Several weeks ago, Delta SkyMiles announced an initiative whereby they’re adding more airlines to their online award search tool. This comes after Delta introduced a functional online award search calendar, which on the redemption side was possibly the most exciting thing to happen to the SkyMiles program in about a decade.
Over the past few months alone, we’ve seen delta.com add online award bookings for China Eastern, China Southen, China Airlines, Gol, Aerolineas Argentinas, Garuda Indonesia, Aeroflot, Saudia, and MEA (go SkyTeam!).
This seems to be part of a bigger SkyTeam effort to simplify online award bookings, whereby in the near future we’ll see more SkyTeam airlines allow online award bookings.
With that in mind, I figured this was a good time to recap:
- For which airlines can you redeem SkyMiles directly on delta.com
- When redeeming SkyMiles, for which airlines do you get hit with fuel surcharges
Here’s a somewhat simplified chart with both of those details (carriers denoted with “§” are those that impose fuel surcharges):
Bookable on Delta.com | Must Call Delta to Book |
|---|---|
Aeroflot § | Air Europa § |
Aerolineas Argentinas | Air Tahiti Nui § |
Aeromexico | Czech Airlines |
Air France | Kenya Airways § |
Alaska | TAROM |
Alitalia | Xiamen Airlines |
China Airlines § | |
China Eastern § | |
China Southern § | |
Delta Air Lines | |
Garuda Indonesia | |
GOL | |
Hawaiian (intra-island only) | |
KLM | |
Korean Air | |
Middle East Airlines | |
Saudia | |
Vietnam Airlines | |
Virgin Atlantic | |
Virgin Australia |
As you can see, Delta only has a bit more than a handful of partner airlines which aren’t yet bookable on delta.com. And I’m guessing those partners are also among the least popular for redemptions, given where they’re based and the routes they fly. I suspect they’ll soon be bookable online as well, as Delta has been adding partners online at a fast rate.
With fuel surcharges there’s one other important point to clarify. Delta SkyMiles imposes fuel surcharges for all award tickets originating in Europe. So regardless of which airline you fly, you will pay fuel surcharges when you book a SkyMiles award originating in Europe.
That means the references to fuel surcharges in the chart are for awards originating outside of Europe.
Bottom line
Kudos to Delta for all the airlines they’ve recently added to their website for SkyMiles redemptions. It has certainly made the process of redeeming SkyMiles much easier.
Lucky - since Delta removed their award chart, have you encountered weird pricing on award tickets? I am getting 50,100 miles for a one-way Y ticket from LAX to SYD on VA - the 100 miles seems odd. Then it shows 80,000 for one-way Y ticket from LAX to CAN on Aeroflot, which seems kind of high.
Also, when I search for LAX to CAN, CZ flight doesn't show, yet when I search same...
Lucky - since Delta removed their award chart, have you encountered weird pricing on award tickets? I am getting 50,100 miles for a one-way Y ticket from LAX to SYD on VA - the 100 miles seems odd. Then it shows 80,000 for one-way Y ticket from LAX to CAN on Aeroflot, which seems kind of high.
Also, when I search for LAX to CAN, CZ flight doesn't show, yet when I search same day LAX to SYD flight, it shows routing via CAN on CZ. I think Delta's online award booking engine is still *purposely* broken.
Oh, when I called in, the Delta agent said she can probably put me on Thai Airways because they are a SkyTeam partner! OMG.
@ mangoceviche -- Disaster, isn't it? As far as the Aeroflot pricing goes, that's probably cumulative pricing, since it's charging you the US to Moscow and then Moscow to Guangzhou price. Don't have an explanation for the 50,100 pricing, though.
Lucky, do you have a post similar to this for AA & OW?
@ David W -- I don't but let me work on one.
Re: AF: One cannot book the nonstop LAX -> CDG as Delta is not making that one available.
Although, this is a move in the right direction, What do you do when you get the "sorry, the flight just sold out," thus leaving you unable to book it. It's extremely frustrating in that case, especially when you transferred your Amex MR points over. Have you had this happen and how did Delta resolve the problem for you?
I've had this issue happen a few times. It's one thing if the flights are...
Although, this is a move in the right direction, What do you do when you get the "sorry, the flight just sold out," thus leaving you unable to book it. It's extremely frustrating in that case, especially when you transferred your Amex MR points over. Have you had this happen and how did Delta resolve the problem for you?
I've had this issue happen a few times. It's one thing if the flights are showing available to book, and another thing that the Delta system can actually book it and issue the ticket.
Having Czech Airlines or Air Tahiti Nui would be nice. But this seems like a SkyTeam-wide push so not sure how much credit we can give to Delta...
I think some of the regional/intra china flights for China Southern/Eastern does not show PVG to ZUH or PVG to FOC.
I have booked flights to these destinations in China in the past on Delta partners using Delta miles.
Lucky,
I read through your reviews regarding CZ & MU business cabins and badly want to figure it out...I did blow 70K Delta for a RDU-ATL-ICN-PEK ticket in upcoming July, but the KE A388 2-2-2 layout tends to be a little bit disappointing...Currently I fail to see any available CZ & MU seats on delta.com. Is there a way out? Thanks so much!
@ YANG -- Did you search segment by segment for the longhaul flights? They are generally good about releasing space.