Delta 75/k ticket

[Skate 9]

Since getting award ticket is getting hard to get I'll post another experience.

 

I have been calling and searching on line for an award ticket with the minimum mileage.

Looks like the mileage program went up since my last 60/k post in April.

 

I have been calling for a month, sometimes calling twice a day, asking for partners, giving them the partner

flight numbers, and trying to fly out of different cities on the west coast. Also, China and Korean both have blackout days for October to work around.

 

Well, I finally got a ticket to Manila return from Bangkok for 75,000 miles. Then I'll buy a one way ticket to Bkk. So this may help you guys trying to use miles to get to Thailand. Also a side trip to AC, then CeBu to Bangkok for the cheap charley's.

 

One other note. On the Delta site when your booking award travel there is a spot that says my dates are flexible.

When you hit this it will show you the days that are low mileage award days. There are not very many going to Thailand.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Skate

[Tengotodo 52]

Noluck for me out of east USA east coast. Can NOT find any FFM trips under 120K. I hate Delta (and partners). Star Alliance me ass..

[Skate 9]

Noluck for me out of east USA east coast. Can NOT find any FFM trips under 120K. I hate Delta (and partners). Star Alliance me ass..

 

Yep, on Delta you have to ask to fly on a partner.

 

Last trip I flew China Air and China SOuthwestern, this time Korean.

 

When United filed chapter a few years back I burned there miles up.. Maybe its time to go back..

 

Another thought is its now $3-400 more a ticket if I want to get miles.. maybe I'll just start

flying cheap flights w/o miles.

[exwannabe 1]

For DL, the website is near useless. You can sometime find an low award ticket (ASIAUS) on it, but it is hard. Normally it will be on the partner airlines (KE,CI,..) where you can find a low award ticket.

 

It is US centric, but this site, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles-665/ has really good information on using FF miles.

[bigdelta 46]

Airline tax holiday in effect. Act fast.

PostDateIcon July 23rd, 2011

 

Due to the budget stalemate in Washington, airlines stopped collecting some federal taxes on airline tickets at 12:01 Saturday morning.

 

This means that most airline tickets bought from now until there’s a budget agreement in Washington will not be subject to the 7.5% federal excise tax, the $3.50 segment fee, or the $16.30 international departure tax.

 

For example, travelers booking now will get a savings of $37 on a typical $400 domestic fare.

 

The higher the fare, the more you save on the federal excise tax. So, let’s say you need to take a quick trip to New York next week and the last minute fare is $1000 round trip– you’ll save $82 on that fare.

 

While airlines may be price matching soon or already — just raising fares to make up the difference and pocket the windfall– a Delta spokesperson told The TICKET that the carrier is not collecting the federal taxes and has not increased fares as a result, and ticket prices have declined. Similarly, a United spokesman said this morning that the carrier has stopped collecting the taxes and while its base fares remain unchanged, the final ticket price to the consumer would be less. Also, Alaska Airlines told the Seattle Times that it is not collecting the tax and its customers would save about 14% on ticket prices as a result.

 

However, a spokesman for AirTran (and Southwest) said that the carriers have raised roundtrip fares $8 “to offset industry cost pressures.” That means that AirTran’s ticket prices today will be more or less the same as they were yesterday. Also, the Washington Post reports that American and US Airways have raised fares to offset any tax savings.

 

So if you’ve been sitting on a fence about a fare, now might be a good time to go ahead and bite the bullet– at least on Delta, United, Alaska and Virgin America. But keep an eye on this…as always fares are subject to change!