www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I have been trying to get a ticket using my skyliles on Delta and nothing is available for the next 4 months going to SJO.

Are there any experts in the forum who know any tricks to tweak the systems or any pointers that can help me get something?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Sangram,
Delta has been having many problems as of late. I've had nothing but problems trying to get free seats using their Skymiles program. I think that they only allocate a couple "free" seats per flight. I tried for 3 years in a row to use my miles to get free seats to Las Vegas. Finally, last year, I cashed in 90,000 miles and got 2 free / 1st class tickets. But I booked the November '04 trip 9 months earlier (in March '04). YMMV.

IMHO, stay on them. Call their toll-free number, and talk to a warm body. Then have that person find you a flight that has "Skymiles" seats available.

I use my Citibank (American Airlines) card almost exclusively. I have been very happy with them for the past 16 years. I have been able to fly numerous times using frequent flyer miles.
Good luck.
Mikey-B

_________________
You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

Yeah I think its time to dump Delta and use some one else,Thanks again.

Last week I booked a R/T to Rio using my Skymiles for exactly the dates I wanted in March.

Today I booked the same trip for June. I did have to leave one day earlier than planned and return one day later (poor me) in order to avoid using double the number of miles (SkySaver at 50K instead of SkyChoice at 100K).

Use their online SkyMiles reservation page and you can often fine what you want, except Vegas but with the cheap fares it's better to just pay for the flight and pick up another 4K miles.

I've never had a problem getting SkyMiles flights to San Jose.

Keep in mind if you're flying Delta from ATL to SJO you will have to compete with about 50 other guys for each of 2 daily flights.

I did find SkySaver flights going from ATL to SJO on Feb 21st and Mar 6th.

The best thing about using the Citibank American Airlines Mastercard is their reduced mileage flights that come out quarterly. I've seen flights as low as 22,500 miles from ATL to Cali, Medellin or Bogota for Platinum card holders, 25K for Gold card holders.

http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardse ... /globe.jsp

As an frequent traveller, I would recommend switching airlines, preferably with one that is not bankrupt. If you build-em-up on delta, they have the right to refuse them.

Try American.

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Delta has come out with a new policy for Platinum members in 2006. Complimentary upgrades to Central and Latin America.

I was travelling on Delta 3 weeks ago. When the hostess gave me the drink and a snack (bag of chips), I asked her if I could get one more bag. She instinctively replied -- let me make sure no one else is left who needs it and if we have any remaining, I will give it to you. I just smiled and then she realized that I was sitting on the window seat of the last row of the plane. A moment later, she sheepishly handed me another bag.

If you choose another airline, I don't recommend United. Here's an account of a massively unpleasant experience I had with them on my last flight to Thailand. I was so mad I sent this letter to every travel web site I could find. This is just a condensed version of all that went wrong. I left out the small stuff. I have almost 100,000 FF miles with United and I still haven't decided if I'm going to just let them take those miles and shove them up their collective ass. Regardless, even if I do use the miles, it wll be the last flight I ever take with United unless the city is burning and a United flight is the only hope of survival:

***PLEASE READ AND SHARE WITH OTHERS***

I recently had an airline experience on a round trip from Denver, CO to Bangkok, TH with United Airlines which I feel obligated to share with as many people as possible. In doing so, I hope to provide information which will aid travelers as they search for the airline which they believe will provide them with the most pleasant and worthwhile travel experience for their money.

The following is a list of situations which developed during my flying experience with United:

- Two flights cancelled due to mechanical failure. One outbound flight from Denver and one inbound flight from Bangkok. One of these flights cancelled due to an airplane with a cracked windshield being taxied up to the gate.
- A missed connection in San Francisco, causing a one day delay in my trip.
- An over night layover in a poor quality hotel with a dirty floor and bathroom, located a long distance from any retail stores, causing me to pay expensive cab fares simply to acquire personal items for the evening. When a complimentary toiletries pack was requested at the arrival gate I was told there was nothing that could be offered.
- All personal meal requests dropped from the system on outbound flights between San Francisco and Bangkok.
- One piece of luggage lost between LAX and Denver containing over $800.00 in items, including movies rented from InMotion which may report to a credit bureau because their movies will not be returned.
- Over $200.00 in personal financial expenditures relating to difficulties, rescheduling, and inconvenience caused by delays and unavailability of personal items.
- Three months of dealing with the United Airlines Baggage Claims department which is now refusing to take accountability for lost baggage. Over $800.00 in personal items are now gone.
- Three months of dealing with the United Airlines Customer Relations Department which “lost” my initial e-mail concerning this matter and whose subsequent largest offer of compensation, relating to difficulty and loss of personal items amounting to well over $1,000 in damages, is two $100.00 travel discount coupons.

Perhaps you are like me. You are not wealthy and must work very hard so that two or three weeks out of the year you are able to get away on a nice vacation. Or, perhaps you fly frequently on business. Either way, I’m sure you seek the most enjoyable flying experience with the fewest possible glitches. When things do go wrong, you also likely expect your carrier to take full accountability.

Please utilize the information provided here as you see fit during your travel planning. I also encourage you to share this document with as many people as you like. Kind regards, and may you always seek traveling experiences which provide you with wonderful memories.

While I can sympathize with your experience I have to admit most of the things you've mentioned have been experienced by many travelers at one time or another.

If you take the personal emotion out of this equation I think you'll find there isn't that much to get yourself all worked up over. Whenever you travel bad things can and do happen.

Granted you had a number of bad things happen on one trip and it sounds like United was less than helpful in solving these problems.

The airlines are only obligated to provide transport from one place to another in a "reasonable" timeframe. Rule 240 (each airline has their own) will spell-out what these provisions are.

Lost luggage, canceled flights and bad meal are all (sadly) part of the travel experience we live in.

Here is a link to a travel advocate. If you haven't contacted him maybe he can get United's attention but I'm afraid there won't be much hope.
http://www.elliott.org/

I have checked for various dates and find that a lot of flights are almost sold out for the spring season. That is part of the reason.
Even some flights in August require the use of double miles but I was able to find a skysaver seat on some dates then.

I guess I can kiss my 40,000 miles goodbye.

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PacoLoco: "You pay for it one way or another."
Ace: "Rent everything, do not buy in Costa Rica"

If things keep going his way I'll be sad, since they are my favorite airline. They treated me very well when I got stuck 9/11 and Atlanta is the best huge hub I've found.

I'm a big fan of American. I just booked a trip to SJ in Jan for 30K miles (taxes cost me $28 ). Had no problem getting the dates I wanted (no Saturday night stay-over) and I was able to fly out of PHL instead of BWI. If I'm paying, I'll drive the extra hour to BWI to save $100.

If you get Citibank's AAdvantage card they'll front you 15K miles (sometimes it's 25K) and every purchase you make gets you one mile per dollar. I use mine for everything.

underdog
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