Kellye,
The waitlist may have already been closed for that particular flight (they will only waitlist up to a certain number of passengers). The agent may have thought about waitlisting you before she realized that. That's one possible explanation.

If the flight is now available, you can make a change for $50 per ticket. If the waitlist is open, you can go ahead and waitlist for no cost. However, you may be charged the $50 per ticket fee if your waitlist clears. I say "may" because if you had been waitlisted at the time of ticketing, this fee is waived, but since you did not (or could not) do it at the time of ticketing, technically they can charge you but I've gotten away with not paying the fee in a similar situation in the past. Good luck!

Thanks for the info Patty. I think I'm going to see if I can get waitlisted on that flight. Couldn't hurt to at least try to get home on a more direct route!

This thread is so informative. Patty, you said this and I can't find it on the site:

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

Can you help me find these city pairs?

Mike

The list of city pairs is in post #3 of that thread but is a bit dated now. It's still mostly correct but some routes have been discontinued while other new ones have been added. Also since that list was made, Aeroflot has joined Skyteam.

Speaking of outdated info, the instructions I posted last year for using the Northwest Japan site are no longer applicable as that site was overhauled early this year. You can still check a variety of Skyteam carriers using that site and the new link is in post #44 of the same Flyertalk thread.

And yes, Delta's phone prompts have changed too.

Thanks Patty, you did say 'thread' and there it was.

Different question: I see that the Partner Awards people are only available 6am-11pm mountain time--so, is it better to wait to speak and try to book with them, or call at 12:01 and speak with whomever answers?

I started looking in January for FF tkts. this summer on DL to MAN~surprise, surprise the only seats available were "skychoice" which requires twice as many miles as "skysaver", so 100,000 vs. 50,000. I called DL and asked the guy to check on ALL of their partner airlines (which you can't do online)~he was great! He managed to find 2 coach skysaver seats on Continental for the 'over the pond' segment~EWR-MAN. We fly Delta to EWR, which requires an extra stop, but hey, it saved us $2000, so I can deal with an extra stop!! Plus, the only dates they had available means we HAVE to stay 3 1/2 wks!! BooHoo......

mikewalsh,
Depends on what carrier you need. Only Partner Awards can book certain non-Skyteam carriers such as Singapore (not sure what the others are but I think there are a few of these). Otherwise, international reservations can handle your request. A couple of months ago I needed to make a change on my US-Africa award, got a very capable agent at intl and didn't need to speak with Partner Awards, but it depends on who you get. If you feel that the agent isn't being that helpful or checking all possibilities, politely end the call and call back. The last time I called, you had to ask to be transferred to Partner Awards, there wasn't a direct way to get there via the automated system anymore. Good luck!

Thanks, I think I will try the 12:01 call; get the first leg, then call again at the 331 day point for the return.

We are traveling to Seville and Western Andalusia (from Boston) next June. I've checked all the AMEX partners and although there are no good routes to Seville (SVQ) as the layovers are too long, there are good options getting into Madrid (MAD) and there are frequent fast trains (2.5 hrs) into SVQ.

Delta, Air France and Continental all have one stop flights that get us into MAD with a total flight duration of between 10-11 hours roughly, and our dates can be somewhat flexible, so I'd be surprised if we ran into trouble.

Did I read that the awards seat inventory (an industry secret when I asked several agents a couple years ago) for business class was less than that for coach? Wonder if my wife and I should call at the same time at 12:01 trying to secure different flights to double our chances?

A lot of it depends on the time of year. Obviously, traveling in the "off" season (if there is such a thing anymore) makes it less important to book well in advance.
FYI - I booked a flight to Paris from Atlanta last year on Delta. My flight was in late September. I booked in June. So only three months in advance and I was able to use freq. flyer miles.

I use FF miles as often as I have enough to use. From my area I use Delta, and their partners, of course. I have never had a problem making them. I call the 331 days out for the departure and then must call back 331 days for the return. Now that they have the two classifications, Sky Saver and Sky Choice, you need to call early to get the Sky Saver.

I avoid all travel in the summer tourist season months..also May because of so many holidays. My trips are April and October.

I will be calling next month for FF tickets for my granddaughter from Tampa to CDG. I will be meeting her in ATL from AVL for our trip together to CDG.

mikewalsh,
Keep in mind that flying in Continental's BusinessFirst cabin over the water requires an additional 10,000 mile premium (or at least it did as of 6 months ago), so if your itinerary has any segments in CO BF, it would cost 100,000 each rather than 90,000 if you stuck with Delta or Air France.

If you don't find anything at 331 days out, don't give up as seats may not be released exactly at that time. You can also waitlist any Delta operated flights.

I got a busines class ticket in July to Berlin, then a week later go to Nice then a week later, return out of Nice.

Got the departure date I wanted but couldn't get the exact return date. Hda to return on Friday instead of Saturday.

Booked it as soon as it was available.

But it seems even with that, Skysaver BC tickets are more available than Skysaver coach. I got enough miles to get the BC tix but it would be nice to have some options.

There is always grousing on Flyertalk about the availability of Skysaver tix in general.

I have tried with Delta over the years and never had luck booking to Europe. I called once with the 331 day rule and was completey open as to when & where I flew. They had nothing. I have had much better luck booking FF miles to Europe with United. I have done so successfully 3 times and the last time I only called 6 months in advance for July travel.

I just booked w/ Delta from New Orleans to Athens, on their website, roundtrip coach ticket for travel in October (THIS October!). I was as surprised as anyone at how easy it was and figure a few things were in my favor: 1) Maybe Athens isn't as popular a destination as other European cities; 2)I'm flying on Wednesdays both coming & going.

In '05 we wanted to use FF miles for roundtrip business class for our honeymoon to Italy . . . I got nowhere with Delta, but a travel agent was able to get us 2 business class FF tickets (free, not paying coach then upgrading w/ FF miles). We had a 6-hour layover in Toronto, but for free business class, it was worth it. The travel agent's charge was $200.00, again, well worth it. So. . . if you don't have any luck on their website or w/ them over the phone, consider asking a travel agent to go to bat for you.

Just to clarify this 331 day thing...but let's use the number 3 instead. If I want to fly on Saturday and can make reservations 3 days out then I need to call Wednesday at 12:01am...right? I guess it's rather obvious. I've got to get ready to count out 331 days from next September 12.


Also...our miles are thru Continental. I assume I need to call Continental to make the reservations and let them look at partner airlines. I can't call directly to the partner airline using Continental ff miles can I?

<i>If I want to fly on Saturday and can make reservations 3 days out then I need to call Wednesday at 12:01am...right?</i>

Correct, but double check the number of days in advance that you can book with Continental as this does vary.

You will need to call Continental if you have Onepass miles. You cannot call the partner airline directly.

I must be the odd man out here. I've ot ever had trouble getting FF tickets , mostly BC, on delta. BUT, my dates are always flexible and I don't mind connections or partner airlines. I've gotten tickets from just 3-4 months out. Remember seats open up all the time and the 331 days out may only have a few seats but later on they may have more available.

I do use the phone instead of trying to book online...and jolly up the agent!

I've had great luck in the past booking 331 days in advance for Europe in the summer- except for this year. I wanted nonstop flight from ATL to Madrid in May. When I called there were no seats available.

I booked with a partner and had three stops. I also waitlisted for the non-stop flight. Today I looked on the website and found my non-stop flights, so called Delta and got my skysaver flights.

I think I'll just try Delta's website from now on if I can't get my flight 331 days out. I had to pay $50 change fee for each ticket. I could have avoided this if I'd been patient and waited for Delta to release the ff tix on their website.

Efoss3,
They didn't waive the change fee even though you had the same flight waitlisted? I've had waitlists which didn't clear automatically even though I could find Skysaver availability for the same flight when checking on delta.com (which is why I routinely check myself). In those instances, they've waived the change fee for me.

BTW the change fee for tickets issued on or after August 1, 2007 is now $75.

Since this thread came back up, I'll add that I just ticketed LAX-CDG-AMS(stopover)-NBO/NBO-AMS-JFK-LAX for two passengers in business class today for next February. The most difficult part was finding a NBO-AMS segment. Once I got that, coordinating the transatlantic segments wasn't too hard since it's winter. The only time I've done the 331 day thing was last October for my LAX-ATL-AMS-CPT/JNB-CDG-LAX itinerary next month as I was concerned about traveling in high season.

bookmarking - I am trying for ff tickets to Europe next spring (09).I am totally flexible on where we leave and where we are flying in and out of.
~Dawn

Dawn - Have you tried the NWA site for Japan? They will show Delta, Continental, and NWA award availability.
www.asiares.nwa.com Be sure to click the World Perks Award box before searching. You have to keep resetting the Award box to search other cities which can be a bit annoying. Patty might know of a way around it. Try posting on the airline forum. If nothing else, there are almost always award flights to Zurich - a 19&euro; smart train fare ride to Milan.

kybourbon - Thank you! I have only been playing around with the delta site. I have a few more months before the dates will be bookable.

I am also waiting on FF miles - I currently have about 125,000 and am hoping to be able to transfer some more AMEX and am using my Delta Amex for everything right now...

I have been reading flyer talk, and a few other sites.

I am hoping, praying, dancing in a circle LOL that because I have total flexibilty and do not care where I end up flying too - that we can score the tickets. :-)

I will post it on the Airlines a little closer to when I am ready to book.
~Dawn

We booked at the beginning of January for our trip at the end of May using Delta FF- had no problem.

spinch - where are you traveling from and to?

That helps :-)

~Dawn

I just booked a FF flight on the Delta site for Sept 22-29, but the cheapest in 'miles' were actually on Continental. So - booked thru Delta.com but flying on Continental.

travelnut - where from and to?

Dawn

MomDDTravel- we're flying from Atlanta to Rome, Rome to Sicily (5 days there), then back to Rome and on to Athens (2 weeks in Greece) and then we were able to get a direct flight from Athens back to Atlanta. My husband wasn't able to book it online, but when he called had no trouble.

spinch that is GREAT! I will be calling them in a few months - I hope to have the same luck :-)

I would love to hear about your trip when you get home - sounds fabulous!

~Dawn

I'm a horrible writer, but I'm sure that I'll post something! Can't wait! Told my husband that if I couldn't go back to Greece this year that my soul would die. He decided that he didn't want that on his conscience.

I used my Delta FF miles to book nonstop flights from Atlanta-Athens for May, and did it about seven months in advance (late Sept).

I booked using the Delta website and used 75K miles (half sky choice, half sky saver). I guess if I had called, it's possible I could have booked it for 50K miles, but I wanted the nonstop flights and I probably would have had to add some layovers to get it down to 50K, which I didn't want to do.

Related to my above post: round-trip Jacksonville Fl - Amsterdam.

Wow, so much has changed since this thread was first started! The very helpful Flyertalk thread I kept referring to no longer exists, the reissue/redeposit fees have increased to $100 per ticket, they no longer hold award reservations by phone and delta.com now supports award searches for CO and NW flights (with AF and KL to be added) though I still find the NW site easier to use.

The NW site kybourbon posted will also show availability for Air France, KLM, and Aeroflot among others (in addition to CO, DL, NW). You should be able to change the origin/destination on the Search Results page without having to keep resetting the Award box. You're looking for flights that have PerkSaver availability. Once you find it, you still have to call DL to book or book on delta.com if it's one of the online bookable carriers.

If you're looking for business class awards, keep in mind that an itinerary with any transatlantic flight on CO or NW will cost 100,000 miles per ticket as opposed to 90,000 on all other carriers.

If you're totally flexible, you shouldn't have a problem scoring tickets. There's bound to be transatlantic availability on some carrier to some city.

Forgot to add, if you book by phone and have a segment on a partner carrier, there's now a partner award fee of $25 per ticket which is in addition to the telephone ticketing charge of $25 per ticket.

Patty you are great - thank you so much -- I really appreciate all your advice. I will definately be following your suggestions!

~Dawn

Any recent experiences?

I'm a last minute man. For the past two summers I have used Delta FF miles to pay for my daughter's flights to CDG or MAD from LAX or SNA with one month stopovers at DTW or FNT. I booked about 6 weeks in advance. The cost? About 107k miles for each.

I booked two FF tickets online going open jaw ATL-CDG and AMS-ATL in May and it cost 60k miles for each ticket. I booked on delta.com, but the flights are actually on Air France and KLM.

I had to add my experience here bc i was so amazed. I just got 5 FF seats for Europe next summer..which i thought would be totally impossible and was prepared for all kinds of alternatives.. willing to adjust dates, fly into and out of different locations, etc. i booked last week and there was avail on many europe destinations from what i saw on calendar.. maybe delta is attempting to open more seats? my specifics were into Prague on June 13 and out of Zagreb on July 4.. I did use the agent and pay $25 per ticket bc open jaw is not easy to see "prices/miles" on the planner. Also, 4 yrs ago, I got 4 FF tickets into Paris and out of Milan in the summer. Best of luck to all..