stategies for getting business class to Eruope in May
Dec 18th, 2007, 02:04 PM
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stategies for getting business class to Eruope in May
Hi Ive got about 100,000 miles on an airline ( I know, good luck with that)how can I best optimize finding a seat cheap...and what cities you be the easiest to get into ....thanks
Dec 18th, 2007, 02:12 PM
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I'm not sure I'm following you, but if you have 100,000 miles with American, it should be pretty reasonable to assume you can still get a business class seat for free round trip to Europe this summer from the US, so long as you're somewhat flexible on dates and connections. You can play on their website to book it, or call the aadvantage desk. I can't speak for other airlines and you didn't tell us which one you have the miles with.
Dec 18th, 2007, 02:22 PM
#3
Are the miles with American? Alaska? USAir?
Are you coming from... Portland? Peru?
"Optimize finding a cheap seat..." - ? Do you want to use miles to upgrade or for a straight award?
And where to? "Easiest to get to" is very dependent on which airline your miles are with.
Are you coming from... Portland? Peru?
"Optimize finding a cheap seat..." - ? Do you want to use miles to upgrade or for a straight award?
And where to? "Easiest to get to" is very dependent on which airline your miles are with.
Dec 18th, 2007, 02:28 PM
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The most popular flights are certain to have been booked already. You will have to be willing to accept a mid-week flight, and possibly overnight connections.
That said, you should try for destinations other than London or Paris. For that matter, you can also use AA miles on the code share and one world airlines, e.g. Iberia and THY. We used AA miles to fly DFW-ORD-IST on Turkish Air and, even with a late call, were able to get the seats with only a long layover at ORD on the return.
That said, you should try for destinations other than London or Paris. For that matter, you can also use AA miles on the code share and one world airlines, e.g. Iberia and THY. We used AA miles to fly DFW-ORD-IST on Turkish Air and, even with a late call, were able to get the seats with only a long layover at ORD on the return.
Dec 18th, 2007, 06:31 PM
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Thank you for your replies...I didn't mention that it was Delta as I could hear the chorus of "moans" and "too bad/ good luck"...
.yes.. I have called and considered Tuesdays as well as overnight connections but all I could get was a ticket to Salt Lake (I live on the east coast)and back for a 24 hour trip.(two of us)to Amsterdam..
.Is there a city or partner I might have better luck with? I started out 330 days out and there was nothing open so my trip obsession is kicking back in and I dont want to give up.......I've never done an upgrade before...I think they are going to block my phone number!!
And those of you that want to tell me to change programs ..yes I have changed to AA but still have all these left....
.yes.. I have called and considered Tuesdays as well as overnight connections but all I could get was a ticket to Salt Lake (I live on the east coast)and back for a 24 hour trip.(two of us)to Amsterdam..
.Is there a city or partner I might have better luck with? I started out 330 days out and there was nothing open so my trip obsession is kicking back in and I dont want to give up.......I've never done an upgrade before...I think they are going to block my phone number!!
And those of you that want to tell me to change programs ..yes I have changed to AA but still have all these left....
Dec 19th, 2007, 05:34 AM
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Is Delta notorious for poor frequent flier advantages? Please don't tell me so! Delta is the only airline that flies direct from my home airport (Hartford/Springfield) to West Palm beach where my mom lives and also has the most available non-stop flights to Italy and France, particularly Paris (partnered w/ Air France) and Rome, from JFK where we always fly from to Europe.
So it made sense to save miles with them and have been using their credit card to amass miles for 6 months or so. I haven't tried to collect yet. Will we find it imposible to get a free or upgraded flight anywhere? Has anyone had good luck with Delta frequent flier miles?
So it made sense to save miles with them and have been using their credit card to amass miles for 6 months or so. I haven't tried to collect yet. Will we find it imposible to get a free or upgraded flight anywhere? Has anyone had good luck with Delta frequent flier miles?
Dec 19th, 2007, 05:38 AM
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I'm curious too about when you started looking. I assumed you were just starting now which is certainly trickier, but now you indicate you started looking 330 days ahead -- back in June/July? And all this time there has been nothing available?
I do American and generally get them 330 days out. Only once have I had to adjust my schedule by one day when the tickets were already gone for my first choice. But yes, I often hear that Delta is very difficult -- particularly for the "free" business class awards.
I do American and generally get them 330 days out. Only once have I had to adjust my schedule by one day when the tickets were already gone for my first choice. But yes, I often hear that Delta is very difficult -- particularly for the "free" business class awards.
Dec 19th, 2007, 05:52 AM
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<<I haven't tried to collect yet. Will we find it imposible to get a free or upgraded flight anywhere? Has anyone had good luck with Delta frequent flier miles?>>
Yes, I've used my Delta miles for two roundtrip business class trips to Europe (both with stopovers) and upgraded to business class in August for a flight to Venice.
There may be a lot of factors involved, flexibility, dates you want to go and where you want to go. Both of my free b.c. trips were on Air France, which was fine.
You may not get the best flight times or the dates you want the most and may have long layovers -- but if it's free go for it.
Yes, I've used my Delta miles for two roundtrip business class trips to Europe (both with stopovers) and upgraded to business class in August for a flight to Venice.
There may be a lot of factors involved, flexibility, dates you want to go and where you want to go. Both of my free b.c. trips were on Air France, which was fine.
You may not get the best flight times or the dates you want the most and may have long layovers -- but if it's free go for it.
Dec 19th, 2007, 06:08 AM
#11
Hypatia, it's still not clear what you're looking for. There are two possibilities:
1. Using miles to upgrade to business class from paid economy tickets; or
2. A straight business class award, without paying for coach tickets at all.
With virtually all airlines, The availability "clocks" are different between the two. For option 2, the straight award, it's typically 330 days before the flight when availability <i>might</i> first appear. However, the airlines use very sophisticated (that's a euphemism for "something that nobody understands"
yield and pricing programs that tells them when, and how many seats they can release for upgrades or awards, vs. how many to hold back for eleventh-hour (thus pricey) sales, etc. <i>Award seats can become available throughout the 330 days, and typically only a small percentage of seats that will ultimately be made available for awards or upgrades are "released" at the 330 day mark.</i>
And, sadly, yes, Delta is among the more stingy airlines in making award seats available, but it's not the worst.
Regarding option 1, upgrading paid economy seats, the 330 day window is even more unreliable. Release of upgrade seats by all the major airlines is subject to a very complex system involving priorities for elite members of the airline's frequent flyer program, the fare basis of the ticket that's being upgraded (not all economy tickets are created equal) and the above mentioned yield management projections and forecasts for loads on the longhaul flights. Upgrade availability can come and go literally by the hour with most airlines, with the bulk of seats being "released" to non-elite passengers closer to the flight date than earlier.
If the upgrade-with-miles approach is what you're looking for, and if it's for the coming May, you need to be on the phone with Delta pretty much every day until you get something you want, or else get economy seats for the route you want and waitlist yourselves for upgrades, knowing that it's a 50-50 shot at best that your upgrades will clear prior to the flight date.
Frankly, with Delta the straight award approach (90K miles per person v. 50K for round trip upgrade) is IMO a better deal, since (a) the award works with any of Delta's partner airlines, including Air France, KLM, Northwest, Czech, Continental, Alitalia, as well as Delta itself, while (b) the upgrade award only works on Delta flights, and you can only upgrade more expensive coach seats using miles. Obviously with the straight award you have a much bigger field to choose from.
If you have 100K miles and want two 90K round trip award tickets, you can purchase miles to cover the missing 80K miles. The rules allow you to buy up to 50K miles per calendar year, so if you act within the next 10 days you can buy 50K miles this year, then in January buy 30K more (new calendar year) and bingo. Miles are 2.75 cents each so you can do the math. Remember that you're then saving the cost of the coach tickets that would be upgraded; most likely the total will be less just to buy miles.
1. Using miles to upgrade to business class from paid economy tickets; or
2. A straight business class award, without paying for coach tickets at all.
With virtually all airlines, The availability "clocks" are different between the two. For option 2, the straight award, it's typically 330 days before the flight when availability <i>might</i> first appear. However, the airlines use very sophisticated (that's a euphemism for "something that nobody understands"
yield and pricing programs that tells them when, and how many seats they can release for upgrades or awards, vs. how many to hold back for eleventh-hour (thus pricey) sales, etc. <i>Award seats can become available throughout the 330 days, and typically only a small percentage of seats that will ultimately be made available for awards or upgrades are "released" at the 330 day mark.</i>And, sadly, yes, Delta is among the more stingy airlines in making award seats available, but it's not the worst.
Regarding option 1, upgrading paid economy seats, the 330 day window is even more unreliable. Release of upgrade seats by all the major airlines is subject to a very complex system involving priorities for elite members of the airline's frequent flyer program, the fare basis of the ticket that's being upgraded (not all economy tickets are created equal) and the above mentioned yield management projections and forecasts for loads on the longhaul flights. Upgrade availability can come and go literally by the hour with most airlines, with the bulk of seats being "released" to non-elite passengers closer to the flight date than earlier.
If the upgrade-with-miles approach is what you're looking for, and if it's for the coming May, you need to be on the phone with Delta pretty much every day until you get something you want, or else get economy seats for the route you want and waitlist yourselves for upgrades, knowing that it's a 50-50 shot at best that your upgrades will clear prior to the flight date.
Frankly, with Delta the straight award approach (90K miles per person v. 50K for round trip upgrade) is IMO a better deal, since (a) the award works with any of Delta's partner airlines, including Air France, KLM, Northwest, Czech, Continental, Alitalia, as well as Delta itself, while (b) the upgrade award only works on Delta flights, and you can only upgrade more expensive coach seats using miles. Obviously with the straight award you have a much bigger field to choose from.
If you have 100K miles and want two 90K round trip award tickets, you can purchase miles to cover the missing 80K miles. The rules allow you to buy up to 50K miles per calendar year, so if you act within the next 10 days you can buy 50K miles this year, then in January buy 30K more (new calendar year) and bingo. Miles are 2.75 cents each so you can do the math. Remember that you're then saving the cost of the coach tickets that would be upgraded; most likely the total will be less just to buy miles.
Dec 19th, 2007, 06:25 AM
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Please tell us where you're originating, where you'd like to go and your travel dates or date range. Are you trying redeem 1 business class award ticket or are you trying to buy 2 economy tickets and upgrade with miles?
Dec 19th, 2007, 06:48 AM
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Call Delta, press the code for International Travel, then ask for the "Partner's Desk". Those folks are much better at finding seats and can ususally come up with something.
You can book International award travel online now with Delta (only on Delta metal) but you cannot book a mileage upgrade.
Another plus in using the Parnter's Desk is that they are U.S. based and used to doing coplicated bookings. Good luck!
You can book International award travel online now with Delta (only on Delta metal) but you cannot book a mileage upgrade.
Another plus in using the Parnter's Desk is that they are U.S. based and used to doing coplicated bookings. Good luck!
Dec 19th, 2007, 07:10 AM
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I checked for May from Knoxville the Barcelona a few days ago in Business Class and found seats. It did require two connections, but.....
Go to www.Delta.com and look. The system shows you a calendar look for the month and if you are flexible you can often find flights. If that doesn't work, call and see what they can do. I find them pretty helpful, but.... you are running late (as I am LOL!)
Now if you want an upgrade on a cheap seat on Delta you are not getting it. Delta only lets you use miles to upgrade on thier top fares (I think it's M and Y) It's just as good to book the "discount Business" fare as do that.... Price is close to the same and you don't waste miles LOL!
Go to www.Delta.com and look. The system shows you a calendar look for the month and if you are flexible you can often find flights. If that doesn't work, call and see what they can do. I find them pretty helpful, but.... you are running late (as I am LOL!)
Now if you want an upgrade on a cheap seat on Delta you are not getting it. Delta only lets you use miles to upgrade on thier top fares (I think it's M and Y) It's just as good to book the "discount Business" fare as do that.... Price is close to the same and you don't waste miles LOL!
Dec 19th, 2007, 07:11 AM
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I've had good luck using Delta miles on Continental flights. Just go to the continental website and you can play around with dates and cities. You then need to call Delta to book the award. I have not had problems getting non-stop flights, though I am in a hub city which does make a difference.
Right now I am looking to book for mid-late may travel and my options are fairly limitless using CO--I plugged in about 15 cities and from NYC/Newark can get the saver rate to Berlin, Vienna, Krakow, Vienna, Warsaw, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Beijing--the places I am deciding between.
In addition, I could redeem to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens. Not sure where you want to fly to though.
Right now I am looking to book for mid-late may travel and my options are fairly limitless using CO--I plugged in about 15 cities and from NYC/Newark can get the saver rate to Berlin, Vienna, Krakow, Vienna, Warsaw, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Beijing--the places I am deciding between.
In addition, I could redeem to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens. Not sure where you want to fly to though.
Dec 19th, 2007, 08:43 AM
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My wife and I go to Italy twice a year and I call SMS (special member services) at Delta for help. She gets an "I" fare (biz) and I get a ff (biz). By doing this, she remains Silver Medallion every year. However, my request is always: give us two weeks (approximately) in Italy and give us an open jaw (for instance) into Rome and out of Venice. With this loose specification it still takes the Delta rep at least an hour to make it happen. If I tried to do this on the web it would never happen.
Dec 19th, 2007, 08:48 AM
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Hypatia-I'm still not sure exactly what you are looking for but I've used my miles each year to upgrade with Delta to their Business Elite.
I have never had luck with the "free" tickets but have consistently had good luck with booking in January for July or August flights for upgraded tickets. These tickets have cost us $500-$2000 each for a round trip Business ticket. You can ONLY book these seats by talking to a live person. You can't do it online. Don't bother with their automated phone system, just keep saying "representative" and then make sure you are in International. I give them any city I'm willing to fly into (only flying OUT of Atlanta) and a range of dates. If there is someone who doesn't seem to want to find this for you, hang up and try again, but I have to say I usually find the phone reps to be very helpful. You also cannot use your miles to upgrade on a partner, but Delta can help you with the 100% free business tickets on their partner airlines. We were able to fly Delta to London then use our points to fly Virgin to India. That was a fun flight.
Good luck!
I have never had luck with the "free" tickets but have consistently had good luck with booking in January for July or August flights for upgraded tickets. These tickets have cost us $500-$2000 each for a round trip Business ticket. You can ONLY book these seats by talking to a live person. You can't do it online. Don't bother with their automated phone system, just keep saying "representative" and then make sure you are in International. I give them any city I'm willing to fly into (only flying OUT of Atlanta) and a range of dates. If there is someone who doesn't seem to want to find this for you, hang up and try again, but I have to say I usually find the phone reps to be very helpful. You also cannot use your miles to upgrade on a partner, but Delta can help you with the 100% free business tickets on their partner airlines. We were able to fly Delta to London then use our points to fly Virgin to India. That was a fun flight.
Good luck!
Dec 19th, 2007, 11:41 AM
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I only have 100,000 for two people....within the last two years if has become immpossible to book seats .they started "holding them".....The regular business class is 6-8 grand ( I cant believe that!!!)....I just flew to Hong Kong from LA for 3200 in April...on Air China.........no, Ive never had enough miles for business award so that's not an option...unless I can do one ticket that way and buy the other? or buy miles
they dont do upgrades on partners....I would like a Tampa or Orlando flight to Geneva.The last couple of weeks of May....I would think a Amsterdam overnight (24 hours) would be a possibility.
Gardyloo...THANK YOU ...the buying miles sounds like a great idea.....
they dont do upgrades on partners....I would like a Tampa or Orlando flight to Geneva.The last couple of weeks of May....I would think a Amsterdam overnight (24 hours) would be a possibility.
Gardyloo...THANK YOU ...the buying miles sounds like a great idea.....
Dec 19th, 2007, 01:50 PM
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Do you have more flexibility with your dates? Could you travel earlier in May?
There's availability on the Continental Newark-Geneva flight on 5/7 and return on 5/20 for 2 passengers in business. There's no availability in first on the Continental nonstops from either Orlando or Tampa to Newark and vice versa on those dates but there's availability in coach. Your other option would be to take Delta flights connecting in Atlanta in first to get to/from Newark (or possibly Northwest via Memphis).
Taking Continental BusinessFirst overwater will cost you 100,000 miles each as there's a mileage premium for CO BF.
I believe you can buy 50,000 miles for yourself and have someone gift you another 50,000 (basically buying the miles using someone else as the purchaser) but I would definitely confirm this with Delta. It used to be limited to 30K/30K and it looks like their FAQs have not been updated:
<i>What is the maximum number of miles I can purchase?
Any individual may deposit a maximum of 30,000 miles in their own account within any calendar year through Buy Miles for You. For example, you can buy 30,000 miles for yourself and a friend or family member can give you a 30,000 mile gift within the same calendar year through Gift Miles. If you purchase another 5,000 miles for yourself later in the year, it will be set aside. You will receive an email notification of the limit, and you'll have the option to either:
* wait for the next calendar year to claim the excess miles, or
* give the miles as a gift to someone else.</i>
If you have an American Express card with Membership Rewards, you can buy up to 500,000 points per calendar year and transfer them to Delta and it costs less than buying Skymiles from Delta. Amex MR will also loan you points up to 5K for green, 15K for gold, and 60K for platinum/centurion cardholders so you may not have to buy as many.
Whatever you do, do not buy anything until you have a confirmed reservation on hold. Good luck!
There's availability on the Continental Newark-Geneva flight on 5/7 and return on 5/20 for 2 passengers in business. There's no availability in first on the Continental nonstops from either Orlando or Tampa to Newark and vice versa on those dates but there's availability in coach. Your other option would be to take Delta flights connecting in Atlanta in first to get to/from Newark (or possibly Northwest via Memphis).
Taking Continental BusinessFirst overwater will cost you 100,000 miles each as there's a mileage premium for CO BF.
I believe you can buy 50,000 miles for yourself and have someone gift you another 50,000 (basically buying the miles using someone else as the purchaser) but I would definitely confirm this with Delta. It used to be limited to 30K/30K and it looks like their FAQs have not been updated:
<i>What is the maximum number of miles I can purchase?
Any individual may deposit a maximum of 30,000 miles in their own account within any calendar year through Buy Miles for You. For example, you can buy 30,000 miles for yourself and a friend or family member can give you a 30,000 mile gift within the same calendar year through Gift Miles. If you purchase another 5,000 miles for yourself later in the year, it will be set aside. You will receive an email notification of the limit, and you'll have the option to either:
* wait for the next calendar year to claim the excess miles, or
* give the miles as a gift to someone else.</i>
If you have an American Express card with Membership Rewards, you can buy up to 500,000 points per calendar year and transfer them to Delta and it costs less than buying Skymiles from Delta. Amex MR will also loan you points up to 5K for green, 15K for gold, and 60K for platinum/centurion cardholders so you may not have to buy as many.
Whatever you do, do not buy anything until you have a confirmed reservation on hold. Good luck!
