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Some DL ''award'' tickets have more fees than all-in cost of a paid ticket

Carolinian

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Here is an interesting thread from FlyerTalk. DL is on the cutting edge of popping their frequent flyers with junk fees on award travel, but now some are reporting situations where the fees and taxes on an ''award'' ticket using miles can be more than the all-in cost (fare plus fees and taxes) on a paid ticket!

www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=876235

And now that fuel is less than it cost a year ago, the ''fuel surcharges'' do not seem to be going away, either. And that is with all airlines that impose them in the US. SkyEurope has elminated them on this side of the pond.
 

stevelb

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Its things like this that changed my habit of accumulating miles to "earn them and burn them".
 

Jimster

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fees

In my estimation Delta is the worst airline for frequent flyer miles. They give out plenty of miles easily but their redemption requires more miles than any other. They also have a ton of extra fees. If frequent flyer miles become a thing of the past, I think Delta is the reason for this. They also have different tiers of tickets and charge for travel each way. They may become the biggest airline in the USA, but they are also the slimiest.
 

Dori

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I just cashed 10,400 Airmiles to send DH and DS to Ireland. It still wound up costing me $950 in taxes! Grrr!

Dori
 

erm

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I can't complain about Delta. My husband and I are flying first class to Hawaii and flying home coach for 55,000 miles each (Boston to Kauai) and the fees were about $50 per ticket. My daughter is in at the Marriott timeshare outside of Paris and flew on an award ticket that only used 50,000 miles -JFK to CDG. Delta has worked for me.
 

Carolinian

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I can't complain about Delta. My husband and I are flying first class to Hawaii and flying home coach for 55,000 miles each (Boston to Kauai) and the fees were about $50 per ticket. My daughter is in at the Marriott timeshare outside of Paris and flew on an award ticket that only used 50,000 miles -JFK to CDG. Delta has worked for me.

You clearly got in ahead of the latest round of fees and milage increases, so consider yourself lucky. That ticket to Paris is now 60K miles RT in the lowest tier, not the 50K it used to be, and that is the highest required milage of any airline for lowest tier, American or European, that I am aware of. Oh and good luck these days in finding that lowest tier if you are going at any reasonably popular time. And if you are using a partner airline, there is a partner fee that most other airlines don't have. A shoulder season ticket to Europe on AA is still only 40K miles. If your daughter had used AA miles, it would have only been 40K miles to go to Paris at this time of year. British carrier BMI requires only 45K miles for a R/T ticket between Europe and the USA all year. Domestic legacy carriers other than DL and AA charge 50K for a trans-Atlantic ticket.
 
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Carolinian

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Update - Beware of a partner booking you on Delta to Europe, as they may pass on Delta's new inflated milage requirements.

On CO, for example, you can book CO, NW, AF, KL, CZ, or Alitalia flights to Europe for 50K miles, but if they put you on DL it is 60K. Tell them thanks but no thanks if they offer a DL routing. Besides being cheaper in miles, most of their other partners have a better trans-Atlantic (TATL in airline lingo) product than DL.
 

Jimster

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shoulder season

I agree with Carolinian the best time to travel is during shoulder season with AA. It may not seem much different but 40 K miles instead of 50 K is a very nice savings. The other factor of course is who wants to go to Europe in the summer when there are crowds, lines and heat. As Carolinian points out, you won't be getting those good deals on Delta now with their tiered system of awards.
 

Mimi39

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I have some Northwest FF miles I'ld like to use to go to Europe next summer -- what is the timeline for the Delta Northwest merger?
 

philemer

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I have some Northwest FF miles I'ld like to use to go to Europe next summer -- what is the timeline for the Delta Northwest merger?

No one knows. It may be before or after your trip. I'd book now. You can fly with NW or DL. Call NW now.
 

Carolinian

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I have some Northwest FF miles I'ld like to use to go to Europe next summer -- what is the timeline for the Delta Northwest merger?

Summer inventory books fast. Even without the DL merger, I would jump on that quickly.

If NW tries to book you on DL metal, make certain that they do not pass on the DL milage requirement of 60K. I am not certain if NW will do that, but CO just started, so it is a concern.
 
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