Experience booking DL reward flights

[theevilmuppet]

Hi all,

I'm looking at redeeming some of my Velocity points for a few domestic flights on DL within the US, however the online search provided by Virgin Australia is proving quite frustrating. The vast majority of routes I've searched for show no availability at all.

Have people found that availability is better when they call VA to book DL seats using points or does availability tend to match what the site says?

Thanks to all who reply!

 

[CJEMNMAC]

Hi all,

I'm looking at redeeming some of my Velocity points for a few domestic flights on DL within the US, however the online search provided by Virgin Australia is proving quite frustrating. The vast majority of routes I've searched for show no availability at all.

Have people found that availability is better when they call VA to book DL seats using points or does availability tend to match what the site says?

Thanks to all who reply!

Yes alot more availability when calling up


My experience is most direct flights are not available. EG LAX to JFK says no.... but LAX to MSP and MSP to JFK shows available. I have found that it is then priced as 2 x awards and connection times are not ideal. Sometimes even routing through another point as well.

I called VA the other day and booked LAX to JFK x 2 return on VX in First and had the choice of 3 different departure times both ways. DL did not have 2 x First seats on the dates and times I wanted.

I find the partner search engine frustrating more so than calling... so i mostly call

 

[grubbidok]

Also, DL - like most US airlines - release a bulk of their domestic availability closer to the date. It's actually more difficult finding long-term availability than short-term.

 

[theevilmuppet]

Also, DL - like most US airlines - release a bulk of their domestic availability closer to the date. It's actually more difficult finding long-term availability than short-term.

There's something I definitely didn't know - thanks grubbidok! When you say "closer", do you know roughly how far out that is?

 

[grubbidok]

There's something I definitely didn't know - thanks grubbidok! When you say "closer", do you know roughly how far out that is?

Within a month, usually. I've never found an issue finding DL domestic flights less than a week out. Have a look at the kind of availability you can expect at the end of this month compared to later on. I should caveat that by saying that I generally travel in Y though. First can be a bit trickier (and TBH, I've never found it worth it for domestic flights).