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Let’s start this one with the news about Delta dumping the friendly, but hard to find, 24 hour all you can visit pass from the Sky Club lineup. You see before, you could, for $50 (see photo below), get a pass and come and go all you like to as many clubs as you like for a day. And not just the day you travel but even the next day if your visit fell inside the 24 hours since you entered the first club. Very useful and I would imagine most only used it once or twice anyway over the time period it was valid.
My fellow blogger Brian Cohen had a very nice post about the change and his feelings can be summed up with:
” …so would I pay $59.00 to visit a Sky Club for only one time? The answer is no.”
I would go even farther and say paying $59 to be “GRANT-ed” access to ANY of the $kyPubs is just “bat crazy” and to the point of bordering on insanity.
Now Delta has been upgrading many of the Sky Clubs. I will have reviews of the improved food choices at the Delta F and E clubs as well as the refurbished LAX club soon here on the blog, but none of them remotely are worth $59 for a one time visit fee. The are “maybe”, with a long enough visit, worth the $29 up charge you must now pay to bring a guest in if you have either the:
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card <—LINK
or
The Platinum Card® from American Express <—LINK
Both of them get you in for free (just you) when you are flying Delta either before your flight or even after you flight. But you would have to pay the upcharge for guests.
Clearly Delta thinks folks are willing to pay even MORE than the $50 it would cost you to visit an AMEX Centurion lounge that is night and day better than any Sky Club I have ever visited. I guess some folks are just made of money and will pay any price they stick on the door. Not me, I will get in free with either of the cards above thank you very much!
Yesterday my fellow BA blogger Scott Mackenzie posted the news that the nasty breakup of the sorta-kinda-not-really partnership between Delta and Alaska has gotten worse by them telling the world that Alaska flyers will no longer be able to enter the glorious Delta Sky Clubs. Then, on cue, today Delta announced the same for Delta flyers as of 1JAN16 no longer being able to enter the Boardrooms.
But notice the highlighted text on Delta.com. They even take a swipe at Alaska (ZING) and say “their four boardrooms” – OUCH! Heck, Delta has twice that many clubs in ATL alone! 🙂
Now for a smart Delta flyer this news should just not matter one bit. If you want access to the Alaska Boardrooms when flying Delta just get the free Priority Pass that comes with the non-Delta AMEX Platinum card and pull up your now digital PP card and you can visit, you guessed it, the four Alaska Boardrooms in ANC, SEA, LAX & PDX!
All this squabbling really is starting to feel like watching any episode of Jerry Springer with each airline trying to one up each other in cuts from elite perks to mileage credit and so on. I really just wish they would put and end to it all rather than keep duking it out like this. For now though you can still, if you want, book tickets and fly Delta with your Alaska miles and enjoy all your Medallion perks. Time will tell when that too will come to an end! – Rene
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I need them to keep their partnership going until at least next spring. I have a flight to Australia on Delta and need to earn Alaska Miles rather than Skypesos.
I think the next announcement — coming very soon — is a complete severing of what remains in the Delta and Alaska relationship.
I’m here to discourage people from using Alaska miles to fly Delta flights. Please don’t do it those miles are too valuable and it’s too easy to get SkyMiles for the same use.
@Graydon – I hear yea. Just that it can be done, if they want, for now 😉
Do you just flash your skymiles Amex to get in or do they key in information? If the former, authorized users could get in as well.
@Christian – They run your card for AMEX Plat (Delta Reserve comes up if in your My Delta). Authorized users must also have their card run.
I was just in the Airspace lounge in BWI the other day. If people are willing to pay $20 for that, they would definitely pay a lot more for one of the improved Skyclubs.
@John – I would not pay for any lounge other than a Centurion and I don’t pay for that one either 😉