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Home » Award Bookings » I Screwed Up. Don’t Ever Hesitate in Booking an Award Ticket.
Award BookingsDelta SkyMilesMiddle East Airlines

I Screwed Up. Don’t Ever Hesitate in Booking an Award Ticket.

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 12, 2017November 14, 2023 5 Comments

an airplane on the runway

In my quest to try out as many business class products around the world, I thought I had a great trick up my sleeve to try out Middle East Airlines. I did, in fact. But I hesitated too long. Never hesitate when you see a nicely-priced award. I should have known better by now…

Middle East Airlines, flag carrier of Lebanon is a SkyTeam carrier. While its global footprint is quite limited, it does run A330-200 aircraft between London/Paris/Istanbul and Beirut. Most airline loyalty programs are smart in pricing awards cumulatively if you traverse a third region, but for whatever reason, Delta was not. At least not last month.

So I could have paid 42,500 miles for a one-way from Paris to Beirut…or 25K miles for a one-way from Paris to Istanbul via Beirut, with both flights operated by an A330-200.

That was my plan–

a screenshot of a flight schedule

I even sent a screenshot to One Mile at a Time and asked if he wanted to join me.

But I’ve been very busy with other projects and set aside the booking until I could plan out a trip around it. That was to my regret.

Yesterday, I returned to delta.com to book and found the price had gone from 25K to 85K.

a screenshot of a flight schedule

No, this is not another stealth Delta devaluation. Instead, Delta is simply pricing the award as a round-tip Europe to Middle East award (42.5K each way) instead of a one-way Europe to Europe (25K).

I have only myself to blame for dragging on this booking. Now I’ll end up paying a lot more unless Korean Air or Alitalia has more generous routing rules than Delta or Air France/KLM Flying Blue.

If you see an attractively priced award ticket, book it immediately. Don’t wait or you are likely to be burned.

top image: John Taggart / Wikimedia Commons

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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5 Comments

  1. Ted Reply
    October 12, 2017 at 4:07 pm

    You’re a pro, so forgive me, but are you sure this isn’t a case of “clear your cache and all will be as it once was”? Delta changes prices for me all the time when I search for revenue tickets but don’t book the first time so…maybe it’s the same with awards?

    • Matthew Reply
      October 12, 2017 at 4:17 pm

      Don’t think so. I tried it on different computers/browsers. I was shocked to see it for 25K initially, since Delta is usually good about not letting you transit third regions…

  2. Brian Cohen Reply
    October 12, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    Look on the bright side, Matthew…

    …you can now save $1.33 in taxes and fees.

    • Matthew Reply
      October 12, 2017 at 4:53 pm

      At least there’s that! 😉

  3. SAN Greg Reply
    October 12, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    Keep an eye on it. DL mileage prices fluctuate up and down more than a buoy on the ocean.

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