Help me understand Delta/AMEX $99 companion fare... About This Page:

[benjiboo25]

We are not frequent travelers...

We are astounded at the current price for airline tickets and at this point are planning to drive (From Mpls to WDW!).

Still looking at our options for flying...

DH has 40,000 miles. It looks like that is enough to cover the cost of one ticket.

He also has a $99 companion fare for renewing his AMEX card (which we would not have done if we thought we would be driving!).

Can we use the miles to buy a ticket AND a $99 companion fare on the same reservation?

I also read on the Delta site that you cannot use the companion fares for "cicular itineraries." Not sure what thay means but I suspect it applies to out flying into Orlando and flying out of Fort Lauderdale plan?

thanks for any and all help!

[Carousel96]

I believe the answer is no. The $99 fare can be used as a companion to a paid passenger, not an awards passenger. I just redeemed a certificate for a trip DD and I are taking in June.
The awards certificate says, among other things:
-- you must use your SkyMiles AmExt to "purchase your round trip coach class tickets"
-- certificate is valid for one $99 round trip coach class ticket with the purchase of certain adult round-trip fares
-- cannot be combined with any other offer

The "pay with miles" option says it's not combinable with certificates or other discounts.
You can email Delta's customer service and ask.

Taxes and fees are extra; the $99 fare will run you about $110 by the time you're done.
The companion ticket doesn't earn skymiles credit, so choose carefully who gets named on the paid ticket and who is named as the companion.

I see the prohibition on stopovers, open jaws and circle trips. As I understand it, flying into Orlando home out of Ft Lauderdale would be an "open jaw" itinerary and a "circle trip" would be flying MSP to MCO to Ft Lauderdale to MSP.

[LizCatMom]

Let me also say be very careful when choosing flights and double check that the flight you and your DH want to book wouldn't be the more expensive choice when you have to pay for the kiddos. (I'm assuming the kids are going with you, but I could be wrong.)

When we went to Disney in September, we paid for mine and DH's flight with Skymiles and then turned around to purchase the same flights for our DDs and they were some of the more expensive ones for that day. We might have saved close to $300 if we had double checked the price of the flight before we picked the award flights.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by LizCatMom

Let me also say be very careful when choosing flights and double check that the flight you and your DH want to book wouldn't be the more expensive choice when you have to pay for the kiddos. (I'm assuming the kids are going with you, but I could be wrong.)

When we went to Disney in September, we paid for mine and DH's flight with Skymiles and then turned around to purchase the same flights for our DDs and they were some of the more expensive ones for that day. We might have saved close to $300 if we had double checked the price of the flight before we picked the award flights.

Thanks for that tip---I was surprised to see that all of the outbound flights on our departure days all counted the same for miles..when I have been watching and know that some of the times were more expensive in real money.

[Carousel96]

You also may find that the flight you want is one price when you search for a cash flight, but higher when you search for flights using the voucher. Once the voucher factors in the "low fare guarantee" is off the table.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by Carousel96

I believe the answer is no. The $99 fare can be used as a companion to a paid passenger, not an awards passenger. I just redeemed a certificate for a trip DD and I are taking in June.
The awards certificate says, among other things:
-- you must use your SkyMiles AmExt to "purchase your round trip coach class tickets"
-- certificate is valid for one $99 round trip coach class ticket with the purchase of certain adult round-trip fares
-- cannot be combined with any other offer

The "pay with miles" option says it's not combinable with certificates or other discounts.
You can email Delta's customer service and ask.

Taxes and fees are extra; the $99 fare will run you about $110 by the time you're done.
The companion ticket doesn't earn skymiles credit, so choose carefully who gets named on the paid ticket and who is named as the companion.

I see the prohibition on stopovers, open jaws and circle trips. As I understand it, flying into Orlando home out of Ft Lauderdale would be an "open jaw" itinerary and a "circle trip" would be flying MSP to MCO to Ft Lauderdale to MSP.

I know I can email Delta but I feel like I need to understand it better to even craft a coherent question.

So...Would DH have to use his miles to pay for his ticket if we booked them all together? Could he pay his fare, use the skymiles for a kids ticket and use the companion fare for another kids ticket?

Thanks for the clarification on "open jaw" and "circle" trips. It was all foreign to me. So....we would need to consider returning our rental car to MCO instead of being able to fly out from Fort Lauderdale after spending time with family....

We are still considering--but dreading...driving...(Actually...I look forward to driving but do not want to cut days out of our WDW trip to visit family in southern FL...)

I know airpline prices are only suppossed to increase as the time draws nearer...but when we first considered driving, tickets were about $428, and DH's miles did not cover the cost of one ticket. Now we could get tickets for $349 and his miles DO cover one ticket. I was targetting around $1,000 for airfare. We are getting closer to that amount...

[Carousel96]

Are you looking at an Award Ticket or pay with miles?

If you do the pay with miles, I think you're better off using 30,000 miles to cover $300 of one ticket, paying the $49 OOP and putting the other 10,000 as $100 toward another ticket.

You also have the complication of needing to keep everyone on one itinerary so that you can get the free bag benefit for having the Delta AmEx. The only way I know to combine all those payment methods (pay by miles, companion voucher and cash ticket) into one itinerary is to call the airline. But then they add a service fee, which would almost cancel out the bag fee.

What about this: Pay for your ticket and your husbands, so that you accrue miles in your skymiles accounts. Use the companion fare voucher to pay for child #1, who won't earn miles. Use your DH's miles to "pay with miles" toward children #2 and 3. They won't earn miles, but as I understand the program the 40,000 miles is worth $400.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by Carousel96

Are you looking at an Award Ticket or pay with miles?

If you do the pay with miles, I think you're better off using 30,000 miles to cover $300 of one ticket, paying the $49 OOP and putting the other 10,000 as $100 toward another ticket.

You also have the complication of needing to keep everyone on one itinerary so that you can get the free bag benefit for having the Delta AmEx. The only way I know to combine all those payment methods (pay by miles, companion voucher and cash ticket) into one itinerary is to call the airline. But then they add a service fee, which would almost cancel out the bag fee.

What about this: Pay for your ticket and your husbands, so that you accrue miles in your skymiles accounts. Use the companion fare voucher to pay for child #1, who won't earn miles. Use your DH's miles to "pay with miles" toward children #2 and 3. They won't earn miles, but as I understand the program the 40,000 miles is worth $400.

That sounds good. Would I still need to call the airline to get us all on the same itinerary? (You know the free bag is the only reason we have the AMEX...$50 times 5 is a big benefit!)

[Carousel96]

I would call and ask HOW you can get on the same itinerary if you're paying so many different ways. Sometimes they waive the phone fee if you're trying to do something you can't do online.
I'd also start with the skymiles reservation number, not the airline.

[Dave Marx]

I think you can book it all online, in one reservation. I don't have Pay with Miles, so this is based on this page: Pay with Miles Be sure to read everything, including, "Additional Information."

When you start an online reservation, it asks for any certificates, as well as the number of people flying. You'd put the companion fare certificate number in there. Then, when you do your flight search, the flights that are eligible for Pay with Miles will be indicated. If you see none, no matter what day you're searching... using the companion certificate is probably knocking you out - abandon that reservation attempt. I suggest you then call delta.com reservations support at 888-750-3284, and explain what you're trying to do. They'll tell you how to do it, or that it can't be done. I'm pretty sure that, if the site doesn't support what you want to do, but it's something you're allowed to do, you won't be charged for making the reservation over the phone.

But assuming you put in the certificate number and Pay with Miles flights are available, you should be able to go ahead and book the reservation. You can use Pay with Miles - Pay with Cash and Miles - for multiple tickets on the reservation, so long as you have 10,000 points in your account for each person you'll be using Pay with Miles (2 tickets, 20,000 points minimum).

Good luck!

Driving from Ft. Lauderdale back to MCO to drop the rental car off in order to do this? You may as well compare the price for round-trips from home to Ft. Lauderdale as well as home to MCO (and also car rental rates). No matter what, you'll have to drive both ways between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, so it's only a matter of whether you drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando at the start of your trip, or at the end. Whichever is cheaper will determine your next course of action.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

I think you can book it all online, in one reservation. I don't have Pay with Miles, so this is based on this page: Pay with Miles Be sure to read everything, including, "Additional Information."

When you start an online reservation, it asks for any certificates, as well as the number of people flying. You'd put the companion fare certificate number in there. Then, when you do your flight search, the flights that are eligible for Pay with Miles will be indicated. If you see none, no matter what day you're searching... using the companion certificate is probably knocking you out - abandon that reservation attempt. I suggest you then call delta.com reservations support at 888-750-3284, and explain what you're trying to do. They'll tell you how to do it, or that it can't be done. I'm pretty sure that, if the site doesn't support what you want to do, but it's something you're allowed to do, you won't be charged for making the reservation over the phone.

But assuming you put in the certificate number and Pay with Miles flights are available, you should be able to go ahead and book the reservation. You can use Pay with Miles - Pay with Cash and Miles - for multiple tickets on the reservation, so long as you have 10,000 points in your account for each person you'll be using Pay with Miles (2 tickets, 20,000 points minimum).

Good luck!

Driving from Ft. Lauderdale back to MCO to drop the rental car off in order to do this? You may as well compare the price for round-trips from home to Ft. Lauderdale as well as home to MCO (and also car rental rates). No matter what, you'll have to drive both ways between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, so it's only a matter of whether you drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando at the start of your trip, or at the end. Whichever is cheaper will determine your next course of action.

Thanks for weighing in, Dave!

It never occurred to me to look for flights to FLL first...Thanks for the tip!

[LizCatMom]

Let me add this, too -- and maybe because I'm not such an experienced traveler -- but, we booked our Skymiles tickets and then attempted to book DDs tickets. Well, it appeared that they were unaccompanied minors because there weren't any adults on the itinerary and wouldn't let me do it. So, I had no choice but to call Delta and get it straightened out. And let me tell you - they didn't waiver any fee for me, then. If I'm not mistaken, I was charged $25 for each ticket that I booked with them over the phone. (sigh) So, as Dave was saying, see if you can't select to "Pay with cash and miles" and have everyone all on the same itinerary. If it will let you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[nurse_mom]

Last time I booked one of our children by themselves, however we had no trouble with checking in. I explained the everything and got her boarding pass in a few clicks of the computer, easy process.