Hi all,
I remember reading some posts about a guy you can pay to help you find tickets using your FF miles. I have a ton of Delta miles that I'm finding impossible to use. Can someone remind me what his name is? I did a search here and on google but I can't seem to come up with his name.
On that note, is anyone actually their Delta miles other than for just doing the double miles "anytime miles" type tickets. I've tried domestic and international and they just seem like unusable miles to me.

www.onemileatatime.net (Ben)

Gary Leff is good at Star Alliance awards google his address

That's it Joanna! I kept thinking his name was Jeff!

How does he charge you? Is it a flat fee per ticket? I found the answer at the link Joanna. It's $150 for the first person and $100 for each additional passenger on the same itinerary.

They talk about their fees very reasonable I think - when you google you'll find it :) :)

Hi Julie, I also had lots of Delta miles. I wanted 4 biz class tickets to Cairo and was having little luck on my own. Best I could find involved 2 stops, one for 14 hours and 240k miles per ticket. So I contacted Gary Leff but he was "unavailable" (I guess he goes on vacation too?) Anyway he referred us to Ben at Points Pros and Voila! I have my tickets: Air France via CDG and KLM via AMS for the return for 120k miles per ticket plus the airline's taxes and fees. Ben's fee was $150 for the first passenger and $100 for each additional on the same trip. He paid the airline fees himself and asked me to send him a check for the total. My itinerary is confirmed on Delta's website and I couldn't be more pleased. His email is request@pointspros.com.
-----------------
Helen

The three guys that I endorse for frequent flyer mileage redemption are (I do know all of them and have met them in person more than once) - I believe their fees for the service are very similar:

Ben - as indicated above - his blog is at http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/ - personally he usually flies United & American but does very creative redemptions - I'm very good friends with him.

Gary Leff - his blog is at http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/ - I believe he usually flies United and is very good with Star Alliance redemptions.

Brian Kelly - his blog is at http://thepointsguy.com/ - he usually flies Delta and is very good with SkyTeam redemptions.

Any recent reports on using Brian for Delta miles? Should I engage him prior to 331 days or try to make reservations myself first?

I don't think that Brian works with award reservations anymore.

Brian doesn't. I tried already.

------------

Eugene

Does Gary Leff work with Delta? If not, any recommendations?

Yes, Gary works with Delta

Anyone who can work a miracle with Delta will have you in their claws forever, I am sure, Mark ;) :D

I have worked with both Gary and Ben in the past, with great results. I think my better luck with Delta the 2-3 times I have used points with them to Africa has always been paying the cheapest fare I could get and upgrading (on my own thru Delta). Otherwise, I'm sure you remember the "other side" of the stories from Frank V and me about how they gouge for award travel, even worse when you fly from 2 different "zones". Since they are not a local airline for me, I no longer even use the AMex Delta card.

He did a good job for us somehow when we went to Egypt, and we came and went from different places. So, it never hurts to try.

Absolutely correct, never hurts to try. But when going from Africa over to South America, two different zones. I don't understand any of it. I have never spent more points for flights. But I think Marc is looking for something different here, one zone.

Come to think of it, I may have used Amex points changed to Delta for my last flights last month, but on Air France. All within Europe. That's where you luck out, on partner flights. Best just to email Ben or Gary. If they can't help, there is no charge, and they have access to more info than most of us. I am happy to pay them when they can do it.

Olivia, thanks. I have two options. First is to fly into Bangkok and home from Delhi. Flying in or out of Bangkok never seems to be available at the lowest mileage level. The middle level still seems worthwhile to me so I will take it if offered. The second option is to book a round trip to Delhi and then just buy a one way ticket from Delhi to Bangkok which are very reasonably priced.

We will see; I will give Delta a call next week. If it doesn't sound good, I will contact Gary.

You are right, Olivia. I can't figure any of this out, but they seem to be wizards.

Have also used Gary and Ben, esp like and recommend Ben. Another option (cost is 50% less than either Gary or Ben) is:

Thanks for contacting me at The Flight Concierge. Of course I can assist you in using Delta miles. Please get back to me with some travel details and I'll see how we proceed from there.

Regards,

Roland
Flight Concierge
roland@theflightconcierge.com

Here is my latest results in dealing with Delta, the end result was positive I believe, but the road getting there is so twisted it boggles my brain... Just got back from our Silversea cruise.. I booked Delta from Bos-JFK-NCE, and then return FCO-JFK-BOS, because god forbid I could get direct flights from Boston with award availability, but any way total cost was 250k skymiles per ticket and I was allowed to pick Economy Comfort bulkhead seats for both ways... Called Delta back and changed my flight so we could stay a couple more days in Rome for the previous two days we were staying, even though the award was the same as online I was credited 32,500 miles per ticket because the agent stated the award level went down, so it does pay to pick up the phone sometimes and keep checking... then a week before the flight I called and asked how much to upgrade to Biz class from JFK to NIce and was told 175k miles per ticket one way.... I was like OK, thats crazy... Then I asked how much to upgrade from Rome to Boston, This is when it gets interesting.... I was told 30 cents per ticket yes 30 cents per ticket, which had to be verified with a supervisor and they credited my account another 12,500 miles per ticket, so in the end 160k miles for two tickets one way economy comfort return Biz Elite, in Deltas currency and in my experience it wasnt a bad return for the skypesos..... I have to say the Biz Elite seats we had 1J and 1H Were fantastic, I was totally sprawled out watching movies and napping through the flight..... Always good to be home though...

Just to correct my post initially it was 250k skymiles for two tix!!!

Well, we're using Gary again.
The story so far: We have biz seats on Cathay from JFK to BKK on a direct flight for 85,000 BA points/miles each. The 50% bonus for Amex transfer really helped! And the taxes/fees weren't bad, either. (I'm guessing they would have been much worse had we been on a BA plane!)

Still waiting to see how we will get home.

I can't speak to availability of seats, although everyone says that there are fewer available. I have noticed that the points/miles required have climbed. Inflation hits another currency!

Doug