no". Delta has more demand for many Europoean flights than it has seats - don't expect to find anything for summer travel.

I've tried 3 times over the last 2 years to book Delta FF tickets for summer travel - no luck so far.

Stu Dudley

We got what we wanted last summer - flew into Amsterdam and out of Paris. Departed US in late August. We did book our flights on the first day that we could (331? days out)And I forget how we booked our return since of couse the return flight was more than 331 days away but the agent was very helpful and it all worked out. I think I called around 7am the day the flight opened up.

I tested the 331 day rule yesterday (5/2/06) for a trip to Paris from Portland, OR. This was a just test to see if it would work and it did. Not only were there seats available, but 4 of them were SkySaver. Of course this was for the low season and that probably makes a difference in availability.

we did it 331 days in advance for FFs to Florida during Christmas week (which is a toughy, only select days are not blackout dates). My husband is an early riser so he called in the early morning but not 12:01 early. We got the tickets.

I haven't done FFs for Europe.

One correction to above. Atlanta is on Eastern time, not Central.

Keep in mind that 331 days is just the first day that you can start checking for award seats. That doesn't mean that award seats will be available at that time on every Delta flight and not all partner airlines release award seats at the 331 day mark. Award inventory changes up until the day of departure so if at first you don't succeed, keep trying. I've never tried booking 331 days in advance as I can't plan ahead that far. I generally book my award reservations between 3-6 months prior to travel and don't have a problem finding the flights I need, but I also tend to travel in low season.

I've booked FF flights in a 3 month time frame , but my dates have always been flexible and seats open up in the ensuing days after the 331 start date.

If this is for Europe, speak with an agent at the partner award desk. These agents are usually very knowledgeable (though I did encounter my first ever clueless one 2 weeks ago) and can check transatlantic award inventory on Delta, Continental, Northwest, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, and Czech Air. In addition you can also use Alaska Air for your domestic connection to your transaltantic gateway. IIRC Partner awards is available from 6:00am to 11:00pm Mountain time.

If you're flexible as far as flights and routing (i.e. making multiple connections, flying at a less convenient time of day), there should be something available on a combination of the above carriers.
As an example, I'm flying from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to LAX on Dec 17 using awards for two passengers in business class and had to route Dar-Amsterdam-Vancouver-LAX on KLM and Alaska Air. Think creatively. Economy class awards seats are generally easier to find than business class.

Also keep in mind that award reservation holds have been reduced to 2 days (formerly 14 days). I believe the current procedure for those needing to book at 331 days is to ticket your outbound immediately and call back to add your return. The $50 reissue fee should be waived if you're just adding a return. Double check this information with partner awards.

I know someone that previously worked at Delta reservations and she said the sooner you try to use your FF miles, the better. They normally hold only a couple seats per "premium" flights, ie, direct or prime flight time, and the sooner you call, the better the odds.

As others have stated, if you're flexible in your arrangements you can wait longer before making the reservation.

I know 2 years ago I waited on using FF miles to go to Provence and ended up going around Robin Hood's barn to get there. This trip to Switzerland coming up on the 15th I used FF miles and got the direct flight from here in Atlanta to Zurich but I got the ticket in August of last year.

Our family of four got first class tickets from Boston to Hawaii on Delta two years ago using points. We waited up until 12:01 am to call, and we able to get them. For the return flight which was 12 days later, we had to wait another 12 days to call as those flights weren't available until 331 days out. It was REALLY helpful to have researched and printed out all the different itineraries, so we would be aware of different connection possiblities (ie. stay away from NY airports!). I found that not every leg was available for first class, but they did allow us to waitlist for what we didn't get. Also, we were switching some miles from AmX and they will hold the reservation for two weeks for the points to clear. In the end, the only leg we were not guaranteed of 1st class was the longest-Honolulu to Boston, but we were second to check in at the gate and I told the attendant we'd been waitlisted and we ended up getting the first class!! It was wonderful. I found Delta to be very helpful in every aspect, from booking to the actual flights. Every flight was on time. BTW, we got skysaver seats which were only 60,000 points each for 1st cl. I know it has gone up since then. We got about $10K worth of tickets free!! I hope Delta manages to keep their airline together, and will keep using them just because I was so impressed with how everything was handled. Good luck with your planning!

Thanks to everyone for the generally optimistic (?) replies. I have actually gotten FF seats to Europe twice before (only about 4-5 months before flight dates) but have never tried during "peak" summer season. It seems the best advice is to call early & often and be prepared for something other than your 1st choice.

Stu, did you try alternative routes/dates or were you set on a direct flight to Rome on one particular date only? I have limited ability to be "flexible" with multiple connections, etc since I'll be traveling with 2 young children, but I can be somewhat flexible with dates.

Patty, I'm not familiar with IIRC Partner Awards. Who is that and how do I contact them?

<< IIRC Partner awards is available from 6:00am to 11:00pm Mountain time. >>

"IIRC" - - is internet speak for "If I recall correctly"...

Not a reference to "IIRC Partner awards"!

...chuckling...

aka (also known as)... LOL! (Laughing Out Loud)

Best wishes,

Rex

Sometimes dumb luck is better than wisdom? We got first class FF tickets for our trip last September from Knoxville to Rome and back by calling about 8 months in advance - we weren't aware of the 331 day rule. We made the reservations through Delta (our FF program), although Delta put us on Air France.

For our cruise from Venice to Barcelona in June this year, we got 3 business class FF tickets for Knoxville to Venice and Barcelona to Knoxville from Delta (on Delta this time) by calling about 9 months out.

One of these days I'll actually call Delta 331 days out at 12:01 a.m. I guess, but haven't had to so far.

KC

We had a little bit of luck on our side getting two coach tickets from LAX to Nairobi! We were very flexible with our dates and spent many hours on the phone with agents trying to get seats. We got the dates we wanted and are leaving at the end of September. We booked the tickets about 3 weeks ago. Most of the agents were very helpful.

Tuesday, May 2, was 331 days from the day I need two tickets from Salt Lake City to Paris using FF miles. I called at 12:01, told to call back at 3:00, told to call back in a week. However, I have been checking online and calling back each day. The people I've spoken to (all very nice) said they just don't know when "they" will make Skysaver seats available. Any suggestions other than the great ones already posted? (very informative) We are flying to London on March 29 and home from Paris on April 13.

RSSmith,
Yes, IIRC stands for "if I recall correctly". Sorry about the confusion. Just call the Skymiles number and follow the voice prompts. There are 6 steps to get to partner awards and it goes something like -

- say "Reservations" or press 2
- say or enter your Skymiles number
- say "International" or press 2
- say "Yes" to Skymiles redemption or press 1
- say "Partner Airlines" or press 2
- say or enter your pin number

I don't like Delta's voice (un)recognition system so I always key my entries in.

Brockbank,
Did you speak with an agent at partner awards? Did they check all partner airlines or just Delta? Checking online only produces results for Delta operated flights. Are you looking for 2 seats in economy or business? Do you care what airline you fly and are you willing to make multiple connections? For example, you could route SLC-LAX-CDG-LHR. Would that be acceptable?

Delta checked partners for me on Tuesday, but they didn't have any ff seats either. There are two of us, and we are flying economy; I guess multiple stops would be okay, but I was hoping for one of the Delta slc-atl-lgw or slc-cvg-lgw flights. I'll check the partner's line again. Thanks

Brockbank, are they saying the FF seats haven't been released yet to reserve or are they saying all FF seats are ALREADY taken (this far in advance!!)?? This is stressing me out just thinking about it.

There's no guarantee that award seats will be released on any given flight 331 days prior or ever, which is why it's necessary to have some flexibility.

Brockbank,
The routing I listed has availability for 2 passengers in economy. Partner awards should be able to come up additional alternatives for you (that just happened to be the first routing I checked). You could ticket whatever is available now and waitlist the Delta operated flights. Good luck!

I have successfully used my Delta FF miles on several occasions: economy class to Madrid, economy class to Paris, Business Class to Rome and to Hawaii. We currently hold first class seats to Boston for October (going to New Hampshire for "leaf peeping"). When traveling to Europe, we travel in the Fall or Spring-the "shoulder"-because prices are lower, the cities less crowded and Delta has greater availability (same for Hawaii). We travel on Tuesday or Thursday (Monday and Friday are busy days). When going to Europe we always call 331 days in advance at 12:01 Eastern time (even one time when I was recovering from "skin eating" bacteria and my right arm was totally bandaged!). I ALWAYS ask for a supervisor when I get one of the foreign call centers: a supervisor is usually in Atlanta, has authority to grant your wishes and late at night they have passed the worst part of their working day. Be sure that you start at the FF desk, 1-800-323-2323, where they only deal with frequent fliers and do it all day long.

Believe it or not, we have our greatest trouble getting domestic flights rather than overseas. Maybe I just plan sooner for the European flights.

I found Delta to be wondrfully easy to work with--in fact, they were fantastic. Each agent I talked to went thru SOME hoops to get me to russia and back. Since I am going into Moscow and out od Kiev that made it more difficult. I HAVE to fly on specific dates and I was able to get business and first class on all but SFO to Atlanta but am waitlisted for that. I was originally on 4 planes coming back--including air france but Delta called 2 weeks ago and asked if I would prefer routing from Kiev to JFK and then on to SFO! Retaining my FC tix. I couldn't say yes fast enuff. And I got a refund for something or other when I went to change my ticket. I have only kudos for the Delta agents.

In Feb 2005, I was able to book a flight from Houston to Athens using Delta FF miles, calling only 3 weeks before departure, and I had a choice of partner airlines and flight times! I had printed out the schedules for all of the partner airlines, so when I called, the actual booking went quickly and easily. Athens in February is very off season, but I had the opportunity to visit my daughter while she was studying abroad, and it turned out to be a very nice time to visit. The weather was very pleasant and the historical sites were not crowded.
We also got 4 FF tix on Continental for July when we called in January. We flew into London but had to return from Amsterdam, so we bought cheap tickets from Glasgow to Amsterdam on one of the British carriers.

So sorry that I'm so slow to respond to all the good help. I did call Delta partners, was put on a waiting list, but most imortantly, was booked on a flight from SLC, LA, Paris,and then to Heathrow. Whew!
Although I've had several agents the last few days tell me the ff flights have not opened up yet, this agent said she was pretty sure they were snapped up at midnight on the 2nd, and I called in about 12:02! Anyway, we have seats. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get home. 331 days will be May 17th. Wish me luck and thanks so much for all the help.

Patty and others who advise to print potential itineraries from various partner airlines before calling Delta: what online source do you use for this?
Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

For schedules go to www.skyteam.com and don't forget on a multi-airline award, you can also use Alaska Air (non-Skyteam partner).

And read through this very helpful thread on Flyertalk http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=18562

It gives a link and instructions on how to use the Northwest Japan site where you can check award availability online for Delta, Continental, Northwest, Alaska, Air France, KLM, and Czech Air (it's missing the ability to check Alitalia). After you enter your departure and destination cities, date, and number of passengers, there's a drop down menu to select the airline you want to check (PerkSaver allows you to check standard award inventory on Northwest and KLM, do not select PerkPass - this is Northwest's double miles/no capacity controls award and you won't have access to these seats). I find that I get better results by checking individual segments, i.e. I start with just the transatlantic city pairs in one direction. Once I find availability, (if necessary) I work backwards to locate space from my home airport to the transatlantic gateway city, then locate the intra-European connection, etc. (intra-Europe availability is generally very good, the hardest part is getting across the Atlantic). Then I repeat the same process for the return.

For the most part, I've found the availability displayed on the Northwest Japan site to be the same as calling Delta partner awards (you'll still need to call Delta to book your ticket, but this site allows you check availability yourself prior to calling and is far superior to delta.com). Only on very rare ocassions have I found a flight showing availability on the Northwest site which isn't available through partner awards or vice versa. If you don't want to mess with all of this, then just call partner awards, but the more advance homework you do, the better your chances of success.

Further down in that same Flyertalk thread is a listing of all Skyteam transatlantic city pairs. Good luck!

Yesterday, we booked 3 Delta FF seats to Europe in June. We've been trying for months to get seats. We're very flexible about the dates, and it finally worked!

Patty, it's one thing to be helpful but you're giving too much away.

Remember, we're competing against each other for the limited numbner of award tix. :D

#-O

June 2004 trip to London -- booked 331 days prior--had to change dates three times to make it work

June 2006 trip to Greece -- booked Skysaver seats 4 months prior--plenty of dates to choose from

Go figure!

We're leaving for the UK and Italy next week and booked the FF seats last July. This will be our third trip in six years for a party of four and we always call 331 days out and generally have good luck. It also helps to have a good agent to work with by phone. I've actually hung up on agents before as you can generally get a sense when they answer the phone if they'll be helpful or not.

I've called less than 60 days out as seats open up all the time.. we've done 3 Business class trips in 4 years doing that!

marking

You can book the internationals online now. Not sure when that happened - booked the one I just got back from on the phone last June - the 331 day just after midnight deal. But I booked Amsterdam for Sept. online and it was much easier. (Though most agents have been cooperative, there have been a few that will just give you the first thing that comes up, with bad connections. Then I've had to call back a day or three later and get someone "fresh" to see if something better was available. On occasion, I've had so much trouble understanding them that I've decided to call back later.)

I always found it better to go online and get a sense of the schedules before I called the first time. If I didn't like the routing, I could suggest another. And I've had to be flexible with dates to get to Europe and Hawaii (and never gone June-Aug.). In the past I've estimated about 4 hrs. total phone time, including holding to get an agent, and up to 4 separate calls. Working out the Amsterdam trip took about 10 min. on the Delta site.

I'm most annoyed with the Saver/Choice deal, however. I've noticed that more and more flights are Choice, which is really just a way to up the mileage ante without being so obvious. When you do your mileage reservations online, you can see the true picture laid out before you - multiple options but only one Saver routing, if that.

I just realized that you probably can't book on partner airlines online. So back to the phone. Rats!

And now I've just read on another thread that now they have a policy of only holding flights for two days on a partner. So much for the 331 day trick. I think if this is true, it's time for people to start yelling. They've reversed unpopular policies before.

polly,
The 2 day award hold is for both partner and Delta operated flights now. It went into affect for partner flights in February of this year and for Delta flights in April.

You can still book 331 days out. You just have to ticket your outbound and call back to add your return. They're supposed to waive the reissue fee if you're just adding the return.

Of course the downside is that you have to decide whether to take the outbound without knowing what your return options are. There's also the possibility that you won't be able to find a return, although with the number of partners and flight combinations available across the Atlantic, I think you'd be able to find something, just perhaps not your first (or second or third ;) ) choice.

You're correct that delta.com only supports award bookings for Delta operated flights, at least for now.

The thing that has helped book two sky saver Europe vacations at peak season was to research their Delta partner airlines and be flexible on possible airports inbound and outbound, because not all agents check the partners, and not all agents check all the partners. If you can brain storm with the agent to check different partners or airpors and be flexible on dates will increase your chances. If you feel your agent is a "dud" just call back it is not worth the time waiting. If you want good connection call a minimum 6 months prior or earlier as noted in other posts.

Book as close to 331 days out as possible.
Try to collect enough FF Miles to book on Business Class (less competition for seats). Made reservations for Frankfurt Germany in Aug/06 for June/07 trip and got
two non-stop Business Class tickets for
a total of 180,000 points. We use the Delta AMEX card for virtually everything
(gas, food, r/x drugs, cell phone, insurance, some utilities, etc.)

I booked Delta FF for this summer, flying July 10 and returning July 31. I spent about 2 to 2-1/2 hours on the phone with the travel partners desk and they were able to get me and my daughter there and back on 50,000 miles per ticket (tickets were booked the last weekend in February). I was flexible on my dates, giving them a range of several days for going and coming, told them where I wanted to arrive and left myself open on where I returned from. I am flying open jaw to Budapest, returning from Amsterdam.

These are my dad's FF miles and they were o.k. with that as well and there was no charge for my using them.

I do have a question. The agent said something about waitlisting me for a direct flight from from AMS to ATL, but she didn't do it for some reason that she didn't share. I am going to Hartford and then ATL and finally to BHM.

Does anyone know if there would be a fee for me to try to be waitlisted for that more direct flight either on that day or the next day...or to get booked on it directly if it is now available? If there isn't a fee, or only a very small one, I might be interested in researching that possibility.

Thanks.

this post was started nearly a year ago - but thought i'd give me input anyway.. i was able to book 5 50K FF awards with Delta on Dec 31st for a trip to Europe this June. The only way we got these was bc a new service from ATL - Prague had just opened the week before - and apparently many weren't aware. So, we're flying into Prague to get to Paris and out of Milan via Prague to get home to ATL. Who cares -- we were able to have the whole family travel on FF miles in June! So, lesson is to listen for new service announcements from airlines!