Use Delta or KLM / AirFrance to
find saver level award ticket availability, then book the ticket on Korean Air's website.
If you happen to
find saver level award space on American Airlines, Avios are also great for short flights within the U.S.
If you're able to
find saver level award space on the dates you need, the process of searching and booking is pretty straightforward and can be completed entirely online.
While Delta SkyMiles can be tough to use for booking award flights to Australia because of incredibly high redemption rates, your miles can be useful if
you find saver level award space.
Not exact matches
First, by carrying a Chase United card (even the fee - free version) you have access to more
saver level domestic Economy
award availability (HT: bluecat who correctly points out the availability extends to international flights on United metal) I haven't
found the difference that noticeable for the most part, but while doing some research for an upcoming Brandon Asks post I noticed it was quite useful for positioning flights.
However, if you can
find award space on Virgin Atlantic and a separate
saver level award for a connecting flight, there is a way to make this work.
Saver level economy
award tickets for domestic flights can offer good value for your miles, but they may be difficult to
find.
While
finding saver level business class
award space on Hawaiian Airlines can be very tough, there are lots of routes with lie - flat seats if you can
find the space.
I do think Hawaiian has good service if you've never tried them before, but
awards from North America to Hawaii are 20,000 miles one - way at the SuperSaver
level, and you're more likely to
find them at the 30,000
Saver level.
In the entire month of October, I
found one day with availability on the LAX — JFK non-stop flight at the
saver award level.
And remember, using Pay with Points means you don't have to
find Saver or other low -
level award availability.
However, since the prices are variable you may be able to
find cheaper
awards that aren't significantly more expensive than
Saver level awards.
These can be as low as 20,000 miles each way for a Super
Saver award, but you will
find much better availability at the
Saver level for 30,000 miles.
I checked the entire 2015 and
found not even one J class
award to London at the
Saver level.
Wish Delta would do something this simple... I spent better part of a week
finding what I thought were
saver level awards to / from US to Hawaii @ 65k each way that I could feed to Korean Air or Air France agent.
Find award space from your home airport to Philly at the
Saver level and book your vacation today.
And
finding flights on Delta at the «low» or
saver level can be the toughest part of constructing the
award.
Here's a predicament I
find myself in for a summer trip to Hawaii: Megan and I are going to Kauai and Maui, there is
saver -
level award space for only the outbound portion of our journey, we're both trying to get status with Alaska's Mileage Plan, and the tickets are ridiculously expensive (Scenario 1).