I managed to land 50,000 mile FF mile tickets to/from London and the US today for July 19-August 2, 2008. Yeah me! They are on hold until Thursday.

I will be transferring to Belgrade from London the day after arrival. After Serbia, we plan to spend a few days in Munich and a few days back in London before we leave. I would meet the 3 pass minimum. Airfares I've seen between my destinations are $150-200 one-way for each of us (me and my 14yo daughter). The flight passes might be a cheaper option--I need to look at total mileage amounts to verify).

How do these work? Do I have to purchase them when I complete my tranatlantic flight purchase? Are they a good value--I know they are flight coupons. Are the taxes added on cost-prohibitive so that I should just buy budget airline tickets instead? Anyone have experience with this?

bookmarking...I never of these before

Me either. Kelllye, would you mind telling us how this is supposed to work and how you get them. I'm a big time NWA flyer and would surely like to be able to use this kind of option.

Try reposting on the airline forum as some of the FF experts on various airlines check that more often.

Actually I wish you would post what you find out HERE..since some of the airline forum stuff seems to be taken up with which frequent flyer knows more jargon and ticketing codes than anything else sometimes!

I have been reading the Sky Team website for the past two weeks myself and would love the answers to Kellye's questions posted here as I am sure there are others like me who do not understand how this works. Thanks for asking the exact thing I was wondering, Kellye!

<i>seems to be taken up with which frequent flyer knows more jargon and ticketing codes than anything else sometimes!</i>

While I don't disagree, part of the problem is that things like the Europe pass are so loaded with terms and conditions that you have to know the jargon and fare codes to use them well.

For example, the coupons for the ST Europe pass require booking into specific fare codes:

<b><i>Passengers with SkyTeam Europe Pass coupons must be booked in the following classes for flights inside Europe
KL, OK, SU: Q
AF: W
AZ: K for international flights, T for domestic flights
UX: V</i></b>

For the first flight, which I understand would be July 21, what does this mean? Well, the airlines that serve Belgrade are Czech (OK) and Alitalia (AZ). For that date, OK does not have Q class available for the Prague to Belgrade segment. This means that you will have to fly Alitalia, which has K class available for both legs.

Personally, I have never found these to be a good deal. The problem is that you have to pay per segment. Since each of our OP's flights will involve a connection, the price can climb quickly. Indeed, you are likely looking at over $200 per coupon. Not a rip-off, but certainly not a bargain. Throw in the complexity surrounding buying and using these things, and I still haven't found an instance where they make sense (for me).

Of course, getting in and out of Belgrade looks decently expensive, so it may make sense in this case.

FWIW - I was talking about Fodor's airline forum, not flyertalk. The Fodor's regulars there are very helpful and know all the ins and outs.

Thanks for your insight travelgourmet. I have found a fare from London to Belgrade on BA for 160US. Sounds like that is the best possible fare I would get on the pass as well, if it is that good. The BA flight is also direct which is a definite advantage. I can find bargains on the bargain airlines for the Munich to London segment easily; the Belgrade to Munich segment also has some cheaper fares. The idea behind the flight pass sounds great--I was worried that execution would make it into a &quot;too good to be true&quot; offer and it sounds like it is. I appreciate the insight.

Did you check award availability into Belgrade? If you did open jaw into Belgrade and out of London, that would be one less segment you'd have to purchase assuming you don't really need that first night in London.

It wouldn't take me to Belgrade. I tried!