Change in mileage on Delta tickets

[findacruise]

I just received an e-mail from Delta indicating effective September 1 that select special fare tickets will not earn full mileage credit, but a percentage. I am including the link. For those who have their flights reserved, but not yet ticketed on Delta, I would suggest checking as this IMO would impact the miles you receive, if that matters to you.

 

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/ways_to_get_miles/unpublished/index.jsp?MkCpgn=EMTNUPAA002211082312095707-A01A-A

[john2003]

Just looked at the mileage on our KLM flight to Venice in November and it is certainly much reduced!! Didn't realise this was a recent change.

[dorisis]

Frequent Flyer miles are no longer a valuable asset. Too many conditions now apply in using them.

 

~Doris~>Who is no longer loyal to any 1 airline.

[Hawaiidan]

I have been loyal to one airling for 20 + uears and it totlay pays off United

Delta, US Air, American.... have a poor record of pay offs

 

I have never been denied a flight in either First or Coach anywhere. booking even first class to Hawaii in July with 14 days notice ! In the past 24 months I have scored 2 rt Hawaii to Frankfurt First class, Hawaii to Lima, Buenos Aires to Hawaii, Hawaii to Denver coach, Denver to Hawaii first class. thats about $55,000 in benifits I got.. or say $27,000 average a year !

 

United even gives me free upgrades from coach to first or economy plus, free bags, and 2 for 1 air fares because of my loyality and I am not some sort of special elite guy.... It pays for me... I use the airlines credit card not an " all".

 

Just saw a article in Money magazine on the % of time you get the seat on the route you want June 2010

 

United: domestic 97% 56% interantional

American: domestic 66%, 50% international

Delta: domestic 19% 7% international :eek:

US Air: domestic 10% 11% international

 

If you find it hard, it might be your in a program that is not that good.

Delta and US Air are the worst possible... and American in bankruptcy I hear is pretty hard to get anything

[PaulMCO]

That is why on Delta the miles are called "Sky Pesos" -- pretty worthless.

 

Second Dan's opinion. Just booked 2 RT's for our next Riviera cruise for 117,000 miles pp. To Venice in Business and home from Istanbul in First.

 

Beats Oceania's air - but that is another thread.

[geekybiker]

Frequent Flyer miles are no longer a valuable asset. Too many conditions now apply in using them.

 

~Doris~>Who is no longer loyal to any 1 airline.

 

At least if you're not paying the full fare 'anytime' rates. I can't remember the last time I was able to get a saver ticket. I mostly just get miles from new CC deals. Its not unusual to get $1000 worth of miles with a CC sign up. Just look through flytalk's CC forum.

[tropicalkerry2002]

if Delta will still let people on Consolidator fares, such as O's air, pay to upgrade to Economy Comfort.

[JimandStan]

if Delta will still let people on Consolidator fares, such as O's air, pay to upgrade to Economy Comfort.

 

Yes they do, I did it personally in May. :D

 

Can't say that I was overly impressed with Economy Comfort, however, I'm thinking that I will just avoid Delta in future.... :(

[The A Train]

Delta's FF program has always been the worst, no comparson, and now, even worse than ever!

[Paulchili]

Yes they do, I did it personally in May. :D

 

Can't say that I was overly impressed with Economy Comfort, however, I'm thinking that I will just avoid Delta in future.... :(

 

You'll be very smart to do that, IMO (if FF programs are important to you) :D

[calvin81]

I thought it was just American that was making their frequent flier program practically useless. The only flights available for the "saver" miles have multiple stops and/or ridiculous layovers. Fly into LaGuardia and out of Kennedy! I have a Capitol One card for overseas use, but several months ago opened a money market account with them and get points for that. Their biggest benefit is you book your own tickets whenever/wherever you want and use points to deduct the cost from your credit card statement. You even have 90 days to accrue more points if you need to. The basic card is free and for the same annual cost as American's card you can get double points. DH flies American for business travel, but I think I am done with their credit card. Wish I hadn't just paid the annual fee!

[Hawaiidan]

Ask yourself the question, why would an airline, that issues a card, allow another card which is not an airline, to beat their cards benifit?

 

Dosen't make a lot of sence does it, no matter the hype.

[Paulchili]

Ask yourself the question, why would an airline, that issues a card, allow another card which is not an airline, to beat their cards benifit?

 

Because they got "a whole lotta" money for it?

Airlines make more money selling their miles to banks than they do selling their tickets these days (go figure).

The banks, in turn, make "a whole lotta" money by issuing those credit cards.

None of this done out of the kindness of their corporate hearts :D

I, for my part, take all the miles they want to give me for free - and I am not too picky (except for Sky Pesos).

[Aruba]

Yes they do, I did it personally in May.

Can't say that I was overly impressed with Economy Comfort, however

We paid $85 for Economy Comfort seats on Delta recently and, like you, were not overly impressed. Somehow the pictures in the ads made the space appear to bigger than it really was.

[geekybiker]

Ask yourself the question, why would an airline, that issues a card, allow another card which is not an airline, to beat their cards benifit?

 

Dosen't make a lot of sence does it, no matter the hype.

 

Because most non-airline cards aren't 'miles' cards. That is the cost of the reward ticket is directly proportional to its cost. Usually you're getting the equivilant of 1% back. Double that on certain types of purchases depending on the program. If you're judicious with your purchases on an airlines miles card you can get 3-4% without even taking into account saver fares. That's because flights are priced by region, not cost. For example a flight to a smaller Caribbean island might cost 60k miles RT non saver. At 1% that's $600 of 'points' actual cost on out of the way places can be $1500-2000. A non miles card likely charges 150-200k miles for that flight. Or at least that has been the case in every non airline card I've every looked into.

[Kathy with a K]

I've booked my last two trips on Delta using 100,000 miles per person flying business class to Europe by booking as soon as flights became available. United is 250,000 miles internationally. I used a platinum card to accrue miles and transfer them to Delta. Couldn't be happier.

Kathy

[Hawaiidan]

in the past 12 months I got 2 rt first class tickets, Hawaii to Buenos Aires, for 100,000 each Prior, I got 2 Hawaii to Zurich for 135,000 @ thats first not business.

and Hawaii to Bejing, First class 100,000

 

There are plenty of saver options even 90 to 120 days out with United.!

 

And last month with 14 days notice got a RT Hawaii to Denver First class for 80,000

 

Of course the non saver miles, are way more. I , in 20 years have never had to use them since UAL has a huge inventory !

Delta 19% UAL 97% availability.

[PaulMCO]

I've booked my last two trips on Delta using 100,000 miles per person flying business class to Europe by booking as soon as flights became available. United is 250,000 miles internationally. I used a platinum card to accrue miles and transfer them to Delta. Couldn't be happier.

Kathy

 

Just booked one way business to Venice on UA for 50K pp and return first class for 67k pp from Istanbul for our Oceania trip in July

 

Did same for Quito -- 70K round trip pp in FC for our trip on Celebrity in December.

 

All savers :)

[PRWeezer]

I just received an e-mail from Delta indicating effective September 1 that select special fare tickets will not earn full mileage credit, but a percentage. I am including the link. For those who have their flights reserved, but not yet ticketed on Delta, I would suggest checking as this IMO would impact the miles you receive, if that matters to you.

 

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/ways_to_get_miles/unpublished/index.jsp?MkCpgn=EMTNUPAA002211082312095707-A01A-A

 

I think that's the key...does this change really matter to the majority of people buying such fares?

 

Echoing a thought that I saw elsewhere on this issue (may not have been on CC): In very general terms, a customer who books their air through the cruise line (or by whatever means results in a fare class impacted by this new system) is, for the most part, not someone who has built loyalty/status/miles with a specific carrier and thus does not prioritize one carrier for travel to get award tickets or boost personal mileage. He/she is just looking for what is perceived to be a good price or looking for the convenience of one-stop shopping for a trip package. If you follow that premise, then said customer likely doesn't care that he/she is earning fewer miles as they likely don't have any need to accumulate them. Of course there are exceptions to this premise and probably some customers will be disappointed that they're no longer getting the miles they used to get. And, of course, this theory could be totally off base, but it makes sense to me.

 

I would compare it to when we book a hotel on Hotwire (or similar) & get a super, unpublished rate. Some hotels will not give you 'points' (or whatever they would give as part of their loyalty program) because that low rate is not eligible for such perks. It's a trade off I'm willing to make when the Hotwire deal is significantly better than a 'published' deal that will earn points. We have made exceptions & booked by other means in order to earn points when the price difference was negligible. But on the other hand, we tend to bounce among brands, follow deals or choose lodging on other criteria & have never built significant loyalty with one brand/group. As said above, where hotels are concerned, it doesn't matter to us.

[stan vermeers]

My experience via bookings with travel agent. Most recent experience is last week.

 

AA: usually can immediately get up grade at time of booking using FF miles.

UA: will usually put us on wait list and will not release seats for mileage upgrade until days before flight. One time it was day of flight.

Capital One: For same flight I compared FF card to Capital One for upgrade. On my FF credit card I would have to make $60K in purchases (60K FF miles), and friend would have to purchase more than double the amount on his Capital One card to get enough Capital One $ to buy the same seat. But Capital One does have flexibiliy.