croix

I have several 100K FF miles on Delta--------Can anyone give me the skinny on how to actually use them to those places that never seem available------St Martin or St Thomas in June 04. I know you can double up to 60K to get a seat, but any ideas how to work the system????????

beachplum

When the flight is first posted, about 330 days out, if I remember correctly, you have better picking for ff seats. If you avoid heavy traffic days, eg. Fri - Mon, you also have a better chance. However, you should watch fares and see if it worth using the miles if the fares are really low. www.flyertalk.com is a good site for lots of ff information. I call the ff desk and they can give the options and alternatives for the 30K seats or go for the 60 in Business - and they are fewer and fewer but since AA is reconfiguring seats back to the "less space" on the leisure routes, it may free up more ff seats since you are in the "off" season.

jray

check out www.webflyer.com for all you frequent flyer tips.

One tip, since you have several 100k, you can actually book first class seats at 60,000 per ticket. The earlier you book the better your chances.

eileen

It takes a lot of effort, but can be worth it depending on the high prices. More airlines are now making seats available on a rolling basis rather than all at once, so you basically have to keep calling. I called Continental once a week for about 8 weeks and finally got the seat to Mexico I wanted for next April, since the price of the flight was $750, I felt this was worth it. Now's the right time to be working on June 04.

Caribbean_Rez

I agree with beachplum. Everytime we have tried to use ours there were never seats available, so we started using them to upgrade to first class for flights over 3 hours.

Ally75

I'm only familiar with the American Airlines system. I was able to book a package vacation deal--paying for the hotel and using airmiles for the flights and upgrade to a nicer room--and this was to St. Lucia for 2. Delta may have a similar system (using airmiles to pay for hotel as well as flights) Get on their website and see if they have a similar system to AA--they may have a separate link in their website that is strictly for mileage awards.

INFINITYRJ

croix,

I have been quite frustrated having a boat load of FF miles too yet never having available seats when I wanted to use them.... so this last time several months ago I had had enough and asked to speak to a supervisor... and said free up two more seats or cancel out my account immediately... and that I would call AX and tell them why I discontinued their credit card also...
suprisingly she did!!! I was shocked... I was really just blowing off steam. Hey it's worth a try

ML

JenniferW

I only know the US Airways system, I decided not to call but instead went to their website and booked the dates online.

I had to do a lot of back and forth to see what flights were available when but I finally found dates that worked for me. They have a calendar that shows what dates the flights are available.

I got two tickets to St. John for this November at 25,000 points each which I thought was a pretty good deal.

2sweets

Here is a link to a thread from the US board re:using frequent flyer miles: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1
We were lucky enough to get award seats this summer to Hawaii and next summer to Aruba. This year I called 331 days before the date I wanted to leave and there were seats available that I put on hold for 2 weeks. Then, when it was 331 days before the date I wanted to return, I called and finished the reservation. This seems to only work if your vacation is 2 days or less though some have talked about extending the hold but it wasn't an issue for me.
You are obviously past the 331 days for June 04 but you may want try it for future trips if you can plan that far in advance.
Good luck!!

2sweets

Above message obviously should have read "if your vacation is 2 WEEKS or less" ...