Delta’s low level business class award to Australia has been elusive. They hide that availability well, but it can be found. In this post, we’ll share a step by step approach on how we found a low level business class award on Delta from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia for only 150,000 SkyMiles.

If you can’t find the availability on Delta to Australia at the low level, there is now at least a chance that you’ll find availability with their partner airline, Virgin Australia, when using Delta’s website to search for availability.

Virgin Australia’s low level business class award to Australia has historically been easier to book than Delta’s low level business class award. But Delta’s low level business class award can be found, even though it is a rare find.

Sometimes searching for Delta availability to Australia can return interesting results. This weekend while I was searching for a client’s award ticket to a different location, we recently came across this interesting set of search results for an award to Australia using Delta SkyMiles.

First You Have To Find Low Level Award Availability To Australia

There is an easy way to find low availability when searching for your desired dates. When no low award for business class is shown (which is often the case with Delta), select the “View Award Calendar” option on the bottom left side shown in the screen print below.

First Results Are Not At Low For Business

The “View Award Calendar” option will pop up a calendar showing low business award availability. You can see there is a lonely low level award available in business on July 4, 2012.

A Lonely Date In July Shows Low Business Availability

So now that we have an outbound flight on July 4, we need to search for a return flight using the same approach. As you can see from the screen print below, there is a return option on July 11 and July 26. If I were taking a flight to Australia, I’d try to maximize my time there as long as my schedule permitted. For the sake of this example, we’ll choose July 4 as the outbound and July 26 for the return flight.

Two Dates In July On The Return Show Availaiblity

Attempt To Price Out The Award

The next step is to attempt to price out your award booking at the low level in business class. I mention “attempt” because more often than not, Delta’s award pricing engine will return some crazy results. Let’s take a look at the results and see what they offer.

Delta returns promising and interesting results with the first leg of the journey. They return a 125,000 low level award on their own plane. But wait, something isn’t right here, take a look at Delta’s business class taxes and fees at the low level. The $476.90 isn’t the right amount and neither is 125,000 miles at the low level. Interestingly enough, Virgin Australia is showing availability on these days as well. But with those fees, I’m not sure who would pick that option over the lower priced and rare available Delta option.

Let’s select the Delta low award option and keep moving along with the itinerary and see what comes next.

Interesting Tax and Fee Pricing

Next we see Delta returns another promising set of results, with a low level business class award pricing out at 150,000 miles and $119.50 in taxes and fees. Notice that the Virgin Australia flights return availability, but only in coach class and again with higher fees. So let’s select the Delta low business class option and move to the final award pricing to see what we end up with for an award flight to Australia in business class.

Delta Low Miles And Low Fees In Business

The results are interesting. The final itinerary comes out to only 150,000 Delta SkyMiles and $119.50 in taxes and fees for a business class award on Delta metal.

Business Class To Australia At Low Level And Low Fees

We did find it interesting that Delta displayed a low level award but with higher fees than normal. Then, once you clicked through to purchase the final ticket, the fees dropped back down to the normal $119.50 for a business class award.

Bottom Line

Delta’s business class awards to Australia are available at the low redemption level, even if they are few and far between.

Don’t let their award pricing engine fool you into thinking they are going to charge you higher fees. Continue to work with it until you find what you are looking for, especially if you know the availability is there at the low level. If you get frustrated just place a call into Delta’s award booking desk or email our award booking service and ask for help. In the end, it is slightly more practical to try and find Virgin Australia’s business class award availability at the low level.

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