Delta Sky saver miles - Timeshare Users Group Online Community Forums

w.bob · October 17, 2006, 11:55 AM

My wife and I will be traveling next Sept. on a 1 week vacation to HHI. We have over 30,000 Skysaver miles each and it looks like we should be able to get some seats on a flight. I have been tracking availability for dates 331 days out leading up to our scheduled dates and there are flights available, so I believe there would be some available for the dates we want.. I have never used Delta miles before and I have a question. When looking for flights and because I have to wait until 331 days out Does that mean I have to wait until 331 days out from the return date to use the skysaver miles? Is there a way to secure the outgoing flight before waiting 331 days until the return flight is available. I was planning on doing it online but would do it by telephone if need be. Hopefully I did not confuse the issue. Maybe I should word it this way: When using the skysaver miles do I have to wait until 331 days out from the return date to book or is there another way to do it?

Thanks

tim · October 17, 2006, 12:58 PM

I haven't used Delta in a while but have used others and here is what I have done. You can call the airline and book just the outbound flight at 331 days out. The airline will hold the reservation for some period of time, I think up to two weeks, and then you call back when the return flight is at 331 days and book it so that you now have a roundtrip ticket. The catch is that most airlines will charge you a $15 or so handling fee to do this. I don't believe you can do this online, but need to talk to a rep. Good luck.

Bootser · October 17, 2006, 01:07 PM

Diddo to what Tim said. You will have to call in to book just the outbound, then secure the return when it becomes abvailable. Now for the rub. I believe Delta will only hold your outbound reservation for 3 days. In 3 days they will extend your hold on the outbound, only if there are frequent flyer seats available to hold, in addition to the ones you are currently holding. In otherwords you can not tie up the only seats available by extending your hold over and over again. If by chance there are not any available to allow you to extend, you must either ticket or release the seats. Now for the next rub. I have been told that when these are released they do not automatically go back into the pool. It may take 1 hour or 1 day.
I recently booked frequent flyer award tickets on Delta for travel next March. This what I had to go through. My travel was for 11 days. As a result I had to renew my reservation several times.I was fortunate and did not have to release my hold back to the pool.
Good Luck.

Flo · October 17, 2006, 01:53 PM

I just went through this process for our flight next August/Sept for our Alaska Cruise. At 331 days out I booked our flight to Fairbanks. Then every 48hours I called back to keep it on hold and had to tell them I was waiting for the 331 days before my home going flight.
Then on the 331 day before that, I called and booked my flight from Vancouver to home. I really had no problems with this process. I just had on my calender to call every 48 hours for the hold. If you don't do that you will lose your flight. I hope this explains it well enough.

Here's a great site to figure out your 331 day time frame:
http://www.timeanddate.com/

philemer · October 17, 2006, 02:37 PM

This is one reason I love UA. They will hold your outbound for up to 3 weeks (unofficially & it depends on the mood of the agent) so you don't have to call every two days.

I'm dreading the day when I try to use my DL miles. Call back every 2 days?

Phil

philemer · October 17, 2006, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim

I haven't used Delta in a while but have used others and here is what I have done. You can call the airline and book just the outbound flight at 331 days out. The airline will hold the reservation for some period of time, I think up to two weeks, and then you call back when the return flight is at 331 days and book it so that you now have a roundtrip ticket. The catch is that most airlines will charge you a $15 or so handling fee to do this. I don't believe you can do this online, but need to talk to a rep. Good luck.

Is there a fee everytime you call and make a change? Those $15 charges would add up fast.

Flo · October 17, 2006, 02:48 PM

There was a $10 fee each for making the reservation on the phone plus taxes/fees. My total cost for this transaction was $48.00 and some change per person. I used 25,000 miles from each of our accounts.
Considering the distance and the added complication of flying into Fairbanks and home from Vancouver, I felt it was worth the effort of making the calls. Of course it would have been better if I didn't have to call every 48 hours!

Luanne · October 17, 2006, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philemer

This is one reason I love UA. They will hold your outbound for up to 3 weeks (unofficially & it depends on the mood of the agent) so you don't have to call every two days.

Phil

UA must like you better than they like me. I've NEVER gotten an agent to hold the outbound flight. And for next summer by the time the return flights were open the FF seats for the outbound were pretty much gone.

I did end up at least getting 2 with the saver and 2 with standard though.

Dave M · October 17, 2006, 03:49 PM

Yes, the policy is essentially as Phil states, provided that all travel is on UA - no partner travel and no codeshares. Otherwise, the maximum hold before ticketing is three days. Here is a FlyerTalk thread that contains the official transcript of the applicable UA rule.

tim · October 17, 2006, 04:00 PM

philemer, the transaction fee of $10 or $15 is a one-time fee no matter how many times you call back. However, as with any "free" ticket, you will also pay the taxes and security fees, which on an international ticket could be over $100.

Luanne, I too have done the two week hold with UA on the outbound flight. Yes, I did fly only UA on all routes so maybe that is why I was able to do it.

Luanne · October 17, 2006, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim

Luanne, I too have done the two week hold with UA on the outbound flight. Yes, I did fly only UA on all routes so maybe that is why I was able to do it.

Well, all of my flights were UA routes. As I said, UA must not like me.

JeffW · October 17, 2006, 05:02 PM

The other option with Delta is when the outbound flight opens, ticket it, but make sure to have the agent note in the comment of your reservation, "Customer will be calling to add a return flight once it becomes available."

Then, when the return flights are loaded into the system, call (ask for Reissues desk, not Reservations), and have your one-way flight converted to a round-trip.

It's CRITICAL you have the comment initially added, and reminded of again at reissue time. It is an official Delta policy that they will honor, but unfortunately it doesn't seem widely known, because both agents wanted to charge me a $50 change of ticket fee until I told them of the policy.

One disadvantage to this approach is that if you can't find a return flight, and decide to cancel the trip, you'll need to pay a fee ($50 I think) to convert your one-way ticket back to miles.

Jeff

October 17, 2006, 11:55 AM	#1
w.bob TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jun 7, 05 Location: CT Posts: 305 Resorts: Southcape	Delta Sky saver miles My wife and I will be traveling next Sept. on a 1 week vacation to HHI. We have over 30,000 Skysaver miles each and it looks like we should be able to get some seats on a flight. I have been tracking availability for dates 331 days out leading up to our scheduled dates and there are flights available, so I believe there would be some available for the dates we want.. I have never used Delta miles before and I have a question. When looking for flights and because I have to wait until 331 days out Does that mean I have to wait until 331 days out from the return date to use the skysaver miles? Is there a way to secure the outgoing flight before waiting 331 days until the return flight is available. I was planning on doing it online but would do it by telephone if need be. Hopefully I did not confuse the issue. Maybe I should word it this way: When using the skysaver miles do I have to wait until 331 days out from the return date to book or is there another way to do it? Thanks

October 17, 2006, 01:07 PM	#3
Bootser TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Aug 18, 06 Location: Olathe, ks Posts: 129 Resorts: Atrium, Royal Palm in St. Marten	Diddo to what Tim said. You will have to call in to book just the outbound, then secure the return when it becomes abvailable. Now for the rub. I believe Delta will only hold your outbound reservation for 3 days. In 3 days they will extend your hold on the outbound, only if there are frequent flyer seats available to hold, in addition to the ones you are currently holding. In otherwords you can not tie up the only seats available by extending your hold over and over again. If by chance there are not any available to allow you to extend, you must either ticket or release the seats. Now for the next rub. I have been told that when these are released they do not automatically go back into the pool. It may take 1 hour or 1 day. I recently booked frequent flyer award tickets on Delta for travel next March. This what I had to go through. My travel was for 11 days. As a result I had to renew my reservation several times.I was fortunate and did not have to release my hold back to the pool. Good Luck. Last edited by Bootser : October 17, 2006 at 01:14 PM.

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October 17, 2006, 12:58 PM	#2
tim TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jan 23, 06 Posts: 271	I haven't used Delta in a while but have used others and here is what I have done. You can call the airline and book just the outbound flight at 331 days out. The airline will hold the reservation for some period of time, I think up to two weeks, and then you call back when the return flight is at 331 days and book it so that you now have a roundtrip ticket. The catch is that most airlines will charge you a $15 or so handling fee to do this. I don't believe you can do this online, but need to talk to a rep. Good luck.

October 17, 2006, 01:53 PM	#4
Flo TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jun 6, 05 Location: N.C. Coast Posts: 196	I just went through this process for our flight next August/Sept for our Alaska Cruise. At 331 days out I booked our flight to Fairbanks. Then every 48hours I called back to keep it on hold and had to tell them I was waiting for the 331 days before my home going flight. Then on the 331 day before that, I called and booked my flight from Vancouver to home. I really had no problems with this process. I just had on my calender to call every 48 hours for the hold. If you don't do that you will lose your flight. I hope this explains it well enough. Here's a great site to figure out your 331 day time frame: http://www.timeanddate.com/

October 17, 2006, 02:37 PM	#5
philemer Moderator TUG Lifetime Member BBS Reg. Date: Aug 17, 04 Location: BEAUTIFUL IDAHO Posts: 2,949 Resorts: HI, ID, TX, UT & S.A.	This is one reason I love UA. They will hold your outbound for up to 3 weeks (unofficially & it depends on the mood of the agent) so you don't have to call every two days. I'm dreading the day when I try to use my DL miles. Call back every 2 days? Phil

October 17, 2006, 02:48 PM	#7
Flo TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jun 6, 05 Location: N.C. Coast Posts: 196	There was a $10 fee each for making the reservation on the phone plus taxes/fees. My total cost for this transaction was $48.00 and some change per person. I used 25,000 miles from each of our accounts. Considering the distance and the added complication of flying into Fairbanks and home from Vancouver, I felt it was worth the effort of making the calls. Of course it would have been better if I didn't have to call every 48 hours!

October 17, 2006, 03:49 PM	#9
Dave M Moderator TUG Lifetime Member BBS Reg. Date: Jun 16, 04 Location: Sun City Hilton Head, SC Posts: 11,351	Yes, the policy is essentially as Phil states, provided that all travel is on UA - no partner travel and no codeshares. Otherwise, the maximum hold before ticketing is three days. Here is a FlyerTalk thread that contains the official transcript of the applicable UA rule.

October 17, 2006, 04:00 PM	#10
tim TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jan 23, 06 Posts: 271	philemer, the transaction fee of $10 or $15 is a one-time fee no matter how many times you call back. However, as with any "free" ticket, you will also pay the taxes and security fees, which on an international ticket could be over $100. Luanne, I too have done the two week hold with UA on the outbound flight. Yes, I did fly only UA on all routes so maybe that is why I was able to do it.

October 17, 2006, 05:02 PM	#12
JeffW TUG Member BBS Reg. Date: Jun 6, 05 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 1,049	The other option with Delta is when the outbound flight opens, ticket it, but make sure to have the agent note in the comment of your reservation, "Customer will be calling to add a return flight once it becomes available." Then, when the return flights are loaded into the system, call (ask for Reissues desk, not Reservations), and have your one-way flight converted to a round-trip. It's CRITICAL you have the comment initially added, and reminded of again at reissue time. It is an official Delta policy that they will honor, but unfortunately it doesn't seem widely known, because both agents wanted to charge me a $50 change of ticket fee until I told them of the policy. One disadvantage to this approach is that if you can't find a return flight, and decide to cancel the trip, you'll need to pay a fee ($50 I think) to convert your one-way ticket back to miles. Jeff