Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Time for some news bits and my thoughts on each one (rather than just bullet points this month). The first one is very interesting:
Clearly this adds even more value to the non-Delta Personal AMEX Platinum card as well as to the non-Delta Business AMEX Platinum card as we are NOT, again NOT, talking just Priority Pass entrance here we are talking this is a new perk of the card – that is, getting into sweet lounges like the MSP Escape lounge that I reviewed on opening day as well as the two new ones in BDL and OAK (that I can not wait to visit soon).
Further good news from Anne Carpenter, Marketing & Communications Manager with MAG USA, is that all future MAG lounges in the USA will also include this AMEX Platinum card entrance perk. This is big as it means no waiting to see if they join Priority Pass to get in if you are wise enough to hold these premium cards. Even with the changes on the way 1 JUNE to the non-Delta Platinum Business card I find amazing value in holding the card year after year and this just adds even more.
Next up we have the news that Delta and Lyft are teaming up to give you “free” SkyMiles when you use Lyft and 3x bonus SkyMiles when you use Lyft to the airport.
Well, to be fair Delta, this “first-of-its-kind partnership” is pushing it. For me, I would much rather earn MUCH more valuable AMEX Membership rewards points riding UBER who I think was one of the first of it’s kind to team up with SPG to offer bonus points when you ride UBER and stay at SPG (#JustSaying). Don’t get me wrong, I will take FREEEEEEEEE SkyMiles when they give them to me but UBER is still my go-to ride share as they have much large reach worldwide. Also keep in mind with the Delta Lyft deal that it “excludes taxes, fees, tolls and tips.” Linking accounts was simple and quick so sure, take the free Delta points offered when you ride LYFT.
Next up we have a really fun one and who knows, I may have had the King flying my jet up to Sweden earlier this month?
I think it is flat out cool that the Dutch King flies jets. Talk about #AVgeek respect from those like me who love Skyteam. Plus I guess it had slipped my mind the Fokkers are soon gone from the KLM fleet. It will be great to see them go as the seats are tiny and there is no “blocked” seat in business class on these birds. Time for the King to fly 737s!
Then we have news that should be no problem for Delta (at least I hope not! – Time to get the team of lawyers on-deck). You see:
Ruh Roh! If you will recall I was one of the first to break the rumor that became news about a year ago that the CS100/300 would be coming to Delta. I cannot wait to fly this jet and the fact that it will be mainline, not regional, is even better. We know Delta is a hard negotiator when it comes to spending those mega fees they collect so it will be interesting how this plays out.
Lastly we have more machines doing the work of reps. Good thing or bad thing? Time will tell:
I like speed. I like, when Delta IT goes right, that things are fast and I don’t have to fight with a bad rep. But then again there can be downsides of non-human help. What if things go wrong or if you have the Delta AMEX Gold/Platinum/Reserve card and you have your reservations linked and need a human to waive bag fees and on and on. My fellow blogger Gary from View from the Wing calls this new tech creepy. Maybe it kinda is. 😉
So those are the current Delta and travel bits that caught my attention as of late. There are a bunch of other ones but I will pop those up later on in the month in simple bullet point form for you to enjoy if you would like. Safe travels everyone! – Rene
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
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.
In the words of your president, this is HUGE!! Until this announcement, getting access to BDL Escape lounge, American had the only lounge available with CC access with the Executive Card. The American lounge was an old US Air lounge with minimal amenities. Since that was my home airport, it was the primary reason to pay for the Citi Executive card. This saves me the $450.00 per year fee.
Can you clarify for me the USA MAG lounge perk– is it for all AMEX cards, including Delta Platinum AMEX cards?
@Alan – All non-Delta Platinum cards!
Rene, l sure like when you get to deliver the occassional good news to us.
Love the Escape edition. I was about to drop that card. I was even told while trying to get into the Escape lounge last month, “sir no cards allow access here, you need to pay”. So great news!
Lyft is great news as well since Uber is not an ethical company (treat employees poorly, attempt to illegally undermine competitors like Lyft and the CEO appears to be an ass) I deleted Uber App like hundreds of thousands of others and use Lyft whenever possible.