Anyone used Delta FF miles for Caribbean trip?

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:40 pm

I have successfully booked domestic flights with Delta Skymiles at the lowest qualifying level (25,000 miles for RT ticket) and got exactly the dates I wanted. I was surprised - it never worked that well with the old Northwest miles. I've heard that Delta Skymiles are a great deal domestically but are much harder to use for international flights. Has anyone successfully used Skymiles for a Caribbean ticket? If so, any tips? How far in advance would you have to book in order to find open seats at the lowest qualifying level (35,000 for Carib)?

byado18 · Post by **byado18** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:35 pm

Several years ago we did! Probably booked 6-8 months out as we go from the middle to the end of December so need to plan ahead!

Best tip is to be flexible in your flying days as you are more likely to find seats mid week that on the weekends!

Good luck!

indianaizzy · Post by **indianaizzy** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:58 pm

We booked two tickets about 4 months ago using Delta Skymiles - 50,000 miles each. ouch! We'll be there in 7 days so it was worth it.

coldfront · Post by **coldfront** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:02 pm

Hi, booke in late October for a mid February trip. There were some 35k trips left but you most like with have to stay longer than a week, which could be a good thing I guess, lol. For a standard week trip I had to use 50k. I've seen the 35ks out there for all differnt times, you just have to keep looking. I'm pretty sure I've seen 25k within the last several months to both SJU and STT but they were nearly a year in advance and in off season and not many of those green squares showed up. If you really need specific dates and if you can only stay a week I would count on 50k, although I admit I havent looked since I booked this trip in October.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:16 pm

We use miles every time. The key is when to buy. The best time is 330 days before your return. Delta loads their flights 330 days before departure. That day gives you the highest chance of getting the lowest price ticket on the flight you want. We also stay away from Saturday arrivals and departures. Delta has been flying 757s to STT. They exit through the midship door at the front of the coach cabin and the rear door. If you want to get off the aircraft quickly and start your vacation first, you know where you should sit.

Enjoy your trip.

JIM

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:55 pm

We've used Delta miles to go to STT twice...the first time was back in 2003 when we got 2 tickets, but the other time was about 5 years ago and we had to use double miles for one ticket and buy the other ticket.

Fisheye · Post by **Fisheye** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:41 am

Jim has great advice. I used AA miles years ago for a Caribbean spring break trip and booked the departure time first ( as one way as soon as it was online avail to book...like 330 days out) , and a week later exactly ,I booked the one way return tiks ( as that's when they became avail to book) . Then I called AA and had them combine the two tiks to one itin, which took some talking. They actually scolded me for booking it that way, asking WHY would I do that? I did get the tiks using the fewest award miles, but....not easy.

michigancouple · Post by **michigancouple** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:45 am

We used Delta miles for our trip coming up next month. I booked them last April. Had to use 50,000 miles, but got Saturday to Saturday in high season. At the time the booking price was just over $600 but now they are over $1,000. I got one free ticket on Delta miles and used my Visa Flexperks miles (40,000) for the other ticket. We're flying out of Grand Rapids, which is always more expensive. The previous 2 years we've flown out of Chicago. It uses less FF miles and is cheaper if we are paying but it's also a 4 hour drive from home. Since we had enough miles to get 2 free tickets from Grand Rapids this year we decided to go for it!

Jan&MikeVa · Post by **Jan&MikeVa** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:14 am

A few years ago we used Delta miles 35000 each. We booked in September for travel in mid January. No hassle, got the days we wanted, Sun to the following Wed. Excellent advice on the 757, we always book in the back!

MN_Bhoy · Post by **MN_Bhoy** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:10 pm

Last year I booked my early August trip with Delta in mid-May. It cost me 60,000 miles per person from Minneapolis. I think jimj20 is 100% correct. If you're planning on using miles, book your flights as far in advance as possible! For example, I just checked the Delta website for late-July, early-August travel (Sat to Sat) and it's 50,000 or 60,000 miles per person depending on the weekend.

lprof · Post by **lprof** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:37 pm

We booked our November flights last year in April using FF... 50,000 miles RT per person, $15. each ticket for fees, and $50. each way for 2 checked bags. The Delta FF experience is nothing like it used to be!

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:49 pm

lprof wrote:We booked our November flights last year in April using FF... 50,000 miles RT per person, $15. each ticket for fees, and $50. each way for 2 checked bags. The Delta FF experience is nothing like it used to be!

Unfortunately, nothing in the airline industry is what it used to be.

JIM

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:42 am

We would always book at the 330 day mark or close to it. If you think about that concept, it means we have been home for barely 30 days since the last trip to St John and now are committing to going again for the following Spring Break with the kids. That was 10 trips ago and the spoiled brats won't go anywhere but STJ(yes LIL CHEESE I said spoiled brats).

We could get the 35,000 miles and get us all done. When they changed the card to Delta, we changed the Business Card to US Bank Flex and have found that to be much more (dare I say) Flexible

, As they use Travelocity as their vendor, we get more options than just Delta to fly out of Detroit and usually better seat choices too.

michigancouple · Post by **michigancouple** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:29 pm

Bigcheeze... same story with us on the Flexperks card. Plus we get $25 credit toward our one checked bag. That saves money too and we don't have to schlep all our stuff through the airports.

mrscherry2000 · Post by **mrscherry2000** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:42 pm

I used "pay with miles" with Delta for our trip Feb 2-9. 45,000, I opted to pat for my tic to earn miles to keep my status. Pay with miles is a perk of the Amex Skymiles card.

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