What may be going on w/ latest Skymiles “enhancement” REG: stopovers & open jaw.

UPDATE: SEE THIS POST FOR LATEST UPDATE FROM DELTA CORP!

It looks like Delta’s latest Skymiles award issue I talked about yesterday has been 100% overshadowed by the 2015 AAdvantage program that seems a bunch less messy that Delta’s. I still don’t recommend switching, but I would also understand if you did given what AA now has published is next. It still makes my head explode when I was told by a Delta company rep that if people stop flying or go to AA Delta will just park jets and not fly them. That seems like such a great idea – a airline that parks jets? Maybe I just don’t understand the airline business; I thought jets only made money when up in the air. I guess they can make money parked too?

Anyway, there has begun to trickle out little bits of info where some folks are finding, in coach, some awards that will stick under the old system. I have yet to see a business class one that works and I have tested several more. Most are finding a brick wall and I saw one report, due to the rules not having changed yet on Delta.com, that reps were able to FORCE the current rules to work. If you have an issue I would press them to just GIVE you the extra points you need to book the seats since the rules are still in black and white on Delta.com the “best source for accurate Delta information” we are told over and over again. Always keep HUCB in mind as well.

So just what is going on here you ask? Since Delta has all but abandoned any real conversation on FlyerTalk and my new contacts are less than helpful nowadays, we are left often to just go with what we know are the facts on the ground and what our history with Delta is. My best guess, knowing how inept and bad Delta IT is when it comes to Skymiles awards, is some jr. level tech loaded something that was meant for Skymiles2015 and pushed LIVE or UPDATE rather than just stay on the test side of the servers. Once out it propagated, and we now have it in the system.

So will they switch it back? My guess is either yes they will as what is now LIVE does not jive with what the official language is on Delta.com. Or, they will just change the language on Delta.com. I think they will do the first part as they are not ready to publish the changes yet. But I think this change is on the way SOON!

If they do switch back you will want to book ALL you can under the old rules as soon as you can. I have some warnings with that however. I doubt you will be able to change any of these booked tickets without issues. I think Delta will honor the old price in miles for changes but you will have to fight to get those changes after the new rules come into place. So much of this is speculation but we can address that and what to do later on. At least expect  as a DM or PM to be able to redeposit free as usual worst case.

For now we will watch and see what happens. If this is a firm switch and we were just not told, it is one more reason to distrust rather than trust the Skymiles team at Delta! – René
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