Frustrations of Flying Club

Looking to get out to MCO at Christmas

Last year we went via JFK in PE and manged to get flights for £978 each five persons travelling this year it is massively more expensive.

I have been looking most days for weeks at various options the preferred route is LGW to MCO cash fares are £2K each

Today I found some reward flights in Delta 1 for the LHR - US leg - Perfect I thought, add a cash flight for the internal flights and bingo five tickets for £7,500.00 based on my calculations

Long conversation with FC I found out it is impossible to have a reward flight and a cash flight all on the same booking which we wanted to protect us if something went wrong ie missed connection

All four flights would of been on DL Metal but the "computer said no" all other scenarios added at least £1500 to the bill

Frustrated at what I thought was a simple request

I also think with Delta adding a proper Premium seat to the international flights is causing search problems with far less options coming up if you want premium seating

You can in theory link the bookings but in practice i found it very troublesome. With schedule changes being actioned differently. Mind you that was a booking made via DL and one via VS. At the time, despite their assurances, the systems did not talk to each other.

If it helps I just did a search using rewardflightfinder for 5 PE seats LGW - MCO and this is what it came back with. The shaded squares are the days with 5 seats available.

++Long conversation with FC I found out it is impossible to have a reward flight and a cash flight all on the same booking which we wanted to protect us if something went wrong ie missed connection++

I managed to do exactly this back in May 2016 - TATL VS Rewards and Delta Cash Internals - It did take two calls since the first agent said it wasn't possible.

Thanks for the advice, here is my update

I think I have it sorted (Fingers crossed)

I did try FC again but to no avail. Thought about it over the weekend, phoned FC again still wouldn't do the cash connecting flight so I grabbed the five Delta 1 seats using miles..

I then phoned Delta direct, painfully waited on the phone but eventually got through.

I asked the assistant if I could link an internal flight and get my luggage checked through - this is particularity needed for the return connection, yes of course you can all your flights are on Delta. (I know we will have to collect it as we enter Boston)

The assistant assured me she has noted our conversation on the reservation should there be any problems at the airport.

So whilst I haven't got a truly connecting flight the Delta assistance gave we assurances that all will be fine - here's hoping it is.

So five return tickets LHR - Bos in Delta 1, then Bos to MCO in Comfort + , flying at the peak Christmas period for £1,500.00 per person Compared to £2K plus in PE flying direct to MCO.