Has anyone been successful in getting "sky saver" tickets to Italy lately.

We want 2 business seats and I've been watching the availability online by plugging in the May dates and there are NONE!

So, of course, I'm panicing ...

We want to travel on June first so I guess I'll just have to wait til the right day and use the phone. Maybe we could get seats into Zurich?? or Paris????

Any suggestions?

jan

I haven't gotten them lately.

But in general, always best to call..

As for complicated itineraries involving plane changes in places you don't want to be: IMHO, and others disagree, better to fly "economy" on the route you want.

At any rate, maybe you will have some luck if you call....

Frequent Flyer tickers can be extremely difficult to use - you have to be quite flexible. I assume you are trying to travel in 2008! Can you even make reservations this early for that? You might call a 'live' agent, on the airline I normally use that seems to help a lot of times - they seem to have resources and 'tricks' that the consumer cannot use by just using a websit. I had a voucher to use and I went to our local airport where the agent helped me - kept checking flights until there was one I liked. Sometimes there is nothing like face-to-face to get something done.

Call; don't bother on-line. Also, be flexible and willing to go on partner airlines (e.g., Continental). Hey with Delta that might not be such a bad thing.

It also helps to call more than once. We fly often on SkyMiles. I am the ticket booker in the family and can tell you from lots of experience that some agents seem to take a quick glance and say "no go" while others become your BFF after doing an intensive search.

We got tickets to Sicily for this fall 300 days in advance economy so 50,000/ticket. RR

Thanks for the encouragement, friends.

This is far from my first time and I know it always works out. I just needed someone to talk to...

And where else but ST would I find supportive ears,

jan

Most airlines book 330 days out -- right now, for example, on American Airlines I could book a flight for as late as May 24 next year. Usually the online booking is a couple of days behind. I do know that I have had much better luck using my FF miles on AA than my friend in Atlanta has using her DL miles.

We were able to easily book Delta FF business elite from Atlanta to Rome non-stop in 2006. It was absolutely impossible to do so in 2007. Who knows???

Cracker

Using Northwest miles, I booked myself Chicago to Lisbon on Air France 11 months in advance even though my home airport is Kansas City; then in January (for August-September trip) availability turned up on Continental for Kansas City departures. (I looked regularly at an availability calendar on Continental's site.) So you could book something 11 months in advance that will work, but isn't ideal, then check availability later and change it. On that alliance (including Delta), Air France's Atlanta-Paris flight has one of the better availabilities. If you can get that and on to Italy, great, but insist on long connecting times in Paris. You could also just book yourselves to Paris first and plan to pay your own way to Italy.

There's also this discussion on Flyertalk on tricks for Delta award booking.

Hey, Cracker. I had the same problem Atlanta to Rome. I could get there but no return flights could be found and I was extremely flexible with my dates. I do love that direct flight.

And Andrew, it was indeed our only option to book with Delta code share Air France. We are flying into Paris and home from Florence.

I think in the future I will resort to using American Express points to purchase a ticket rather than transferring points to SkyMiles. Instead of 50,000 points, it's 60,000, which really nets out to much less since you can accrue SkyMiles on a purchased ticket though not on an awards ticket.

I probably spent sum total a week on the phone with Delta to get our October tickets. Very stressful and we couldn't get our preferred dates of travel in April or May. I am getting old and some things just aren't fun anymore.

I just was able to book two coach tickets from Washington DC to Rome for October using my AAdvantage miles. The flight is on Iberia with a connection in Madrid (anyone have any experience with Iberia?) and I was able to get the two tickets for 60,000 miles each. (If I waited until October 16, I might have been able to book with 40,000 but I am not sure I want to gamble that the late October/early November weather will be as pleasant as last year).

When I had looked on the AA web site, nothing showed as available....which reinforces the suggestion that one should always call and talk to a ticket agent.

quote:

anyone have any experience with Iberia?)

Jim
I've flown Iberia roundtrip from Madrid to Jerez de la Frontera, once in late 2002 and again in May 2004. It was OK. We had seat assignments but the boarding process was an unorganized scramble. I have not been to the new terminal in Madrid.... It opened just after I was there in 2004.

Bill

quote:

When I had looked on the AA web site, nothing showed as available....which reinforces the suggestion that one should always call and talk to a ticket agent.

Award travel normally isn't bookable online for some or all of an FF program's partner airlines. For example, you can book AAdvantage travel online only on American, American Eagle, and American Connection flights. That may be the best reason to always call if you don't see what you want online.

Just a reminder that if you have your points in your Amex Rewards account, planning to transfer them into whatever partner airline has FF seats, and you find you CANNOT find any such FF seats, you have another option: You can buy your tickets on the Amex site (I think it's really a Travelocity site) and pay for them with points.

Yes, it's more points than you would use up for FF, but it's an option. That's what I did for my tickets to Rome for October, and I got precisely the nonstop flights that I wanted that way. I did this once before and it worked out fine.

We are using our American Airlines FF to fly to Zurich on Swiss Air in two weeks. We made the reservation with an AA agent, as we always do when we use our FF miles to go abroad. I think it was her suggestion to use Swiss Air, which is taking us non-stop from LA to Zurich.

Marcia

quote:

The flight is on Iberia with a connection in Madrid (anyone have any experience with Iberia?)

Jim, we've flown twice on Iberia--once to Pisa with a change in Madrid; and once to Granada (also a change in Madrid.) Iberia was fine except just be sure you have ample time for the change in Madrid! I think you need at least two hours between flights to be safe. The new terminal is huge and even though domestic and international are all in one terminal changing involves going quite a long way (involving elevators, and/or escalators) and of course you have to go through immigration too.

We missed our connection going to Granada last year, but were put on the next flight and our luggage actually arrived with us. Iberia even gave us vouchers for lunch, which surprised us! The new terminal is very interesting!

Regarding Madrid and Iberia, we flew Venice/Madrid/JFK in December 2006. Also with AA miles.

We found the Madrid connection to be just fine, very good signage, and very roomy and pleasant gate area. Yes, the walk is long so allow time for that. I have read elsewhere that domestic flights in Madrid use an old terminal, but that should not affect you.

We also found the Iberia gate and checkin people to be very efficient and professional, very aware of giving us boarding and checkin priority with our AA frequent flier status.

quote:

quote:
The flight is on Iberia with a connection in Madrid (anyone have any experience with Iberia?)

Jim... have no experience with Iberia but we do with Madrid. On this past May's FF ticket, we went from JFK to MAD to FCO with a change in MAD from DL to AL... That part of the airport (not Iberia) is a he... hole! Poor signage as to how to get from one flight to the next and the airport is OLD and run down. When we taxied, we did see the new Iberia wing which was NEW and very nice. Iberia to Iberia wouldn't be bad but if you on Iberia to Alitalia... you're in for a treat like going from the Doge Palace to the Prison!

As for the FF tickets... Jan.. keep calling. It took me 3 agents when I booked the May trip and still only booked them about 6 or 7 months out as I decided to give it 'one last try' before buying a ticket. Be flexible and plan on 2 stops on each leg. For us, we got a Spanish passport stamp and a French stamp on the way back. Also, making the stop in Paris on the way back was nice. No hairy connections in CDG!!

Just be very flexible on your days and you can do it. Our original idea was to leave on a Friday but left on a Monday instead and came back on a Thursday. Great return day BTW, as you get Friday and the weekend to acclimate befoe returning to work!!

It'll happen!

Well, i stayed up late and called a little bit after midnight.
The best I could do was get waitlisted for a bunch of flights. They said the seat were not released into the inventory for "sky saver" yet.

I have called 3 times so far and gotten the same story. The last agent was encouraging, saying it's good to be on the wait list and that when the seats do come available we should be the first to get them.

I feel OK about it. She did say that I should call back every day.

jan

At least you're on the list... How many points is it 'costing'?

I have to start all over again, I used mine on the last trip to Boston. American Express loves me!

When you get your flight you can do the internal chicken dance (Panda used that line and I loved it!)
sandi

Good luck jan, I hope you won't have to call Delta for more than a few days.

Marcia

Thanks for the support but I think it will be more than a few days. they haven't yet released anything for late MAY!

and the last agnt I spoke to said "those business eats are really tough"

I know we will go just how and exactly where.

jan

I booked business class FF tickets on sky saver 330 days out in March for Feb 07 travel. I never do that online...can't see partner airline info. We have a fairly complicated itinerary, and got a great agent to help us. Booked the outbound, and just kept holding it until the return dates were open. Had to work at it, but ended up with the flights we needed. I just changed my return a few days ago, as I realized I was on an actual Delta flight coming back, which meant BC seats only 18.5" wide...no way! I changed to an AF flight, and was able to get the seats I needed.

Keep trying....book as soon as the seats are open! This will be my third trip on Delta in BC w/ FF miles in 5 years.

Anne