So many of us are looking forward to the amazing rewards Skymiles2015 will bring us in just a few days (what am I saying – other than a few who need medical attention – NO ONE is looking forward to what 1JAN2015 will bring to us)!
Having depressed all but 2% of you who are smiling, there are a few reminders I hope you are well aware of at this point. If not, here is the “to do” list for you before the clock strikes midnight on the 31st next week.
The first is RTW or Round The World Delta Skymiles award tickets that are soon to be “enhanced” away a.k.a. will be gone! The RTW desk has been an amazing asset to Delta flyers and seeing it go away, for more than just RTW tickets, is a devastating loss. You see, at events like the Chicago Seminars, I have shared that you can call and ask for this “desk” for even the simplest of award bookings because, unlike so many Delta reps, these folks know what airlines are part of Skyteam as well as partners, and know how to find low level award seats. Now you see why, if you have anything to book you need to call and ask for the RTW desk before year end when they go away! Need help? ADAM is standing by to HELP YOU get this done. NO, it is not cheap to get help booking one of these trips, but holy cow you are saving $10-20,000 in ticket fees for a round the world redemption so let him and his team help you get this done!
Next, also ending on 1JAN, IMO the one most valuable and treasured feature of Skymiles that will DIE in less than a week thanks to Skymiles2015 that is the ability to have a stopover on your trip. You can still book them, not on Delta.com as it has already been “enhanced” or broken so you have to call and hope you get a rep who understands that the horrid Skymiles2015 rules do not take effect until about a week from now. Sigh!
Same as the above goes for open jaw tickets. Want 3 tickets for the cost of 2 award tickets? You have less than a week to book yet one more of the most valuable parts of Skymiles that will soon be as dead as your Skymiles when you die (yep do keep in mind when you die – so do your DieMiles – uh – Skymiles). No, seriously, want an open jaw award, book it before the 1st!
How about Skybonus. Gosh I hope you know, unlike Skymiles that only go away when you die, Skybonus, even when you fly every week, go away every 3 years or if you don’t spend at least $5,000 in MQD with Delta (be sure to check – the numbers with Delta.com don’t always agree). So, if you have some you earned 3 years ago, you had better spend them on the 31st before they disappear like so many of the Skymiles perks we enjoyed this year (like earning valuable points when flying Delta – gosh I will miss that in 2015)!
This one has nothing to do with Delta and ya know that is kinda a good thing. I love spending my day driving around with my wife and earning hundreds of dollars of free travel points for walking in and out of as many OfficeMax stores with my INK card as I can. Oh, got some spend to meet on some travel card from your latest round, yeah it is sweet to get paid to meet that spend this way. It ends on the 27th so get to work if you want to enjoy this one (I will as I ran over 6k on black Friday and will do about the same this time too)!
Most of us who fly, for weeks now have been missing the joy of a HOOU when we print our boarding pass on Delta.com (one more enhancement until 1MARCH15 when, if we get C+ seats, we get #AllInclusiveSeatsIfTheFlightAttentantComesByMoreThanOnceAndOverHeadSpaceIfBasicSeatFolksDontCramTheirBagsUpThereBeforeWeDo – Phew – what a hash tag). Back to the topic at hand. The OLD OLD OLD white HOOU coupons are still good for, not just drinks, but snack boxes. Please redeem them and take them home as they are great to enjoy during a Sunday NFL game with a cool Non-#SkunkyGate beer!
I think my most favorite card, after the Delta Reserve card that makes so many MQMs and Skymiles (since Flying is just silly next year), has to be the NON-Delta AMEX Platinum card. You see, once you pick an airline (Delta in my case), you can get $200 in “incidental” credits each CALANDER year. I “redeemed” mine and “spent” them months ago but you only have until 31DEC if you have not. Then, after 1JAN15, you can do so again 🙂 ! Now if you are departing Delta you need to pick another airline before you spend to redeem these credits. Clear?
This one is about the date. You see, with AMEX, especially Delta AMEX cards for us Delta flyers, if you want credits to show up, they must POST before year end. You are quickly reaching the point when any charge you make “may” not post until 2015 and the credits not apply until next year. Just sayin’, keep this in mind!
Our last one, and as much as it loathes me to say it, and please don’t ever admit you did this to anyone ever, is that you only have a few more days to [gagging now] buy MQMs from Delta if you are short for the year and can not fly before year end.
So there you are kids – you have my list of MUST do things before 2014 ends. If you e-mail or comment you did not know or wish you had acted before year end – well you will understand why I have not said anything other than sending you a link to THIS post! – René
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Now that’s a hashtag!
And yes I am on a spending spree trying to get $60,455 (the $60K spend plus the card fee plus a few bucks extra) to post by 31 December on a Reserve we added 1 December. Almost there but it’s going to be close. One of my work suppliers is closed today and I am afraid if I wait until Monday it’s not going to post… now I am off to spend about $11K today with a different supplier.
I few days ago I tried to book a trip from NYC->LHR (stopover)->ROME and then Rome->NYC.
The agent put me on hold for quite a long time and came back and told me she checked and doubled checked and even though I was booking in 2014….since the award ticket was for travel in 2015….that stopovers were NOT allowed!
She re-iterated that stopovers on award trip that take place in 2015 do not allow stopovers even if booked in 2014.
Is this not correct? Should I call back again and try again?
@Conway – call back they are wrong. ask for RTW desk monday if needbe.
I really wish that I had snagged the AMEX Delta Platinum card during the September promotion. They were giving 15K MQMs, and 50K miles after 3K of spend. I’d have status right now if I had.
Oh well, they’re bound to offer something again in the future, and I should easily make status for the first time next year when I take a Business eli….err I mean “Delta One” trip to Europe.
It’ll only be lowly silver, but that’s the best I can hope for as a 20 year old.
Renee , was not clear to me what ends Dec 27 ? “It ends on the 27th so get to work if you want to enjoy this one” I dont see any current cc promotions at OM
@Diner – just like before $20 – $300+
finally got DIAMOND DL status but it will prob not be worth it anymore….sad…..all of that flying for ????
Any thoughts on whether the flights dates could be changed after the first?
Ideally, I would like to fly:
April: LGA to ATL
Dec: ATL to PDX
Dec: PDx to ATL
Could you book these flights and change them to Dec later?
April: LGA to ATL
Nov: ATL to PDX
Nov: PDX to ATL
@Mary – I am sorry but I have no idea what you are asking?
Took ALMOST AND HOUR but they were able to do it! This agent acknowledged that adding a stop over should not increase the mileage but warned me they had to manually adjust the ticket and it would take a while….which it did!
@Conway – yep – well done. we have to hold Delta to what we know is correct and true!
Sorry, I didn’t make my message clear. Is there anyway that you could book a flight before the end of the year with a stopover and open jaw for November and then once the calendar opens up for December, change the November dates to December. We would fly the first leg in April, with the last legs in Nov or Dec. Thanks for your blog!!!
@Mary – ah, no.sorry.
FYI — I ordered 5 lounge passes with my expiring points on 12/30 and received them today. They are good until March 31, 2016, so at least they gave a pretty good expiration date!
@Brandon – SWEET and big thanks for comment. Think it would be safe to order HOOUs too if we want.
I read this post and I even commented … I didn’t check the spend on the Delta Reserve until 12/31. Realized we were alittle short, so I spent more than enough to $60K. Everything posted on 12/31 except the two Delta flights. I chatted with Customer Service and they say there isn’t anything they can do even though these showed as pending on 12/31 (posted on 1/1). I wish now that I hadn’t even checked. We could have saved that last spend until 2015.
Just as an FYI, the $24.95 charge for the AmEX car insurance doesn’t seem to count. We had several of these each month until the switch to the Chase Sapp. She gave me the exact amounts of spend each month.