Questions and Answers

My family is traveling to Africa next December and I wanted to take the delta flight from Atlanta to joburg (both for time and conmfort ) What is the best way to redeem for 5 business class tickets (delta has them at 300k. I ha e 1.3 million Marriott points and 1.2 million Amex points

Thanks for your help and guidance

Welcome [USER=4851]@Mfrankelnj[/USER] – you’ve hit the problem with Delta – they charge what they want on their flights and oftentimes it’s ridiculous. If you’re determined to take that non-stop flight then you’ll have to pay whatever they’re charging that day. And you’d need to verify that 5 award seats are actually available on the same flight.

If you’re open to other routings you might see if they charge fewer miles on KLM or Air France flights. They won’t be non-stop but you can balance that against saving miles.

You can also see how much Flying Blue (the Air France/KLM miles program) would charge on that route and transfer your MR points to them. Keep in mind that just because Delta may show 5 tickets available, that doesn’t mean that they’d make that many seats available to their partners.

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 61954, member: 184″]Welcome [USER=4851]@Mfrankelnj[/USER] – you’ve hit the problem with Delta – they charge what they want on their flights and oftentimes it’s ridiculous. If you’re determined to take that non-stop flight then you’ll have to pay whatever they’re charging that day. And you’d need to verify that 5 award seats are actually available on the same flight.

If you’re open to other routings you might see if they charge fewer miles on KLM or Air France flights. They won’t be non-stop but you can balance that against saving miles.

You can also see how much Flying Blue (the Air France/KLM miles program) would charge on that route and transfer your MR points to them. Keep in mind that just because Delta may show 5 tickets available, that doesn’t mean that they’d make that many seats available to their partners.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the quick reply.
[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 61954, member: 184″]Welcome [USER=4851]@Mfrankelnj[/USER] – you’ve hit the problem with Delta – they charge what they want on their flights and oftentimes it’s ridiculous. If you’re determined to take that non-stop flight then you’ll have to pay whatever they’re charging that day. And you’d need to verify that 5 award seats are actually available on the same flight.

If you’re open to other routings you might see if they charge fewer miles on KLM or Air France flights. They won’t be non-stop but you can balance that against saving miles.

You can also see how much Flying Blue (the Air France/KLM miles program) would charge on that route and transfer your MR points to them. Keep in mind that just because Delta may show 5 tickets available, that doesn’t mean that they’d make that many seats available to their partners.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the quick reply. So do you think there is a possibility that there would be a few seats under the KLM or Air France. On that flight ? How many days out would that availability be show.

It’s not uncommon for airlines to offer fewer seats to their partners than they do for their own members. As to how many fewer seats, I can’t say as I’ve never monitored that route. You’ll just need to keep an eye on it.

As soon as your plans are firm and there are seats on your dates at a price you’re willing to pay (in miles) I’d go ahead and book. But 300K SkyMiles is a HUGE price for a single ticket.