You don’t need me to tell you inflation is out of control. The price for almost everything is up — big time.
But one thing that has continually risen (since before the current market situation) at an unsustainable rate is the price of Delta SkyMiles business class awards.
I hope, I mean I really, really hope, that every single Delta flyer will sear into their minds that during the middle of the pandemic Delta SkyMiles, not once but twice, massively jumped the price of partner low-level business class awards to Europe from 75,000 one-way to 95,000 to the current 120,000 points.
Disgusting!
I am visiting Europe later this year and the dates I wish to go would cost my wife and me a hefty 240,000 Skymiles flying a SkyTeam partner in business class from Chicago. One way. To fly Delta “metal” that is, Delta-operated jets, could be many, many thousands more. And to fly from my South Bend (SBN) airport, it costs a small fortune in miles (nearly 400,000 if you are curious).
I instead chose to book with my Alaska miles on Iberia business class for 150,000 points total for the two of us.
Let’s look at another example.
In 2023, I am going to visit Jamaica and spend some time at an all-inclusive resort. As a Delta frequent flyer, naturally I would love to fly Delta and use my hard-earned SkyMiles. Booking the dates I want to travel would cost me and my wife, in Delta first class from SBN, a staggering and jaw-dropping 366,000 SkyMiles!
Unbelievable.
So what I did was use my American Airlines miles and booked on the exact dates I wanted — for only 86,000 miles round trip in First Class for the two of us. Think about the math and the points difference on just these two bookings alone.
It is no secret to long-time readers of this blog that each year I carefully consider if I want to keep pushing to keep my Delta Diamond Medallion status. The one mega thing that has always been the deal clincher has been the great value of Global Upgrade Certificates that used to let you upgrade from any coach seat (i.e. non basic economy) all the way to Delta One if there was open space. Delta massively devalued this Diamond perk also in the middle of the pandemic now requiring premium select booking (premium economy).
Greg, who started blogging on BoardingArea about the same time as me, has been using some little-known, crafty techniques to earn the $250,000 Medallion MQD spend waiver. I have not been willing to do this and can earn so much more by putting my monthly spending on other cards — like ones that earn transferrable points such as American Express® Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, etc.
Thus, each year, I toss in a few Delta partner cheap business class mileage runs to augment my normal spending to maintain my Delta Diamond status. I will again this year earn Diamond on rollover MQMs and MQDs — but this will likely be my final year of pursuing Diamond status. Like Greg, I now find the math and value of keeping Diamond are likely not worth it for the reduced perks and the bat crazy out-of-control prices for SkyMiles awards (as you can see above). I think it is time to be a free agent as my booking patterns are already screaming at me in the face.
I guess it is thus time for me to start to burn down my huge stash of SkyMiles at some kind of reasonable value. I know this will be a challenging task but the few SkyMiles awards I have booked this year are looking good and a solid return even compared to other airlines on the routes I have locked in. My only lingering regret of walking away from Delta status chasing is I am not that far off from reaching 2 Million Miler and thus achieving lifetime Delta Gold Medallion status. – René
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I’m just a lowly gold medallion, and I am done with Delta as well. The guts for them to literally gives ZERO miles for basic economy booking is the last draw for me.
Totally agree. The service and crew on Delta are great… but even somewhat reasonable redemption opportunities are diminishing fast.
Most folks don’t pay attention to the points and miles game, which is why Delta get away with charging multiples of the cost of biz class redemptions on other airlines, and can devalue points so aggressively.
I left Delta as a Diamond Medallion when I saw their prices were just so much higher but service wasn’t keeping up and frankly I’ve been happy as a free agent. We switched from having the Delta Amex to a vanilla platinum card to be able to transfer miles to more folks and still get the sky club access for the occasional trip on Delta if it works out price and time wise. All in all I’ve been excited to try new products that they don’t offer like United Polaris on a 787 and getting my chance to fly AA Flagship First next month.
I think Delta has gone to far in raising both their miles and cash prices while stripping reasons to remain a loyal member like their change to the global upgrade certificates which as I look to burn the last ones I have noticed something interesting on a few routes im looks at and that is a PS seat with hopes of using the certificates cost more than some other carriers business class seats that i would be guaranteed to have.
Honestly, you guys have been doing this wrong for years. In term of Skymiles and status, the focus for Delta is domestic. You get status for domestic flight upgrades, RUC, maybe for a GUC, and you fly Delta for great service, nice domestic lounges, etc. For international business class, unless you book a Flash Sale, other currencies have been better for decades. Also, many overvalue Diamond status – Platinum is fine for a domestic traveler. I’m happier than ever with Delta given their US lounge expansion, the ability to burn SkyMiles and earn status points, etc. And I’m happy to use AA miles, Amex or Chase miles, etc to fly to Europe.
100% – As an ATL flyer, I love my DL status and lounge access (via credit card). I never use SkyMiles for international trips – that’s what my credit card points and transfer partners are for. Earn and burn SkyMiles for domestic main cabin trips when I can get 1.25cpp or more.
100% agree.
Rene, I am 30K of million miler on Delta, and it has been that way for 10 years. I have spent my stash of Skymiles down to nearly nothing due to the insanely high costs of Delta saver tickets. They are a fine airline, but other than a few paid domestic flights I want be looking to them for value. I no longer have any Delta credit cards.
As an example I recently booked SYD-AUD-JFK in Etihad Bus. for 2 people for 105K each. DL was 997,000 points per person. They were the most expensive of all flights available on the several days I could have flown.
This miles/points obsession has always been odd to me. Airlines and hotels just need to get rid of the ridiculous concept. Will people stop flying/staying in hotels if they got rid of loyality programs/points/miles? Will people stop using credit cards if you are not rewarded to do so? Offer the best product/service and let the free market sort it out.
Don’t even get me started on the concept of getting on an uncomfortable plane for the sole purpose of “chasing” status.
@Patrick – My upgrade percentage is very high as a Diamond. Being a frequent flyer holding top Diamond status has, until now, been a great value to me.
Rene,
Don’t hold out hope that crossing into 2M+ with DL will get you anything. I got over that M hurdle about this time last year, and have maintained DM status for all the full years (didn’t quite have enough that partial 2009 Charter member year) since, only getting to DM ‘lite’ the past two years because of the ‘rona downtown. I’ve noticed this year more so than past that it is really rare to get a real domestic upgrade to 1st on any flight segments over ~550 miles. Last week on a full Y fare I didn’t even get an upgrade. As you and Chris accurately label DL as #KeepDescending, they’re getting close to the end with me. On the cost of a mileage seat to Europe I really agree, as not that many years ago it was as good as 100K per person Round Trip from JFK or LAX to Europe on AF or KLM. They always complain that their biggest expense is fuel, and outside of the current drastic uptick in fuel costs, it hasn’t changed that much in the past ~10yrs, even though the # of miles of cost has increased ~10 fold. My ~155lbs weight hasn’t changed more than ~5lbs up or down over the period, so I’m not a huge cost item to them. ‘Loyalty’ is really one way in the Ed era. I didn’t see or feel that when Richard was in charge.
Dave
@Dave – Great comment thank you. I am / was / wanted to be “lifetime-ish” Gold for Skyteam status as Silver is only helpful domestic and I may move overseas in my golden years.
I’ve chased and achieved Diamond status for the past 3 years. Easily obtained with aeromexico mileage runs. I guess they’ve caught on. Delta had devalued almost every aspect of its skymiles program. However, I can still find decent priced award tickets to frequent traveled destinations. Ord to Bkk 66k with GUC cert used for Delta one. Also, Ord to Manila 62k with GUC cert used for Delta one. However, I will not chase diamond status again. I’m definitely done!!! Not even close to being worth it anymore.
I’m with you T.Frazier!
I share your feeelings, Rene. The only thing keeping me on Delta (Diamond since inception and Platinum before that) is their reliability and pleasant/cooperative interaction with Delta people. If I was running AA or United, I would be working hard to get my people as pleasant as the Delta folks. Delta had the chance about 10 years ago to embrace their frequent flyers but allowed the revenue management people and Wall Street folks to completely manage the strategy. I have decided to give AA about 1/2 my business this year – international and domestic. I’m not running after Diamond or Executive Platinum anymore – not getting Delta upgrades very often anyway. If I want first, I’ll buy or risk upgrade on my lowly lifetime status on both. If Delta loses reliability edge this summer, like they started it last fall, they may be greatly impacted.
My usual flight jax-sfo-jax is now over $1400 in Main cabin…used to be $500-700??So I am buying down to $900 with miles..but that is still nuts… Trying to use RUC’s is tough too….
I am gaining status on United as Delta does not fly to Aspen and we go there 3-4 times a year.
Should I put my miles into gift card to avoid depreciation?
@Thomas – Pay with miles is pegged at 1 cent. Well it has been forever unless Delta changes it. So I would not do that.
René;
Well spoken. I have been loyal to Delta for a few decades and top tier for all of that. I’m just a few hundred thousand miles short of 3 Million. At that level I won’t move up to Platinum but will have some self satisfaction of hitting it. I’ve taken several trips on AA and with a status match could be a good move. It seems though AA is going after a different market than I am use to on DL the business trade vs the leisure trade although that has changed with what I see on DL. Time will tell, as the economy goes from a full punch bowl to and empty one and the party ends we will see how DL reacts. If the course doesn’t change then the AMEX points would be the way to go, we can always use those for things other than flights.
God Speed
Always like you posts Rene. I am curious for your mileage tickets purchase using Alaska and American miles. You are not accumulating miles by flying those airlines are you ? Are they from transfers from your credit card spend?
@Jack – Using every trick like fake booking 1st class (not buy) etc. to get great BofA CC offers to quickly rack up tons of Alaska points. AA points also from accumulating cards and offers etc.
I am also using creative spending to make massive amounts of points now-a-days (none of the Delta clearly).
Rene Thanks for the quick reply Being Seattle based this makes me think more about Alaska. Maybe you could start an AK blog LOL
@Jack – Humm….. 😉
I think Ed Bastian has lost his mind along with other like minded execs at Delta. I started flying with Delta at the start of the Pandemic March 2020. I was sincerely expressed with the onboard professionalism of the crews on board. Ticketing and check in is another story. I went to book 2 trips to Melbourne, Fl as I normally do last month and found the ticket increase absolutely outrageous. I ended up flying JetBlue the first trip and reluctantly purchased a 1 way to Florida on Delta but JetBlue home. I purchased a eco ticket with upgrade and it came to 240.00 one way on JetBlue non stop Delta was asking for 400.00 foR the same ticket with a layover. I don’t get it. Gas, yes. I get the inflation bit but Delta is loosing their ethics expecting the public to pay their prices. Particularly after tax payers help them thru the pandemic.
Totally agree. I had to to go with American Airlines for my upcoming trip to Dallas. Delta was way to expensive and I would eat all my miles up to even get a decent deal. I am just a silver medallion customer but still disappointed
I still have almost 400,000 rollover MQMs even though I don’t fly Delta or partners much except to get Diamond MQDs. Diamond choice benefits seem to be worth it. Otherwise there are other programs with way more valuable and useful miles, partners and alliance benefits. One regret is AA bans CLEAR at the airports and terminals it controls. Good luck with free agency.
I have given up Diamond Status the past 2 years. I have so many MQM that I will have Platinum status for years with minimal flying. (until delta gets rid of rollover)
correction on your post:
When you reach 2 million miles, you receive annual complimentary Gold Medallion Status.
There is no mention of lifetime status. Delta can remove annual complimentary Medallion Status at any time.
I believe you taught me that at one of the Chicago seminars.
I made the clarification, thanks.