# Delta Skymiles 331 Days in advance booking Question



## w.bob (Sep 24, 2009)

I will be booking a round trip from NE to Hawaii on Delta using skymiles. I remember reading somewhere on TUG about the procedure for booking but I can't seem to locate it. Can someone refresh my memory either with the link or as to how to go about booking the 1st leg at the 331 day mark & then booking the return flight which will be 16 days later.  

Thanks


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## LisaRex (Sep 27, 2009)

w.bob said:


> I will be booking a round trip from NE to Hawaii on Delta using skymiles. I remember reading somewhere on TUG about the procedure for booking but I can't seem to locate it. Can someone refresh my memory either with the link or as to how to go about booking the 1st leg at the 331 day mark & then booking the return flight which will be 16 days later.
> 
> Thanks



The old procedure (to book a one way and then simply change the itinerary to add the return 16 days later) doesn't work any longer because they now charge fees for changing your itinerary.


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## Art (Sep 27, 2009)

In addition, the 331 day rule really doesn't hold anymore.

FF seats get allocated when revenue management decides that there will be enough seats to meet the sales needs.  This might be 331 days or it might be 30 days before the date of the flight. One just has to keep looking, starting at the 331 day point.

Art


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## Carolinian (Sep 28, 2009)

Art said:


> In addition, the 331 day rule really doesn't hold anymore.
> 
> FF seats get allocated when revenue management decides that there will be enough seats to meet the sales needs.  This might be 331 days or it might be 30 days before the date of the flight. One just has to keep looking, starting at the 331 day point.
> 
> Art



Delta was the airline which started this exasperating policy and are probably the deepest into it.  Makes ff tickets a real crap shoot.


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## LisaRex (Sep 29, 2009)

You can just book two one-ways (since Delta allows this), but you'll have to pay two booking fees.  Also, there's no guarantee that your return flight will be a Saver award, so it's a bit of a risk. 

Another option is to keep holding itineraries (they allow you to book multiple itineraries and hold them for a max of 2 days) to protect the outbound seat, and then editing the final one to add the return flight if/when it becomes available. Once again, the trick is to find a Saver seat. And you'll need to keep holding new itineraries before the previous one expires. 

My personal experience in booking my June 2010 itinerary has shown me that they don't release any Saver coach seats on weekends at the 331 day mark. If you can travel on Tuesday or Wednesday, you're golden.  In fact, I added 3 days to our trip in order to get 3 flights for free (though I had to pay medium tier mileage for the weekend flight back home).


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## Timeshare Von (Oct 3, 2009)

LisaRex said:


> You can just book two one-ways (since Delta allows this), but you'll have to pay two booking fees.  Also, there's no guarantee that your return flight will be a Saver award, so it's a bit of a risk.



Do they?  I tried on my Alaska trip for next summer as I'm 331 days from my departure but not yet on my return.  No way to do it, is what I was told.  Specifically, I was told I had to wait 331 days from my return date of 9/12/10.


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## Timeshare Von (Oct 3, 2009)

Carolinian said:


> Delta was the airline which started this exasperating policy and are probably the deepest into it.  Makes ff tickets a real crap shoot.



I've got to admit, if I were running the business I would be doing the same thing.  Why should they give up cheap free seats when they need to make their margin first to cover the cost of the flight itself?


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## Talent312 (Oct 3, 2009)

Timeshare Von said:


> I've got to admit, if I were running the business I would be doing the same thing.  Why should they give up cheap free seats when they need to make their margin first to cover the cost of the flight itself?



The original intent of these FF programs was to generate loyality by offering up seats that would have otherwise gone empty, not to create an entitlement to a seat that could have otherwise been sold.  On that basis, I have no problem with airlines using their own judgment about when to release seats to the program.


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## w.bob (Oct 3, 2009)

I spoke with a Delta agent and I was told there are 2 ways to do it. One is to purchase one way fares but be aware that if you need to change anything it would be $100.00 per change for each one way ticket or just wait until 331 days out & book the whole trip.


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## LisaRex (Oct 4, 2009)

Timeshare Von said:


> Do they?  I tried on my Alaska trip for next summer as I'm 331 days from my departure but not yet on my return.  No way to do it, is what I was told.  Specifically, I was told I had to wait 331 days from my return date of 9/12/10.



There's no way you can do it on the same itinerary.  I'm suggesting you, instead, book 2 one-ways. 

Say your departure date is 9/5/10 and your return date is 9/12/10.   At 331 days from 9/5/10, you book the departure trip as a one-way.  At 331 days from 9/12/10, you book the return trip as a one-way.  The downside to this method is that you'll have to pay two booking fees ($10 if you book online), but more importantly there's a risk that you won't have sufficient miles to book the return trip if you were counting on a low tier being available and it's not.


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## ronandjoan (Oct 5, 2009)

I lucked out and was able to book the RT to KOA with FF DElta miles for June 18-July 30, 2010  even after the 331 days from July 30th.  This confirms Art's  comment that things have changed: in the past, I had to play the 2- day booking game mentioned for a month.

The agent was super nice when I called and even offered a search for a non-stop First Class flight one direction  for us for just 5K more miles, although it would stop in Honolulu instead of KOA.  I grabbed it and booked 2 Hawaiian Air flights from Oahu to KOA for $50 each.  I was happy for the better route and better seats.


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## w.bob (Oct 5, 2009)

LisaRex said:


> There's no way you can do it on the same itinerary.  I'm suggesting you, instead, book 2 one-ways.
> 
> Say your departure date is 9/5/10 and your return date is 9/12/10.   At 331 days from 9/5/10, you book the departure trip as a one-way.  At 331 days from 9/12/10, you book the return trip as a one-way.  The downside to this method is that you'll have to pay two booking fees ($10 if you book online), but more importantly there's a risk that you won't have sufficient miles to book the return trip if you were counting on a low tier being available and it's not.



I looked at booking the first leg to HNL one way but it came up at 60000 miles for the one way ticket. 60000 miles is what a round trip would be. Am I missing something?


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## Timeshare Von (Oct 5, 2009)

w.bob said:


> I looked at booking the first leg to HNL one way but it came up at 60000 miles for the one way ticket. 60000 miles is what a round trip would be. Am I missing something?



Same for me in my attempt to book 1-ways to Alaska (40k per person, 1-way).  When I called, that was when I was told to wait until 331 days from my return date.


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