JIM_Travel

I have seen the term SkyPesos thrown around for Delta's Skymiles program, but have yet to fully understand why. Can someone enlighten me as to why I should avoid Delta like the plague?

Thanks.

Happy

For starter, not all miles are created equal.

It is near impossible to redeem a saver level award with DL Skymiles.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ilability.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ard-seats.html

The above threads may give you some hint, even though the sample method may not be well-designed.

Flyer737

Just a guess... but probably because they are worthless like pesos and constantly being devalued.

JIM_Travel

Well, I guess pesos are better than Zimbabwe currency.

loomis

That happens to be another common moniker!!

biggestbopper

Because, IMHO, Delta has decided to adopt a biz model which includes making it very hard to redeem SkyPesos at anywhere near the same level as other programs.

I was just looking at US-CDG trips using SPs. Nothing for less than 200K in biz class. That is not value for miles.

NYCtennis

Unless you're a frequent traveler who actually wants to be able to use the miles you've accumulated without jumping through hoops and, more likely than not, spending significantly more miles than you originally anticipated. Or if you don't appreciate being "bait and switched" with "low-tier" awards that simply aren't made available.

If you fly infrequently, or don't care about using your miles, Delta is a perfectly fine airline.

audio-nut

Add in a booking engine which hides low priced seats and many times prices out at over the maximum published price. Wrap it up with the marketing tag line "Best in Class" and you can see how people loathe DL.

Happy

I wonder how many uninitiated folks are being lured to apply the DL AMEX Card?

Each time I see it being aired on TV with the 2 characters "Can your card do that? Mine can...." it is like

dracs

Got it first time last year with 35000 miles and used them to book ticket for new year's eve in miami( booked less than a month in advance) . Tickets were hovering around 700$ from my location.
But glad got something out of skypesos.

Dracs

jessej

theoretically, if you could have booked flights using a different FFP miles for 25k, then you just paid a 40% premium
and that may have been a "good" deal

as many can only find 40k rewards which makes that a 60% premium

ArizonaGuy

Add in the fact they're going to implement a minimum stay requirement for any non-elite who books an award less than 21 days out. AA, UA, US, CO - they don't do this. I believe NW did prior to the merger. Apparently UA tried once and it wasn't met with much success.

mooper

A major factor is the fact that Skymiles are extremely difficult to redeem at the low/saver tier for international travel, or even domestic travel if you do not hold status with Delta. However, if you are redeeming for travel wholly within the contiguous 48 states, you are Medallion (and therefore have access to Medallion award inventory), and know how to work around the calendar bug (which displays less inventory than you're entitled to, unless you make it work), then low/saver awards are plentiful if you have a little flexibility. I redeem dozens of such awards over a wide variety of routes and dates, both cabins, at a CPM value that has actually been increasing in recent months (over 2CPM average). Almost all fees are waived for upper elites, making it even nicer. To top it off, Skymiles are the easiest miles to earn, especially if your credit card use and attention to promotions are high. Many fail to factor this in, too. For example, if you can spend $60K on an Amex card, you can earn 180K DL miles by stacking a a bonus and a promo, and you'll walk with 30K EQMs (MQMs) to boot. No other airline provides an earning opportunity that lucrative, as far as I'm aware. Finally, for those who hold high status and travel within the 48 contiguous states primarily or solely, the perks are indeed best in class (overall, there are minor exceptions). That's the defense of Skymiles and its strong points.

If you are primarily an international traveler - the portion of Delta's business that makes up the minority of their revenue and profits - then you might look elsewhere. Most of the other majors provide advantages over Delta, specifically in the award realm, at least for now (I think this gap will tighten later this year, but who knows.) Also, if you don't have nor can easily obtain status with Delta, then regardless of where you fly, other airlines are likely more appealing (then again, if you don't fly much, it might not be worth your time to research or care... a couple of flights a year are tolerable no matter what you do and the rewards you earn aren't likely to be substantial in terms of absolute value).

dracs

True, But had no other miles and just got lucky on these. Had never shelled out 700$.

Dracs

gleff

I believe I'm the person who originally coined the phrase Skypesos, at least the very first use of it on Flyertalk was in a post that I made.

They're a terribly devalued currency, they are clearly the least useful for obtaining premium class international awards especially if you want more than one seat from the US to Asia. Their website is broken, it often prices awards more expensively than inventory would appear to require. And they don't even bother to publish an award chart for flights between destinations not involving North America.