Frequent Flyer Miles-any value?
 

For the last few years we have assiduously gathered frequent flyer miles. It costs money to do so. We travel to France each year and have earned one free ticket each year. This has been true in the summer and the fall. <BR> <BR>In early February I called Delta to schedule a June trip and was told that there are no frequent flyer seats left, and none within 30 days of our planned departure. I was told you would have to book 11 months in advance for a summer trip and then hope that a seat was available. <BR> <BR>I was offered one routing to use my frequent flyer miles, from NYC to Nice, this with a straight face: <BR> <BR>NYC LGA-to Atlanta-to Munich-to Lyon-to-Nice, a tidy 17 hour odyssey. Being a bit long in the tooth I doubted I could survive such a trip. <BR> <BR>What good are frequent flyer miles if their only use is going to be for early February trips to Saskatchewan? <BR> <BR>Please let me know if any "truth in advertising" efforts are under way by us,uh, "frequent flyers"? <BR> <BR>

As I understand it, the airlines are offering these miles as a "fringe". Therefore they have the right to change whatever they like whenever they like as long as they do not violate the "contract of carriage". A gentleman tried to sue American Airlines a few years ago when they changed the rules...the courts said "sorry, Charlie" in essence. I agree the miles should be under some sort of contract but no one I know can forsee it changing.

keep calling. I called a few weeks ago for a seat to London in June and was told "there are no ff seats available you have to book months in advance" I asked the agent to double check in event of a cancellation and she refused. Irate I called back and told my tale and the lady looked in the system and what do you know? I was offered two dates for departure!!! I am now trying frantically to get those last few miles. Maybe I will pay my taxes with my credit card this year!

I agree that it can be hard to use the miles, but I just have learned the system and follow it. I always have a pretty good idea of what I plan to do travelwise at least a year ahead. I know that about June 10 of this year I will call American Airlines to book my free business class flight for May 6 of 2002 to London. Then about July 10 I will call them back to add the segment from London to Berlin for June 8 of 2002. These will be held for me until November when I can book my return from Madrid in October. I have been doing this for several years, and it seems that it will be little inconvenience concerning the fact that the two of us will get over $12,000 of free business class flights for next summer by using a total of 160,000 miles, most of which we have earned through charging everything on our Citibank cards and looking for bonus mileage credits.

WE used our frequent flyer miles (2 people) for a trip to London and coming back from Amsterdam 2 years ago around mid-September. I didn't know that you have to reserve months in advance if you want to use your FF miles and I did ours around May, I think. Anyway we got 2 available seats for this route:St. Louis-Philadelphia-Memphis-Amsterdam-London (outbound). I didn't have a choice because that was the only route with seats available so we got it. On day of departure, at the airport counter, the ticketing agent looked at our ticket to London and said "This is ridiculous"!! To go to London using these routes?? So he booked us almost direct: St. Louis-Minneapolis-London. We were happy and relieved!! <BR>Good Luck!

Right now Delta is at the top of my doo-doo list in regards to frequent flyer miles. I usually use my miles to upgrade to business class from purchased tickets, even those $254 of season bargains. <BR> Amyway, I've got several trips to Europe this summer and found out this charming news about Delta: <BR> 1) no free tickets forever (as Anthony has discovered) RT to Milan. 2) There ARE 50,000-mile business upgrades, BUT the base fare jumped from $856 to $1256...in other words you can't upgrade the cheap fares anymore with Delta w/o paying a premium. To add insult to injury, I ended up booking their $856 coach ticket for Milan because it was all that was available for the dates I needed. (I think Europe is going to be crowded with Americans this summer...lots of flights SOLD-OUT early this year.) <BR> While I have some frequent flyer issues with American also, nothing like this and they will get the rest of my European business this year! <BR> I told Delta I HOPED I'd fail to re-qualify for elite status so I'd never feel compelled to use them again...So There!!! What can you do:)

You might try a good travel agent. Mine has the philosphy that no one should pay for an airline ticket and 70% of his airline business is for miles. He does charge about a $50 fee for the booking, but he has connections that I don't have and it's so nice just to call and let it be his problem. He has never failed me.

We were fortunate to get two frequent flier tickets from Charlotte to Venice via Boston on USAIR/ ALITALIA--- I booked in December for May 31--- the first few times I called the reservationist could not get me any FF flights--- I was persistent and kept calling back-- I also checked configurations on the computer--- I finally got the tickets and purchased a third ticket at full fare for my son-- in the mean time, the tickets have decreased so I have received a voucher from USAIR for the difference--- for another trip !!! I guess I lucked out-- however the key is to be persistent and check daily!! Most of the agents I talked to said that it had to be at least one year in advance to take advantage of the FF benefit-- <BR> <BR>Mary

I use my FF miles all of the time. I use them to upgrade to business class with no problems at all. Of course I must buy coach tickets (my one splurge) so don't get the good deals that some of you get, BUT flying to Europe from Los Angeles is a long flight and I arrive after having a good nights sleep very refreshed and ready to go without a nap. So it all depends on how you plan on using them.

Did you try Delta out of JFK? Or maybe they will let you use the miles with Delta and one of their partners like Air France. I know that after March 31 that Delta and Air France are going to co-share. I am not saying you can do this, but it is worth a try. I tried Delta to Nice with miles for May and I started in Jan. and the days I wanted were booked. But try them again. The trouble is that sometimes you get a ticket agent that will work with you and sometimes they just say "no" after only one try with no alternate routes. Good luck.

We've done really, really well with miles. You need to learn the rules of your carrier's program and then follow them to achieve the maximum possible advantage. Minimum mileage award seats certainly are limited, but rarely non-existent if you are willing to plan well in advance. Evaluate each and every opportunity for bonuses and promotions -- some are good and some are not. The program can work for those who pay attention and plan. But for those who are expecting the kind of flexibility they would get when simply purchasing a ticket, fuggetaboutit. I'm sitting in your seat already.

I had a special event in Vienna and had 3 weeks notice. I called American and the frequent flyer rep gave me several options for the legs. It cost $27 and I received my tickets in about 4 days. It could not have been easier.

If you check Delta's blackout dates for 2001, you'll notice that they black out frequent flyer travel from U.S. cities to Nice for all Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during most of June and all of July and August. This is probably one reason why you're having such a hard time finding a seat in that timeframe. You can book during the blackout periods using an urestricted award, but this costs you twice as much mileage. <BR>This points out the main problem I've had in the past with Delta's frequent flyer program. I find their use of blackout dates excessive. <BR> <BR>To try to get around this problem, you can try to see if you can fly into another European destination that Delta serves if you can get a reasonably priced connecting flight. You can also try to use your miles on a Delta partner airline as a previous poster had suggested.

Regarding the suggestion to try booking on partner airlines, Air France is a partner airline to Delta. Have you tried using your Delta miles to book a flight to France on Air France?

I booked a FF award trip to France last year on Delta, and at the airport, they bumped me to an Air France flight. We were supposed to fly from Cincinnati to JFK to CDG. We were very pleasant to the ticket agent, who offered to let us fly on Air France direct from Cincy. Have never actually booked a FF trip on Air France through Delta, but I believe it could be done.

I use Delta Frequent Flyer miles fly overseas about once a year. I have also used American. Basically I can't tell the difference between the programs. If you want to go to Europe or Hawaii during peak seasons you have to PLAN very far ahead! June would be busy season. I booked my May tickets last year in December. Do be sure to check the partner airlines. My tickets last year were actually Swiss Air miles and I wound up on Delta flights (who knows!) I also usually book what I can and then keep changing it (sometimes up until the last minute!) Seats seem to open up!

I'm using Delta FF miles to fly on Air France to Spain and then to Prague in May. The availability on Delta (for two people traveling together) was pretty slim. Getting across the water is the hard part. This was booked in January, BTW -- I took the best dates I could get on the initial call, got the reservation and then tweaked it on three or four subsequent calls until it turned into what we wanted. Cancellations do become available if you are willing to spend some extra effort. Also you can ask to be waitlisted for individual legs of your trip and Delta will call you if something opens up (at least they say they will). Being flexible enough to slide your travel dates a couple of days in either direction helps too. <BR>In Delta's favor I would comment that this was not an easy itinerary for tracking down flight availability, but throughout the process the Delta partner reservations people were always friendly, patient, professional and hard-working!

Thanks for your reactions. <BR> <BR>I was trying to leave from JFK. The 17 hour odyssey that was proposed to me started at LGA instead. <BR> <BR>I finally bought two tickets on Air France on the departure day I wanted. The tickets were priced less than Delta quoted. <BR> <BR>My goal is to see truth in advertising. <BR>How about a published schedule of how many seats are available for frequent flyers on all flights? This would give the customer a chance to choose what is available rather than going through a lot of fruitless iterations. Reservation agents promptly find that out so the data is available. <BR> <BR>A statistic in airline advertising on how many frequent flyers are accommodated within three choices would be interesting, etc.; or, perhaps a statement that between June 1 and September 15 frequent flyer seats are very limited. <BR> <BR>As soon as I find a way to use my Delta miles, I plan to switch to British Airways that runs a class airline. <BR> <BR>

Why don't airlines post seat availabilty and blackout dates for frequent flyer tickets on the internet<BR>much the same as entertainment venues do?<BR><BR>We three are going bus class to Nice via Zurich this Fall compliments of Delta, it was the only way we could get<BR>there without three stops through Atlanta.

My understanding is that the ability to book FF tickets online is coming (for Delta). I've been hearing that it could be as soon as this spring.<BR><BR>That will be a huge step forward for both us and the airline. Delta would likely prefer to have those agents selling tickets instead of desperately searching for a way to book a FF ticket from ATL to Nice though Salt Lake City.

we booked our trip to italy in a few weeks via delta frequent flyer miles - it's our honeymoon - almost a year after our wedding. oh well, yes, last year we experienced the same problem you are having. but what's going on is that each flight only has a few seats designated for frequent flyers. over a course of 6 months this spring/summer, we had 3 choices to fly into italy and two days to fly out - and we had to fly in and out of rome. if you book far enough in advance you can do it. and i think it's worth it. good luck.

A couple of years ago I stayed at the London Guards Hotel. It has air conditioning and a fridge in each room. The location is good and it is excellent value for money. Check out demon.co.uk/hotel-uk/

Hell, we are going to Scotland/Ireland in Aug. on Delta, code sharing with AF.<BR>Non-stop Atl to Paris, Paris to Edinburgh on AF, I think if we would have purchased that particular tkt (high season), it would have been biiiiiig bucks. I did not do a search but I think most people would agree, that it would be expensive. Plus my return from Dublin non stop to Atl. would not be cheap either. In fact, Delta FF reservationists were extremely helpful and friendly. I was very impressed. Brian: that is good news on the FF front for us Delta people, yes? <BR>Money saving Judy :-)<BR>

We just got back from Turkey using our miles on the credit card. Booked it four days before we went?(We decided last minute to go someplace over spring break and ironically one of the few places that had seats was Istanbul/Turkey.) We had a fabulous time and our family enjoyed an experience we might not have thought of previously! My advice would be to those who want to use their miles and don't book ahead for busy times(summer,holidays,etc.)-be somewhat spontaneous and see where your miles might take you(something other than the "usual" Paris,London,Spain or Italy.I admit that I am good at researching and booking things at the last minute but my point is that it can be done.Our family did a trip that will be a lasting memory for years to come!<BR>Also-for those complaining about the redeemption of those miles....do you realize how many people have those miles?There are only so many flights!

I have had mixed results using FF miles. Flexability really is key. I tried, starting last September, trying to book one trip using USAirways miles to Italy, assuming we'd just purchase the companion ticket. The routes that were possible involved at least two changes each way, one taking us from Baltimore/DC to Chicago before going across the pond. It was next to impossible to get a price for the companion ticket, and we really didn't like the idea of touring so many different airports (I get to spend many hours in these US airports ANYWAY in the course of earning miles!) The second option was to upgrade to business class. However, we still would have been paying over $2000 for the two upgradeable seats, and for some reason we could only get an upgrade on the way over. None of the flights coming back during the week we hoped to return were available. When I found at least acceptable fare for flights to/from Rome on USAirways direct between Philly and Rome, I grabbed them. The miles we earn will accumulate for a trip next year...when we will not have our hearts set on a destination country! The most successful use I've made were when I got my husband a 1st class round trip to Puerto Rico one January. My company meeting had been scheduled (and my economy fare covered) so at the end he flew out and joined me. When we returned, at check-in I joked about "Wasn't it nice of me to get my husband a 1st class ticket when I was stuck in coach?" They paged me about ten minutes before boarding and had moved me up as well. You have to look at them as a fringe benefit. It's great when you can get them to work for you.

We are family of five and depend on FF miles for travel. We have AA UA and American Express because I can use their miles on a number of airlines. For Europe we do book far in advance because of school vacations and buy coach and upgrade to business (from LA) no deals but a nice flight. In the states I will try for a free flight often if there are no flights left I will talk to a supervisor and buy a couple of tickets and use miles for the others. I booked our United flights from LA to London and home from Milan in December for July/August paid 1200 but upgraded each to business. It would of cost the same for one full fare business.

I think they are very valuable. I have never had any major problem other than having to be a bit flexible in using them. We have used them for at least 6 trips to Europe and have always been able to get seats. Now, I must say that we always travel in the off season and that does help. I am sure that getting seats in the midst of the summer would be tricky. We are also flexible on our travel days. We are willing to leave on a weekday and return on a weekday. This seems to help as well. I will start out by selecting a range of dates, then try to get our first choice (usually a weekend departure/return). Based on what I learn I then begin to pick alternate dates and days until I find something that will work for us. So far, we have never had to rearrange too much, at the most perhaps come back a day later than planned. I have found that I have had more trouble getting the return dates I wanted than the going dates, which is interesting.<BR><BR>I think the basic secret is to travel in the off-season. This makes it easier to get seats. Plus, and it is a BIG PLUS, off season travel is much more pleasant, with smaller crowds, less rushed locals, and easier access to all the sights. I highly recommend off-season travel.

I was able to book a FF ticket in Feburary for September travel. I went for business class and didn't have a lot of trouble. I can imagine that the coach tickets book up pretty fast. I have also heard you need to book early, 364 days in advance.

Anthony,<BR>I empathize with your dilema, but 4 months is a little short notice, especially considering the kiddies are all out of school and the family vacation season is in high gear. But here's an idea...<BR> United and Delta are now partners and their mileage programs are interchangable, at least for domestic flights. You'll have to double check to ensure it goes for international travel. So if Delta has no seats available, check with United using your Delta Skymiles. Also, on a paid fare with United or Delta you can now designate which frequent flyer program you want your miles credited to, dispite which airline you're traveling on.( however the miles will NOT count towards your "qualifying status" for program levels))When you're on the phone with a Delta reservations agent, and there are no seats available, they can go into the United reservations system and check for you. <BR>Do I think they're worth it- you bet!<BR>Most of my points come from business travel, so I view it as a bonus for all the business travel I do. But my family enjoys the payoff every year when we are able to go on a vacation we otherwise would not have been able to take by using mileage tickets.<BR>In February I traded in 200,000 miles for two first class tickets to Italy in September and my only restriction was there were no seats available on a weekend (which wasn't an issue anyway).These tickets, if purchased, were quoted at $11,000 each (now who would pay that anyway?!!!)It's our 25th wedding anniversary and I wanted to splurge. So yes, they gave me trip of a lifetime!!<BR>So, bank these miles that you can't use, plan a little further ahead next time and perhaps you'll have enough for a nice upgraded ticket.<BR>Good Luck!!