Using Delta Miles to Book Awards
Gary mentioned handbook for using Us airways miles to book Staralliance awards, in which he talked about pretty much everything you need to know about booking an award. I am going to talk about Delta miles. I think I have booked Delta miles more than anyone including family of 4 in business to Italy in summer, so I can say I am quite familiar with their partners and system. I have to say, it’s indeed the most complicated system ever built, they have so many partners with so many booking codes and procedures, some need “long sell”, some can be booked instantly,
Some Partners can be search using Delta.com DL, AS,AF, KLM, HA
some partners can be searched using KVS tool: All except Air Tahiti and Korean Airline or expert flyers for Air Tahiti
Some partners have to use long sell by agent to do the search, MH Business, China Airline, Kingfisher.
V Australia can be seen by Delta booking agent or you have V OZ acct
Jet Airways can be checked by calling American Airline.
Stopovers/open jaw: you can have one stopover AND one open jaw, the stopovers can be anywhere, you can even have one stopover+one open jaw for travel within a single region. Some routing I have done, PVG-ICN-KIX-ICN//(stopover, co terminal)GIM-SHA-WNZ(open jaw), all within Asia. NRT-PPT(stopover)-AKL(destination)-ICN(layover)-KIX, can you tell me PPT or AKL, where one is stopover which one is Destination? Since everything is auto priced by computer, so the agent won’t argue with you on routing
Routing restrictions: Some routing have restrictions than another, but Delta permits US-Oceania via Asia. You can also do “mini around the world” US-India via Atlantic, return from Singapore to US via Pacific. As I said, everything are computerized, so it doesn’t matter how you route. Delta does enforce MPM rule on some routes, this primarily for travel within Asia, especially from China to south east Asia city via NRT, some destinations will be priced as 2 awards if route via NRT for intra Asia
Segments:Max is 8, strictly enforced. Also you can not have more than 2 domestic connections within US for intercontinental travel.
Fee:Delta charges you $20 ticketing fee per person unless you are Gold or above, but I have talked about how to get away with is. Delta also charges International Origination fee for travel from certain regions and fuel surcharge for certain carriers, I have mentioned here and here
Hold: There are two primarily ways to hold the award, one is book whatever segments is available online, then call to add other partners. sometimes, agent will tell you they can not hold the reservation anymore once they add segments, “hang up and call again” and tell them don’t touch the reservation. You will find an agent is willing to hold the ticket for you even after the modification, but they may shorten the holding period. As long as they are willing to hold, you can issue the ticket online to avoid the fee.
Another way to hold ticket is you don’t have enough miles, even if you are 1 miles short. This way, you can still hold the ticket online, then after modification by the agent, they will leave the reservation on hold because obviously you don’t have enough miles.
The hold is 2 to 7 days depends on where you are traveling FROM, award from Asia or India are 7 days.
Change or Cancel: Unless you are Platinum or Diamond, any change after ticketing will result in $150 change fee unless there is significant schedule change(miss connected, illegal connection, change more than 1 hour).
How many miles will my award cost? change Delta doesn’t publish the award charge for travel btw regions other than North America, so I can only tell you some of them based on my knowledge
Intra Asia, 20000 Econ/40K business
From Asia to Oceania via ICN or NRT, 150K business, otherwise, 120K business
From Asia to Europe 80K econ, 120K business
Asia to Africa, 120K econ, 180K business
Europe to Africa, 100K Business
Europe to Central Asia/India, 80K business
Within Africa, 80K business
Award blocking and IT glitch: Delta has award blocking for KE cross Pacific flight in business class, regardless how many actual award seats released by KE, delta only sees 1. Delta also use uniform blackout date for MU, CI and KE. what that means is, these carriers blackout dates are by region or route, but delta just blackout all redemption on these partners whenever there is a blackout date. For more about blackout date, please see here
There are also many IT glitch, the biggest one for US travel is, JFK-LAX via PHX, the award will be counted 2 separate one, even if both segments are low inventory and you don’t stay over 4 hours?
How long will my call take? Not too long, because I know what to look for when I called, in experienced agent can finish whatever my request is in 10 minutes.
Got questions? Ask!
aussie said,
Besides V Australia is there any way to get to Melbourne, Australia using Delta miles?
Troy said,
@Aussie, Korean Airline via ICN, Malaysia air via KUL, China Southern via CAN, Vietnam air via SGN and china Eastern via PVG
deltaGOLDflyer said,
Please explain: “Jet Airways can be checked by calling American Airline.”
I called the PM desk and they seem to “know” the code to search JET but seem to show no seats for the weeks I want. So please explain.
Troy said,
@DeltaGoldFlyer, American Airline can see 9W award space instantly, but delta has to do the long sale in order to get a respond. If you check with AA first, you will have idea on availability without calling delta and wait them to try every single day you want.
aussie said,
@Troy,
Seems Korean only flies from Sydney. Is buying a cheap domestic MEL-SYD my only option to connect?
How to Use Delta Skymiles to Book International Premium Class Awards - View from the Wing said,
[...] Now Troy has written up a similar guide for Delta Skymiles. [...]
Troy said,
@ Aussie, they do fly to MEL. If you have 2 people, you need to find out a way to get to Korea first. As I mentioned in my post, no way to find 2 C seat at same time.
Thomas said,
As I commented on View From the Wing, please write more of these guides!!! They are so helpful! UA, CO, AA, even BA would help, too, especially the guidance on economy awards. Tnx.
aussie said,
Troy, thanks for all your helpful info.
And, lesson learned, always trust Troy no matter how many Delta agents tell you differently
Phil said,
Troy, my experience with DL’s uniform blockout policy on partner airlines (especially KE) is that DL’s system is set up to be alerted about KE’s blockout date upon ticketing. Therefore, this kind of ticket can’t really be issued without mannual adjustment. It might be different for MU and CI, though.
Troy said,
@Phil, MU and CI definitely working, I have done it before. I know KE is diff story because Delta pay too much attention on KE and they know if they don’t block it, they gonna end up paying KE too much because KE releases too many seats for business award for cross ocean flights.
Troy said,
@ Thomas, CO will be gone soon, may not worth to write anymore.
DAVID LAM said,
Where can I find a similar description for United ?
Using UNITED AIRLINES Miles to Book Awards
Troy said,
@David, I guess we have not wrote yet.
Phil said,
I also heard bad experience when using Skymiles to book award tikcets on AM (higher than normal mileage requirement, mysterious tax charge……). Personally I experienced the following: BOS-JFK(or ATL)-MEX-LIM round trip low level award ticket with DL/AM will require 70000 miles, instead of 45000 miles.
Troy said,
@phil, I think system counted as 2 R/T, BOS-MEX+ MEX-LIM
KobeTony said,
Thank you for the great advice.
Just booked 4 for KIX-SGN-KIX go biz, return econ, during high season for 120,000 miles plus about $500 in fuel (aagghh).
I am in Japan, and calling the English line (someone in SE Asia I suspect) got me nothing, as they said all partners were blacked out.
Calling the Japanese line I made some progress.
Still one agent needed to be instructed by me on what to look for, and in the end said I should call back in 4 hours. When I did I the new agent couldn’t get MU seats even though I could see them, so we were unable to include Hanoi.
Did the Trial on Expert Flyer and it looks great, but since not all the seats are really available via Delta, and only some of KE, Malay and none of VN are on, it is not a perfect fit for me.
Troy said,
@Kobe, VN business award J class is available on any flight because that’s also they revenue business class code. KE is no use because you can not book KE F with Delta miles. Singapore English line is very very very bad. you can call Delta US Call center using skype, as long as not Salt lake city call center answer the phone, they are not too bad.
Zhou said,
May I ask how to book Korean airline using DL skymiles? Call Delta? I also checked your post – “Delta and Korean Airline, China Eastern and China Air Blackout date”. Does it mean that I can book Korean Airline tickets, as far as not on blackout dates?
Zhou said,
Also, if I try to book the ticket between US and China using DL skymiles, except for DL and Korean Airline, which airline can I use?
Troy said,
@zhou, call Delta, as long as not on Blackout, you will be fine. besides Korean air, there are china Southern LAx-CAN, China eastern YVR/LAX/JFK-PVG, Malaysia air, LAX-TPE-KUL and China air LAX/SFO/JFK-TPE
Zhou said,
So I should first try to find to find the airlines for example from Lax-PVG from China air, and also find the airline from IAH-LAx from DL, and call DL to reserve for me? I don’t quite understand the “reserve ticket” you mentioned. Is that equal to I book the ticket online using miles? Thank you.
Troy said,
@zhou, if you find IAH-LAX in LOW, hold your ticket, then call delta to add LAX-PVG on China Eastern
Zhou said,
@Troy. Thank you for your reply. My question is that when you mentioned “hold ticket”, what does it mean? Does it mean that I book the ticket online using DL miles? What’s the difference between “hold” and “book”? Sorry for so many questions.
Huge said,
What would you expect to pay (in miles) for a RT from Shanghai (PVG) to Okinawa (OKA) on China Eastern (in coach)?
Troy said,
@huge, 20K economy, if Delta system program OKA correctly, I know KMQ programed in correctly
Alan said,
i think i have defeated the system for some routes.
A-B-A can be booked for low.
C-B-C is double the price because of pricing error.
it allows me to book A – B – C (transfer) – A for the low price. the price is double when it is only A – B – C even when it follows all the rule!
Troy said,
@Alan, very possible if you change routing or carriers. what route are you referring?
Alan said,
sent u email!
skybridge2 said,
I am trying to redeem DL miles on my asian trip.
1) SEA-PEK-SEA 60K
2) SEA-ICN-SEA 60K
3) SEA-ICN-PEK-SEA 90K
PEK is my destination, but if possible, I prefer to stop at ICN for several days.
I saw some discussion like you can make a free stop on the way. Can ICN be a stop on my way to PEK? Should I spend 30K for the stop or I can get this free of mileage? If free stay, how to do it on delta.com? Should I call DL?
I am holding two tickets on 3) until Sunday. Thanks.
Troy said,
@Skybridge2, you can get free stop, but because your return portion on PEK-SEA has no low inventory, that’s why you got 90K. you can use Delta website calendar function to see the date with low inventory
skybridge2 said,
@Troy, that was what I did. Check on 60K route and flights for SEA-ICN-SEA and SEA-PEK-SEA and then book multi-city routing, SEA-ICN-PEK-SEA for the same date and flight. I thought I will have it for 60K, but it turned out to be 90K.
Is there a free stop-over policy stated on Delta.com?
Troy said,
@Sky, how can u possibly book SEA-ICN-PEK this segments on delta.com, if you are telling me you book SEA-NRt-ICN-NRT-PEK-SEA, then there is a problem with your routing, you cross NRT 2 times in one direction. There are many possible reason and as I said in this post, it doesn’t matter what policy is listed on delta. com, their computer decides everything
skybridge2 said,
That is exactly my route
SEA-NRt-ICN-NRT-PEK-SEA
So I guess this doesn’t count as stop over in ICN.
Should I book award tickets on KE using DL mileage?
Troy said,
@Sky, yes, hold PEK-SEA online, then call to add SEA-ICN(stopover)-PEK
skybridge2 said,
@Troy, I just came back to SEA yesterday and found I need 70K to get a low mileage ticket. I called Delta directly to checked on SEA-PEK-ICN-SEA. In about 10 minutes, I got SEA-PEK-ICN-NRT-SEA with stop at PEK and ICN for 70K. I think it is not bad, though I might got the same route for 60K one week ago.
PEK-ICN is KE flight and the rest are DL.
BTW, you should try to reach Salt Lake City Call center. I felt the rep was nice and knowledgeable.
Troy said,
@Sky, Salt lake is the worst call center. 9/10 agents have not clue.
Funflier said,
Regarding DL only seeing one KE J award seat at any one moment, how do I book two award seats on KE together? Home airport is IAD, so would like to start/end route with IAD>ICN. Also, the KE inventory needed for award J seat is D class? Any way to see D inventory without calling? I do have Expert Flier and KVS subscriptions.
Troy said,
@Funflier, you just can not book 2 awards in D. Also, you can not see D unless calling. Only member with KE miles and greater than 5K miles can see seats in KE website
Funflier said,
I just called and asked the DL agent to take the “one” seat he could see and then start a fresh reservation to book another. He said that he did see one listed the second time even though he removed one to create the first PNR. Seems like this may be a work-around for getting two “D” class seats on the same flight. Is there any way to see award inventory on KE if I don’t have 5000 miles in one? Thanks so much for your help!
Troy said,
@Funflier, that was my workaround last year, but around Nov, Delta blocked this workaround, but from what you reported, they may “release” again. BTW, there is no way to check other than calling KE directly
sunny said,
Hi Troy, I don’t quite understand why the workaround would be blocked. Are you saying Delta only allows 1 “D” seat on KE on each flight?
Troy said,
@sunny, it was blocked for few months, I have tried many times, but one reader reported it’s working again last week
ikonos said,
Can you book award tix on KE using skymiles to fly SEA-India over pacific? I read on FT that delta restricts that routing to go over atlantic. what gives?
Troy said,
@ikonos, you can not, routing must via Atlantic when using skymiles
tpb said,
Can you book award going from Asia to Oceania via stopover in US on one award? E.g. ICN – LAX – PPT – AKL – ICN?
Troy said,
@tpb, don’t know, never tried.
qv said,
Troy: Thanks for your hard work and invaluable insight.
I have 2 quick questions:
1) I’m moving to Viet Nam for a year. What’s the best/cheapest way to get their via sky miles? There are 2 of us. Departure City: ATL.
2) I heard that you can reserve your return trip maximum 6 months out, is this true? Since Delta charges the same for 1 way as round trip and I have to get back to the US after a year. I’d thought if possible, I’d like to use the same ticket?
Toblerone said,
Troy,
I’m looking to book an award on Kenya Airways KQ in Business Class. How may I check for it, do you have any experience? Thanks
DCJimmy said,
@Troy
THANK YOU so much for the effort you made at writing this page, you are a great guy.
Have you (or anyone else) figured out a workaround for this: since Delta will not really allow one-way bookings (they charge double points); I want to book 330 days in advance (the trip I want is March 2013, will go on sale in a few weeks) but I cannot book the outbound alone; then I have to sit and wait 2 more weeks, when the Return trip is on sale. By that time, the Outbound flight could be gone. (CO was always sooooo much easier, you could book both OW trips at the 330 day mark, and never have a problem!).
An said,
Troy,
I have a question about booking multiple tickets. Delta website allowed me to hold one ticket PVG-JFK but I am having trouble getting the second one through. Website shows it is available but errors out when I try to book it. Suggestions?
Also I thought “LOW” for Asia-US tickets costs 120K but all the tickets I saw marked low on the award calander cost 170K or more. Did I miss something?
Thanks
Paul said,
Hi Troy, thanks for the info. I am trying to book low level award CGK-NRT roundtrip, but I am not sure where to look for partner airline availability, especially from CGK. Any idea?
Troy said,
@paul airfrance website
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