Delta Secrets - Booking Free One Way Flight On Award To Puerto Rico

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This is a post in our series ofÂ Delta SecretsÂ we’ve learned over the last 11 years flying this great airline that just happens to have a more “interesting” wayÂ toÂ find flights you want to take at the miles you want to spend.

In the past, I’ve shared an approach on how to get free one way flights on Delta awards. But this is an interesting topic and I receive a lot of questions on how to do this for any given flight. In this post we will answer a common question regarding the booking of free one-way award flights on an award flight between the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

My Experience On Puerto Rico Award Flight

The short answer is yes. I’veÂ recently booked two first class awards to Puerto Rico and I was looking to add a flight in the Southeast to a city that is not my home town and literally 6 months after my original flight returned back to my departure city. Instead of booking separate flights, I just added the one-way to the end of my original ticket to get a free one-way on my Delta award in First Class.

You can add a free one-way on the front or the back of your trip. I’ll share a sample booking I made where I received a free one-way award on the return from Puerto Rico.

Basics Of Award Booking

A typical flight to Puerto Rico from Atlanta with return is considered a round-trip flight. Since I wanted to add a new destination on the end of my trip, and return to my home city first with a long stop, my new itinerary will include a stopover and an open-jaw.

What Is An Open Jaw

Per Delta’s program guidelines an open jaw is:

Open jaw travel is permitted for Award Travel. To be eligible, the mileage between the open jaw points must be less than or equal to the total mileage flown between any other trip in the itinerary (origin to destination). A double open jaw is not permitted.

What Is A Stopover

Per Delta’s program guidelines a stopover is:

One stopover is allowed per roundtrip Award Ticket under certain circumstances. A stopover is defined as a stay of more than 4 hours between domestic flights and more than 24 hours between domestic and international or all international flights. The destination city is not considered a stopover. A stopover is allowed, provided there are no more than two connections between the origin and destination including any connections that are made while traveling to/from the stopover point. The stopover city must be located on a valid routing.

How To Add A Free One-Way To Your Delta Award

Step 1: Find Availability

Make sure you find a flight to add to your original award ticket that is in the same award bucket as your first ticket and has availability on the day you’d like. Second, make sure your flight does not exceed the Maximum Permitted Mileage (MPM) of your route. You can check your MPM with Expert Flyer.

Step 2: Call Delta To Book Free One Way

If you have Delta Platinum status or higher, you can change your award flights for free. That is why I maintain Delta Platinum status the easy way. Simply call up Delta and tell them the trip you want to change, that you want to add a segment as a stop over, and that you’ve found dates and flights with availability that will work.

If you don’t have Delta Platinum status or higher, you’ll want to find your availability for the entire trip before you book your flight using the Multi-City search feature.

Bottom Line

It is possible to add a one-way for free to the front or back of your Delta Flight to Puerto Rico from the United States. Following my previous demonstrations, you should be able to add your free one-way flights to your reservations yourself.

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