Master Thread: Free Oneways on Delta Awards

Update in 2015: Delta no longer allows stopovers on awards, so free one ways are impossible.

Introduction to Free One Ways
Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards (dead as of April 2014)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on United Awards
Master Thread: Free One Ways on Delta Awards (dead as of January 2015)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on US Airways Awards
Three Vacations on Two Awards

This article presumes a knowledge of how to book free stopovers on Delta.com, which I covered in How to Book Free Stopovers Online: Delta.

We need two things to book a

20k Miles to All of Europe All Summer

Update 5/26/14: This deal is dead since American Airlines eliminated free stopovers.

Or: Save 10k Miles by Adding a Free Oneway

Summer airfare to Europe often tops $1,000 in economy class roundtrip. But you can get to Europe this summer for only 20k miles.

All the legacy carriers--American, Delta, United, US Airways--charge 60k miles roundtrip to Europe in economy class. That's where the European award similarities end.

American and United let you go oneway for 30k miles.

Anatomy of an Award: South America, Africa, Europe, and North America in Biz for 100k

Or: Help Me Choose Which Business Class Products to Fly I got trigger happy and booked without asking

Or: How An American Can Exploit the South American Sweet Spot with US Airways Miles

Or: How to Get an Open Jaw AND a Stopover on a US Airways Award

Or: How I saved 20k miles

Necessity is the mother of invention. I wanted to think of a way to get from Buenos Aires to Europe next summer with a stopover in South Africa, then from Europe to Chicago in time for the Chicago seminars.

Master Thread: Free Oneways on US Airways Awards

Introduction to Free One Ways (this post)
Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards (dead as of April 2014)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on United Awards
Master Thread: Free One Ways on Delta Awards
Master Thread: Free One Ways on US Airways Awards
Three Vacations on Two Awards

 

Just in time for my talk about Free Oneways on Sunday at the LAX Frequent Traveler University, I've figured out how to add free oneways to US Airways awards.

Until this week, I hadn't thought free oneways on US Airways awards were possible (without phone agent error), but

Master Thread: Free Oneways on United Awards

Introduction to Free One Ways (this post)
Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards (dead as of April 2014)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on United Awards
Master Thread: Free One Ways on Delta Awards (dead as on January 2015)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on US Airways Awards (dead as of April 2015)
Master Thread: Free One Ways on Alaska Awards
Three Vacations on Two Awards

Six months ago, I was the first person to write about Free Oneways on United Awards.

Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards

American Airlines eliminated free stopovers in April 2014, killing the possibility of free one ways on American Airlines awards.

Surcharge Info on All Delta SkyMiles Partners

The Delta SkyMiles program has a lot of drawbacks. One of the most annoying is that it charges fuel surcharges on award redemptions on several of its partners. For this post, I've compiled a list of SkyMiles partners that fly to the US, and I've priced out a roundtrip award from the US to their hubs in either economy or business class.

Delta miles can't be used for three-cabin first class redemptions. Awards cost the roundtrip price whether you fly oneway or roundtrip.

I've noted which awards incur surcharges and how much those surcharges are.

A System to Get to Europe with Delta SkyMiles

I use three steps to get to my European destination with Delta SkyMiles. For each direction:

Find transatlantic space.
Find domestic space within the US on Delta or Alaska from my home airport to the international gateway.
Find intra-European space to my destination.

Those steps are roughly in order of difficulty--though many times finding domestic space on Delta is impossible at the low-miles price.

How to Avoid the Phone Fee on Award Bookings

The legacy carriers--United, US Airways, Delta, American--all charge a fee if you ticket your award by phone instead of online. Here's your guide to avoiding those phone fees:

United

United charges $25 per passenger if you book by phone. They will not waive this phone fee just because a booking could not be completed online. That's frustrating because many multi-city and free-oneway awards can't be booked online. They generate error messages despite being within the routing rules.

Here's how you avoid the phone fee with United:

First, search for and reserve any United flight.

$35 Hotel Rooms for October 16 – December 10

Whenever Priority Club announces its new list of PointBreaks hotels, the miles’ world pays attention. The hotels on the list that may ordinarily cost hundreds of dollars a night go for 5,000 Priority Club points for a limited time. The new list is valid for stays from October 16 - December 10.

As loyal readers know, I’m not big on hotel rewards programs; I usually get a better deal pricelining as I explained here.