shaown

I'm a 2MM American flier (Platinum) and been Delta Gold since mid last year.

Being NYC based - Delta seems like a good choice to pickup as my second airline, especially since they have a slightly better set of nonstop to my most frequent destinations. I got Gold status (equivalent to my AA Plat) - and so far.
1) Schedule - good/ better than AA out of NYC
2) on time performance - on par with AA
3) Airplanes - worse than AA, but not substantially
4) Service - mediocre - comparable to AA
5) Lounges - slightly better than AA, except in the case of showers (which is worse)
6) Frequent Flier program - so horrible I have to consider stopping flying them

For #6, my disappointment comes from 2 sources
1) Earnings are HORRIBLE. I buy a mix of cheap Y, high Y, and low F fares. Probably about 50% discounted F. That was masking the problem. But basically if I fly a cheap AA fare Transcon oneway - I got 5k miles. On Delta I get 1.5k. If I buy cheap F, on AA I get 5.5k, on Delta its usually under 5k.
2) Miles are valueless ! I can get an award tix to europe for 30k one way in coach on AA all the time (often with fees). I get 25k for one way first class transcon often. For Delta most of the time its 65k to EU, 45k domestically. I thought it was seasonal or bad luck - but I've been checking since October pretty much every week.

How can miles earning be so much lower AND miles redemption cost so much more. Its not an attractive program for a mid tier elite. I'm torn between trying to drive to Platinum- or giving up on Delta. (Have a stack of Full Fare J/F travel coming up I can route either way).

Any insights?

doglover

Platinum will tick up your earnings, but won't help with redemption costs on DL metal.

paterwdb

Can't argue with your observations about earning and redeeming miles. It is true Delta is harder to deal with and often not as generous as other airlines.

For me, as for many DL loyalists, the payoff in earning through credit card partners (including MQM with mileage boosts), the aircraft and inflight entertainment and service, and most especially the service and their commitment to treating their elite travelers well is the payoff. I'm amazed how well DL handles IROPS, customer service issues, and interactions with elite travelers. Even as a PM, I feel they really respond to my concerns during travel.

If you really want to complain, you might want to add number 7: the website and online redemption is a disaster.

MSPeconomist

8) DL deliberately tries to hide information from customers: upgrade and award availability, fare rules, everything on EF including MCTs, etc.

PHXflier

Indeed, Platinum does not help much. In terms of redemption on Delta: I have had good luck when redeeming transatlantic business award tickets 11 months in advance (some flexibility with the dates helps too). Transatlantic award redemption a few months in advance tends to be expensive in terms of the number of miles they want. Yes, I agree that Delta does not have a competitive edge if mileage earning or redemption are important to you, and I have taken much of my travel to other carriers as well.

3Cforme

If you're stuck using BA for TATL award redemptions I question how much value you're getting for 30K AA miles. Here's the tax/fee profile for AA miles JFK-LHR-ZRH on BA metal in coach.


Adult fare, taxes and carrier-imposed fees
Base fare $0.00 USD
Per person
CARRIER-IMPOSED FEES $258.00 USD
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $34.60 USD
UNITED KINGDOM
TRANSPORTATION TAX $17.70 USD
UNITED STATES
PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGE $4.50 USD
UNITED STATES
US SECURITY FEE $5.60 USD
UNITED STATES

Total Adult taxes and carrier-imposed fees
$320.40 USD
Per person

Delta's total is $25.60 thru CDG, $21 thru AMS, $24.60 thru FCO, and $5.60 on its own non-stop.

Dieuwer

OP, have you considered crediting to Alaska?

davetravels

I haven't seen much mention of this recently, but, when DL, then shortly thereafter, UA made the major mods to the FF programs, everyone here threatened to jump ship to AA, but it was said that when their merger stuff is finished, they're expected to more or less match the DL & UA scheme.

Any thoughts? How long can they continue paying out large amounts of miles on cheap fares when their biggest competitors don't?

mnredfox

DL is a fantastic airline with a really crappy FFP. That's my summary of DL.

exwannabe

I would be virtually certain that AA will change the program up, and I would not be surprised to hear an announcement any month..

MSPeconomist

AA has been saying that they will change the program after the merger, but they also say that it won't be exactly the same as DL and UA.

SJC ORD LDR

1) That's up to you and your flying pattern. AA doesn't go everywhere I want to go, but that's me.
2) DL has better on time numbers than AA overall.
3) I don't know about that. My wife, who is AA Plat, is always impressed on how clean and nice looking DL planes are.
4) Again, my wife thinks service on DL is better.
5) Don't know
6) Well, I fly a company that provides me a service, not a FF program. If you are interested in a FF program that provides awards, DL is not the program for you.

As Dieuwer stated, you should credit to AS if you are interested in awards. You won't get free bags or SkyPriority service, but you'll get usable miles. Plus, AS is a very good airline.

MSPeconomist

.....but watch out for all the account audits and closures that AS has started doing, apparently focusing on those who use AS miles, especially for award tickets for others, but don't regularly earn those miles by flying AS. There's an active thread in the AS forum about these audits.

shaown

So the quality of airplane comment is very very route dependent.
I've noticed a common route for me - San Diego to JFK on the redeye was often a VERY old 767. That being said, it looks like its been replaced with a 737.

For both AA and Delta - its all about getting a new or newly refurbished AC.

I do like the availability of cheap F fares on Delta - especially in advance.

As for the speculation AA will devalue their program - I am sure they will but so what. I try to not make my decisions based on future speculation. I.e. what if AA doesn't devalue for 2 years - or the devaluation is minor. We'll see.

Yellowjj

This is Doug Parker running things, it's pretty much a given. All airlines deny things at first.

Lets not forget the FC meals on AA; rather than bring US up to AA standards, they slashed AA to "meet" in the middle. I've never seen such a backlash from flyers..not even on UA and a quick turnaround from September's decision into making catering substantially better.

Sounds like it's going to be even worse