Patty

Therese,
Do you know how the 95K breaks down? I would've thought it would be the one way amounts for US-Europe (25K), Europe-Japan (40K), Japan-Mexico (30K) and Mexico-US (15K) but that adds up to 110K, unless I'm wrong on one of those. Anyway, excellent use of miles and something I'd never thought of! I would've assumed the RTW award was required.

Therese

I was just as surprised as you, Patty. I'd called the super top secret RTW desk at Delta to book this trip and got a great agent. I explained that I wanted to do RTW (which is normally 140,000 in coach), that my dates were pretty flexible (within certain parameters), and that I was pretty flexible on destinations as well. I'd already spent some time at SkyTeam checking out the options, and had put together a tentative itinerary. As it turned out, ever single one of my tentative destinations and dates worked on the very first try. I do have to make one connection on a leg that could have been direct (I'm waitlisted on all the direct options at this point), but otherwise it was very easy.

At the end of it all the agent asked me if I anticipated making any changes to the itinerary, and when I said "no" she suggested that I just book it as a conventional award instead of RTW (RTW, for those of you that don't know, can be started without knowing exactly when and where you're going so long as you follow certain rules), so I did. I didn't bother to have her tell me which segments cost what, so don't know exactly how she did it.

But I'm happy, that's for sure.

Patty

I've never used the RTW award desk but have heard that the agents there are great. Glad it worked out so well.

scatcat

I just got my FF award tickets booked last night through Delta. Leaving May 31 into Munich and returning June 18 from Nice-connecting in AMS and spending the last night in Amsterdam to fly home on the 18th. It's a lot of trouble, but I guess it's worth the $1200-$1600 that the ticket would cost.

Christina

I just got a RT IAD-CDG (Wash DC to Paris) flight for 50K FF miles on Delta for late Sept/early October this year (2008). There were lots of possibilities within the 2-3 weeks I was considering. I even got the IAD-CDG nonstop going, on Air France.

It was real easy to do it, I just went online to their calendar and marked the approximate dates I wanted and they showed me a whole month and which days I could choose for departure and return, and which days had flights for 50K miles. I got have gotten a departure on virtually any date in September, as I recall, although there were a few dates blacked out for the return between late Sept-early October (like 10/2-20/4). I did have to go on a Monday to get the nonstop going, though, but I could have gone the Sunday before if I would take a layover somewhere. The flight over is Air France and return is Continental (no nonstop returns were available at the 50K level).

This is only about 60 days out, and they had lots of flights available for 50K miles.

Therese

This is for 2009, scatcat?

If you're interested in getting a better return, you can call Delta and ask to be waitlisted for a more direct itinerary. This will only work if you can do it on Delta equipment, so no codeshare with Air France (if it's AF equipment), and that may be a deal breaker if you are bound and determined to return from Nice. If you'd be just as happy to return from a city that's served by Delta equipment (like Paris), though, you can do this.

Note that you may need to be very clear and possibly a bit emphatic about what you want to do, as the agent may not at first understand your query. The last time I did this the desk of interest was called "re-ticketing".

Once you're waitlisted those flights will show up in your itinerary as "waitlisted". If availability opens up you'll clear into it (unless, of course, there's somebody ahead of you in line).

Patty

NCE is served by Delta (via JFK) so that can be waitlisted. Not sure where scatcat needs to head from there though.

Another option is to waitlist AMS-XXX on June 18th or even CDG-XXX. In my experience intra-Europe availability is pretty good and NCE-CDG can be added if CDG-XXX clears. If not, you can always decline the change.

scatcat

The NCE-JFK was not offered at all. I did that schedule in April, but not on FF ticket. The Ams flight is to Houston then I have a short layover and fly on to Shreveport, LA. I could have gone the entire trip in one day through CDG or AMS, but I decided I would rather spend a night in the connection city. The hard part of booking this trip was the MUC. The schedule appeared on the itinerary list, but it would not go through when I tried to book. It kept giving me the message that one of more of the flights chosen were sold out. I talked with Delta internet techs several times-none could make it work. The last agent told me to call at 11:00 PM To talk with an international awards agent. This was last night and that was when my return date became available. Then at 11:00 PM the agent with whom I spoke was kind enough to book the entire trip for me, including the return segment which was still not available on Delta website. I'm happy to be done with it as I have tried other dates which were available, but the layovers were bad.

This trip is for 2009.

lbrawer

Following up on an earlier post, can someone suggest how to address the new Delta rule that doesnt allow you to "hold a date? e.g. I want to fly to Italy next August 14th but in order to book on the first possible available day 331 days in advance, that would only "cover" the outbound portion. I want to return 16 days later, so how do I ensure a seat on the outbound flight and also book the return>? Is there a strategy that I am just not recognizing? Any advice would be appreciated.

hpeabody

I was able to book LAX-Paris/CDG Non-stop connect CDG to Amsterdam/AMS. Open jaw CDG to Venice/VCE, VCE to CDG connect CDG to LAX non-stop. I did this on-line through Delta and I am booked all on a partner, Air France. This was 50,000 miles on SkySaver. It was difficult to work out this well, it took a few days of trying. I was trying to avoid multiple stops, which there were still many available. Some meant quite substantial travel time, like over 30+ hours. NOT FOR ME.

I am not yet locked in with anything for AMS/Amsterdam to Paris/CDG, that 1 leg would have added 25,000 miles which I don't have. I may do train or buy a round trip at about $300.00 US and not use the return

This is for travel at the end of next May, return June 2nd. I just completed the ticketing tonight (Which was a nightmare, but that's another story)

scatcat

When I booked my May 31, 2009 trip on Delta, I also was told no more "holding" the out-going flight. But the agent told me that I could book the out-going as a one way and pay with miles, then when my return date became available, I would have to pay $100 to change the ticket. I chose to take the chance of getting the flights at one time. I didn't get the "best" schedule, but it is okay.

lbrawer

That's kind of what I was thinking-- book "anything " for the return and then change it for 100$. Another thought-- it appears that you can "hold" an itinerary online for two days-- I was woondering if the system whould let me book the first flight with any other randon outgoing and then just keep changing the retun as that day becomes available. Seems risky. We are somewhat flexible as to dates-- e.g. can leave plus or minus two days and return same and also with cities - While jfk to venice and home from Naples is my goal, I can edit as necessary. Its jsut that we're 4 eople. Also re above poster, I guess we could split up if that became a factor.