FWAAA

Delta may be a great airline; but it's a garbage company.

Pulling all info from Expert Flyer and removing any trace of reward charts? Anderson doesn't like informed customers, because ignorant and uninformed customers are easier to fleece.

avidflyer

Yes because Delta has a long history of introducing point devaluations on one set of routes and stopping there What is not very fair is ignoring the fact that you are not looking at the quoted routes and not acknowledging what you MUST know: This will be coming to a route near you soon.

The violent almost manic defense of DL's every move to take something away here is stunning to me. I am OK with "it does not impact me so I don't care yet"...TOTTALY but I am baffled why you and many others here are happy that the program is being devalued. This is, after all, not a Delta Airlines fan club it is a customer centric forum for discussion and strategy of how to get the most out of the FF program. Why on earth would you follow such a forum?

And while you are refusing to search the routes specified in the article if you think for one second that these increases will only stay one direction then you have been asleep at the wheel over the last 10 years. This is classic Delta: Raise the HELL out of something so that when you make LAX-SYD 400K the standard the zombies who are being distracted will think that 400K is a great deal.

I just do not understand why you are cheering so hard for the other team in these instances? Yes we know Delta is doing great but they are all doing great with fuel where it is and in-fact I believe AA is doing a little better right now and they are still using the traditional FF program approach.

This is not personal in any way it is a FF program and the fact that you attack anyone who wants to get a good value, including the author of this article, is intriguing. I really enjoy your informational posts so I personally want you here on this forum because you have a lot of great info but even DL employees who value the program do not defend DL in these instances.

The program "works better"? Really?

DL2SXM

All due respect to everyone who posts on this forum, but there is plenty of good to be easily found with the current program. most everyone on here is as about negative a person as you can find. By picking out one example (SYD to USA) of 830,000 miles is very unfair and biased, but to each his own. You can sit and type on here how much is sucks but for the majority of us, we can and will easily find ways to make it work.

And just b/c that article says you will only be able to find a low award with an 0600 departure, everyone automatically buys into that without even giving the award calendar a whirl. Maybe the 0600 departure will be the only thing available if you are looking to redeem miles for a flight with travel commencing immediately, but those are the brakes. At least there is something there. You are not going to find that prime time departure, sure, but it doesn't mean there wont be anything there.

javabytes

You're missing the point. These are examples (and there are far more than SYD-LAX - as I mentioned, look ex-Europe also) of what DL is doing with dynamic award pricing. They don't affect you today but there's no reason that won't be the case tomorrow. So look at those prices and ask yourself how you'd feel if those prices became the reality for trips you want.

DL2SXM

java,

I don't base my travels on a bunch of what ifs and hypotheticals. I refuse to waste my time with what tomorrow may or may not bring. I have repeatedly found plenty of reasonable skymiles redemption award ticket opportunities and not just flights that I like to take.

To each is own I guess. Misery loves company so this thread is obviously not for me.

RSSrsvp

Would you pull into a gas station that does not list their prices and then spend time at the pumps figuring whether or not you should buy gas there? I think not as I don't want to waste my time which is also worth money and DL's attitude is one of total non transparency.

DL2SXM

I laugh and scoff at that example because I know what miles it will cost me before I hit the 'redeem' button. Not only that, lets say it didn't tell me how many miles it costs until after I booked my award flight (which it doesn't and never will) I can simply request a refund of my miles.

Folks, and lets be honest with each other, how many people here live in Australia, collect skymiles and/or will be originating a round trip award itinerary from SYD? I am guessing the answer is less then .00001%. Who really cares what it costs mileage wise to travel from SYD to the states. And, if you are that less then .0001%, live in Australia and collect skymiles then shame on you.

davetravels

I'm FAAAAR from a Delta "FanBoy", but, I've found, in my searches, this is truly the case, and many times in our favor! I will admit that I don't book a ton of domestic award tix, but, I've found . . . . .

1) A number of less than 12,500 mile one ways, including having a SEA/SFO booked at 7,500 miles and last week discovering that it WENT DOWN to 5,000!

2) I've found some AAA/HUB/BBB tix pricing at 5,000 and 7,500 miles, when AAA/HUB prices at 12,500. . . . if 'ya get my drift .

That said, the numbers are WAY out of whack to the other extreme with int'l J seats, with most exceptions using partners. I wonder how long it'll be before partner flights are upped to the outrageous levels of the DL metal flights?

javabytes

It's not only Australia.
It's not only people who live abroad - people buying one way travel to come home to the US are equally (and already) affected.

DL2SXM

A little bit of an extreme example, wow. If the boat is sinking for you, then get off of it. It is not for me and for plenty of other people. And again I will ask the question, if Delta does in fact ONLY ask for 800,000 miles from international destinations, which it doesn't, but lets say it does, and it doesn't affect you, why do you really give a rats ...? The boat is not sinking for you so why care? I originate most of my travel from the NYC area, I can really give a rats ... what it costs mileage wise to travel ex -SYD, BKK, JNB, DXB etc. The boat is not sinking for me.

RSSrsvp

Your example is after the fact as you have spent your time looking for flights. Why spend your time doing a search to begin with when you have a limited amount of miles to redeem? Case in point, you want to book an award trip for a party of two and only have 50k miles in your account and are not savvy like many FT'ers. Is it fair to that customer to make them spend their time trying to book a trip where the amount needed is more than 50K? A visible chart is the correct way to do business.

DL2SXM

OK, so I decided to stop being lazy and check SYD to LAX for travel after June 1st, 2016 by using a flexible date search, guess what folks, as low as 160,000 miles for BE. If you want to go all the way to JFK, 320K. Sure, that's a tad high but nowhere near the 860,000 miles as originally reported.

JNB, DXB to the states, after June 1st, 2016, can be had in Delta1 for as little as 140K.

DL2SXM

this example is a lot less stark and different then what we have been discussing. if you have a limited amount of miles to redeem then look anyway, if you cant find anything, then you have options...

Keep looking at Delta, look elsewhere or accumulate more miles.

hazelrah

When I was a young man (many, many years ago ) I recall that there was no law in Maryland that required gasoline merchants to post their prices, and many did not; price shopping was a pain until the legislature stepped in and passed a law that required gas stations to post their prices.

Everyone remember the airline boo-hooing about the tarmac rule? After the law was passed it sure put a crimp in the most egregious airline behavior of keeping pax hostage and the airlines adapted easily.

Maybe we need some new laws about the dicoverability of price, both in awards and fares.

Silver Meteor

I just booked three domestic RT's just last night all over the US, including one to the west coast. Had plenty of 25,000 mile options, as well as even some 20,000 mile options. Will I have these next year...who knows.

As has been said many times, if you aren't happy with Delta, there are plenty of other options. Again, earlier this year, UA had a significantly better deal (airfare) than Delta did on one my trips. I did not think twice, and just booked UA. Had no problems. I certainly was complaining to no-one why I did not fly DL. It is business. If you don't like one company, thank goodness you have plenty of choices.