The best way to search for Delta award flights…is on Air France’s website

Let me preface this by saying that, in general, I really dislike Delta SkyMiles. I can certainly appreciate them not having any last-minute ticketing fees, but they hardly ever have any low-level awards at that point, or really any point.

While Delta’s mileage program is one of the worst (beaten only by US Airways in my opinion), the airline itself is the best (also in my opinion). The planes are clean, the seats are comfortable, the gates have plugs, and the staff are courteous and knowledgeable. I feel they go more out of their way than most airlines to be flexible with their rules when delays or cancellations happen.

Because it is such a good airline, a lot of businesspeople fly it and rack up a large number of miles. When it comes time to use them, however, Delta’s website is so broken that it’s basically impossible to do so knowing you’ve found the best option. Very rarely is delta.com able to show all flight options at the lowest price available. You’ll often do the same search twice and get different results. And forget about partner flights showing up.

How to find Delta flights on Air France's website

Enter Air France. Air France is a SkyTeam partner of Delta’s with a fantastic award search engine. So fantastic, in fact, that it shows Delta flights better than Delta’s website does. Here is a step-by-step guide to finding Delta flights on the site:

1. Go to www.airfrance.us

2. On the top right, under “FlyingBlue & My Account”, sign up for an account. Once signed up, log in within the same box. A similar page will appear:

3. Click “Award ticket reservation” on the middle-right. You’ll get this screen:

4. Enter the origin, destination, and dates, and select any other option you want. I’m going to choose SFO-MIA on 9/27-9/29. If you chose “My dates are flexible”, this screen should come up:

5. Air France only shows Delta’s low-level award availability, so any day with a green box has flights that can be purchased with Delta miles. Select the ones you want and continue:

6. The flights in green will be the low-level Delta flights. Choose the ones you want and make a note of the flight numbers and times. Then go to www.delta.com:

7. Under “Book A Trip”, choose “Multi-City”:

8. Enter each segment of your flight here. If you fly SFO-ATL and then ATL-MIA, enter both as separate flights.

9. Pick out the flights you found before on airfrance.us

If all went correctly, your ticket should have priced out at a roundtrip cost of 25,000 miles.