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Delta Air Lines announced major changes to its fare offerings on Thursday. Its coach and premium classes all feature “Classic” and “Extra” options (er, “Experiences”) that take effect for flights departing October 1.
The big differences Extra offers over Classic are:
- Full refunds vs. eCredits for cancellations
- Free same-day changes vs same-day change fees
- More SkyMiles earnings than Classic
- Higher upgrade priority
My knee-jerk reaction was “Really, Delta? You need nickels and dimes?”
But as I explored the changes, I realized that Classic fares — sorry, “Experiences” — are probably sufficient for most of us.
In fact, the term “sucker bet” came to mind when the more I thought about “Extra” fares. (Darnit! “Experiences”!)
I fly Delta enough that I don’t really need refunds. I’ll always find ways to use eCredits. Same-day changes are nice, sure. But for those of us with Medallion status, Delta agents often make magic happen — and that’s why we give Delta business. (So don’t get any ideas, Delta suits!)
On the other hand, you don’t need free changes and flexibility until you do.
SkyMiles redemption rates are often ridiculously high for premium cabins; I won’t pay more money to earn more SkyMiles.
But it’s Extra’s upgrade priority over Classic that probably has many Medallions worried they’ll have to pay more for that shot up front.
Stop clutching your pearls.
Here’s why.
Medallion Upgrades are Still Pretty “Classic”
Once these changes kick in on October 1, here’s the new upgrade hierarchy as we understand it, based on what’s published at Delta.com (bold mine):
- Medallion Status
- Cabin Purchased (including paid upgrades)
- Excludes “Extra” or “Classic” Experiences
- Million Miler Status
- The more millions, the higher the priority
- Travel Experience Tier
- Extra clears before Classic
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Holders
- Delta Corporate Rate Travelers
- How Many Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) have been earned during the calendar year
- Date and Time of the upgrade request
Medallion Status is still the top upgrade factor. There’s potentially a way to go before Extra or Classic becomes a tie-breaker.
A Gold Medallion who buys a Delta Main Classic Experience should be higher on the list than a Silver Medallion who buys a Delta Comfort Extra Experience. (I say “should” because we’re at the mercy of Delta IT and gate agent shenanigans.)
In the grand scheme of things, purchasing an Extra Experience only because you want a better shot at an upgrade is probably a sucker bet. Remember, Delta doesn’t want to give complimentary upgrades.
If Extra vs. Classic were the first or second criterion, then we’d have a problem.
Spend your money however you want. If you love earning SkyMiles and the idea of not having free same-day confirmed changes scares the living daylights out of you, then buy the Extra fare.
If you’re truly concerned about trying to score a complimentary upgrade, buy Comfort or Premium Select. That’s the next tiebreaker after Medallion status levels. Spend the extra dough and get the Extra Experience if it makes you feel better. I think you’re throwing money away but that’s just me.
But then I might as well just buy the First Class or Delta One upgrade! you say. Yep. That’s what Delta wants.
Devaluing the Delta Reserve Card?
Holding a personal or business Delta Reserve Amex seemed to be a helpful tiebreaker when it came to scoring upgrades. At least, it didn’t hurt.
But now, Delta’s most prized customer, American Express, kind of takes a back seat here. Holding a Reserve Card dropped even lower on the list — to the point where it might not even make a difference.
But Delta must’ve crunched the math and conducted enough focus groups to know (or assume) not enough people will cancel their cards based on this latest change.
Final Approach
Good for Delta knowing some people will take the bait and spend money on these Extra fares.
But when it comes to complimentary upgrades, I won’t lose sleep buying Main Classic. Status still trumps all.
And that’s when upgrades are even available in the first place.
Will you buy Extra just to boost your upgrade chances?
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Is this actually a meaningful change? I’ve been offered the refundable upsell when checking out for the last few years. This appears they just formalized that into a “new” product and tacked on extra skymiles earning. I though one of the tiebreakers was how much you spent on a ticket so refundable would have always had higher precedence.
I think this is a nice perk for a lot of corporate road warriors who book refundable tickets because things change a lot and their corporate policies dictate booking the most flexible/refundable options. They have always earned more redeemable Skymiles because they were booking higher fares (also a lot of last minute dynamic pricing/gouging) but now they’ll earn even more redeemable miles. For the leisure traveler or those with more cost conscious employers it’s probably just status quo.