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Add to del.icio.usSkyMiles members seeking Business Class and coach award seats to Europe have a reason to rejoice! Air France award availability has been added to the online search and booking calendar of SkyTeam partner Delta through its web site, delta.com.
Until now, Air France award availability has been difficult to determine, to say the least. The carrier’s own website allows award searches only when the customer’s account has enough miles to cover that award—a liability to travelers who might aspire to a Business Class seat, and are willing to buy miles to make up the difference from a lesser award.
The inclusion of Air France routes on Delta.com gives much easier access to a variety of award options for SkyMiles members. Availability through Delta offers the benefit of transferring (and buying) miles from credit card programs.
The comfort factor gives an edge to booking an Air France flight when possible, as its Business Class seats outperform Delta’s BusinessElite seats—but that’s not saying much.
My partner and I have been traveling to Paris twice each year for the past 5 years. We only fly business class when traveling abroad, so it is important to us to get a good fare and be very comfortable. We first flew Air France via Delta by booking on Delta's website. Then we signed up for Air France's Flying Blue to get miles directly with them. We tried for a long time to use our Delta miles to get a free Business Class ticket to Paris, but could not - until now. We booked our first flight, through Delta's website, Business Class, to Paris. It was very easy and I am thrilled. The only drawback I can see right now is that our seat assignments could not be made on Delta's sight. I had to call Air France, give them our confirmation number, and then get our seat assignments. Even after doing that, our seat assignments do not show up on the reservation on the Delta sight. I called Air France again just to be sure that they have it, and they do. Violá.
Check out expertflyer.com. It can search award and upgrade inventory on some carriers including AF, NW, AA, UA, etc. The inventory displayed seems to be available through partners consistently (e.g., NW inventory using DL miles, AA inventory using BA miles, etc.). Also, delta.com is showing some KLM inventory now as well.
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