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Add to del.icio.usSkyMiles members seeking Business Class and coach award seats to Europe have a reason to rejoice! Air France award availability has been added to the online search and booking calendar of SkyTeam partner Delta through its web site, delta.com.
Until now, Air France award availability has been difficult to determine, to say the least. The carrier’s own website allows award searches only when the customer’s account has enough miles to cover that award—a liability to travelers who might aspire to a Business Class seat, and are willing to buy miles to make up the difference from a lesser award.
The inclusion of Air France routes on Delta.com gives much easier access to a variety of award options for SkyMiles members. Availability through Delta offers the benefit of transferring (and buying) miles from credit card programs.
The comfort factor gives an edge to booking an Air France flight when possible, as its Business Class seats outperform Delta’s BusinessElite seats—but that’s not saying much.
My partner and I have been traveling to Paris twice each year for the past 5 years. We only fly business class when traveling abroad, so it is important to us to get a good fare and be very comfortable. We first flew Air France via Delta by booking on Delta's website. Then we signed up for Air France's Flying Blue to get miles directly with them. We tried for a long time to use our Delta miles to get a free Business Class ticket to Paris, but could not - until now. We booked our first flight, through Delta's website, Business Class, to Paris. It was very easy and I am thrilled. The only drawback I can see right now is that our seat assignments could not be made on Delta's sight. I had to call Air France, give them our confirmation number, and then get our seat assignments. Even after doing that, our seat assignments do not show up on the reservation on the Delta sight. I called Air France again just to be sure that they have it, and they do. Violá.
Check out expertflyer.com. It can search award and upgrade inventory on some carriers including AF, NW, AA, UA, etc. The inventory displayed seems to be available through partners consistently (e.g., NW inventory using DL miles, AA inventory using BA miles, etc.). Also, delta.com is showing some KLM inventory now as well.
Have elite flyer status in United (Premier Exec), BA (silver) and Northwest (Silver). What is best way to get 3 Bus or First Class tickets Denver to Jo-Burg/Cape Town- for Christmas 2008 -New Years 2009 celebration (2-3 weeks in So Af)? Economy is not interesting on two 15+ hour segments. Appreciate any or all ideas you may have. Respond to arth95@hall-group.com.
Next week my wife and I are traveling from NY to Italy via Paris on Air France (Delta) and returning on a Delta flight to NY on Oct2. We "bought" our tickets with American Express airmiles and would like to know if there is a chance to upgrade from Coach. Of course, we would like to output as little cash as possible...suggestions? thank you Bert
Three of us are traveling from Albuquerque to Cairo, Egypt on December 18th returning on the 1st of January. Any ideas on how to fly business or first withing reason? Thank you!
Hi... I just bought 50,000 miles from Delta... thanksfor the tip. But I cannot find out how to ascertain what the mileage level would be first or business from LAX to Paris. thank you.
Be careful when flying Delta if you want to acquire frequent flyer miles. If you have the same flight number from Seattle to New York and the flight continues to Europe using that same flight number, you DO NOT receive the frequent flyer miles you flew -- instead the miles are calculated from Seattle to the final destination in Europe over the poll so that you receive about 2000 miles less than what you actually flew.
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