I am not sure if you have had the chance to notice this but Air France has gone au revoir when it comes to SKYMILES seats to Europe from anywhere in the USA for any amount of points in business class! I was hoping this was a quick bug that was part of the new booking bug that also would quickly be fixed. But as of last night at 10:30PM EST it is still broken.
I have reached out to Delta but have not received a response back. So, I reached out to my “other” contact within Delta Air Lines and have my reply. For about a week AF has been unbookable and even if you can see inventory on AF or other sites, there is no way to book those seats as they show ZERO inventory in the Delta system. This again is internally confirmed information.
What can you do from my experience to get it done anyway? There may be a work around via Twitter @DeltaAssist or phone with Delta if you ASK them to liaison with their AF colleagues 9-4 Europe time. Now you must get a nice rep or two at this end, then hope to get a nice rep at the AF side (I do not think they exist), and then maybe you will get the seat that you know is there. If I do get more information from Delta about this I will be sure to update the blog.
The next hot topic is the EOS or Evolution of SKYMILES. Again here I have repeatedly reached out to Delta for a comment on this and my “other” source had some information to share but only on a basic level.
So what does it look like is on the way? Well right now we get full credit MQM’s for low cost seats. How much longer? At the first of the year I blogged about some of the changes that may be on the way this year for our Delta Air Lines.
It looks more and more like the monetarization of SKYMILES is on the way for September of THIS YEAR. If you look at this now removed job post from maxhire.net you will see some interesting information.
Now could it possibly be part of the expansion of the Pay with Miles? Or work on the new / old PerkChoice program to be called something like “miles and money award” where in the old NWA days you could split a ticket, pay for one way, get points and MQM’s and the other way fly free on points! Basically you had one way redemption’s this way!
I hate to say it, but I think that is grasping at straws. I will be sure to update as I get more information but Delta’s CEO has stated in the past that the current SKYMILES program is unsustainable in its current form.
So what do we get next? My frustration with my beloved airline is the same as yours. Like with the 72 hr rule, that was first attempted to apply to tickets already purchased and then backtracked, will the same bulldozer approach be attempted here?
What do you think? For me, I get EOS. I hate it, but I get it. I also get the argument that someone who spends say $50,000 or $100,000 in LUT class is just as good as someone who spends the same amount in Y or business class! The bottom line is the bottom line. It is hard to make money in this business. If Delta can not make money we get ZERO perks. I just do not know how many more hits the elite flyers can take and stay with Delta. The 72 rule is in place and we all can see how easy it now is to find low level seats to Europe on Air France as you can see from the beginning of this post! – Rene
▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Rene, thanks for keeping us abreast of whats going on. I’ve been sweating over this since reading about it on FT. A couple questions:
-Do you think this AF change is permanent or just a glitch. Up to now, AF has been a major reason for accumulating Delta points. If so, is there any other valuable partner?
-Regarding EOS, my better half and I have been saving our points for a big trip in a year or two when we have more time – probably to Paris/Mauritius/Seychelles. Should we forget about saving and just burn the points now? We’re currently sitting on about 220k skymiles combined.
-Also regarding EOS, assuming a transfer bonus comes around, should I hold off on transferring mileage rewards into Delta until we know how this is going to affect us?
As always, thanks.
@Brian – txs – I think it is just a BUG with AF. One of the reasons I say this is when you say look at ORD-CDG you do find KLM seats to AMS and then AF from AMS-CDG. As to EOS, it is so up in the air I just can not say yet. – Rene
Rene,
I am an a very unique position that I do a tone of high dollar business travel on Delta, yet and not ashamed of doing the occasional mileage run to rack up miles and status. (doing Alitalia from lax-FCO-IST and back for about 3.2 cpm….) So, what is faxcinating for me is:
1. If I can easily get low cost awards in both coach and first class and upgrades for miles on any fare class, I may be willing to look at this.
2. But, if getting awards will be just as challenging to get, and I stand to lose miles, I will be off to UA like a dress on prom night…..I will status match after I make plat on Delta this year and never look back. I’ve had it.
Rene,great catch on your part as always. To echo what’s already been said, AF is the only thing that makes most reasonably priced trans atlantic award travel possible. In terms of evolution, we need only look at BA and several other carriers going down the high fuel surcharge path on frequent flyer tickets. Just sad to see the continued devaluation of a program I have tried to be loyal to so long. 🙁
Hi Rene,
Any news on if this affects SWUs? That is, can you still upgrade from Prem Econ to Business on AF if there is O inventory using a Delta SWU?
Thanks!
@Michael – tricky if DL shows no space in O. But, once over there, and on the AF computer side, they will take the DL cert as long as you have all the numbers. I have done that with KLM in the club. – rene