kozykritter

Please explain what you mean by being prioritized. Over whom?

Are you telling me that if 30 Delta Platinum flyers arrive at the hotel before I check in later in the day, an enhanced room is being held for me instead of being given to them? And if so, does a formal process exist for this or are you just assuming this is how front deck staff would handle this?

TerryK

I am sure this 1 point per dollar on DL tickets is in addition to whatever credit deal you may have.

Sound like a winner to me. ^

TerryK

This baffles me. You may actually earn more Starpoints with consolidator fares. For a round trip fares with single connection, you can earn 2,000 Starpoints while most published domestic fares are less than $2000. Round trips with triple connections can earn 4,000 starpoints. I can see smart FTers working on cheap consolidator fares with multiple connections already.

Starwood Lurker II

Delta Award flights are not eligible for Crossover Rewards benefits. Below are part of the Crossover Rewards terms that explain more about what is an eligible flight. Feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

Qualifying Delta Flight. A "Qualifying Delta Flight" is a ticket with flight legs that are both marketed by Delta and operated by Delta or a Delta Connection® carrier and that is eligible to earn miles in the Delta SkyMiles program under the Delta SkyMiles Rules & Conditions, except for flights that are booked through online travel agencies including, without limitation, expedia.com, hotwire.com, priceline.com, orbitz.com, Cheaptickets.com, travelocity.com and each of their subsidiaries. A flight operated by a Delta codeshare partner is not a Qualifying Delta Flight.

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Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

bennos

As a DL DM and SPG Gold, I won't need to pick internet as a choice benefit anymore, so that's nice. I'm still not sure if crossover strengthens loyalty or weakens it. (As a DL PM or DM, the only real incentive for separate SPG Gold now is an extra starpoint per dollar. On the flip side, if I lost DL status thanks to MQD, at least I'd still get a free checked bag as SGP Gold.)

For those lamenting the lack of DL upgrades as posted in the original leak, the reality is you'd pretty much never clear them anyway. (If you've ever seen standby upgrades available for sale at the gate -- that's about it.)

seawolf

Innovative, yes. But why partner with skypesos?!?!?

I will still avoid DL.

ski1stoney

This seems like a great way to earn more points/miles if you book your trips on Delta and stay at Starwood. I don't see this affecting my ability to get a better room. I am a fan of this new program. Great job Starwood...always love more ways to earn points!

MSPeconomist

My reading of this is that the actual benefits start on March 3 at the earliest due to the requirement that accounts be cross linked 48 hours in advance of the flight or checkout. (If it's really checkout time--which is sensible due to when point post, but makes it possible for miles to be earned for hotel stays that begin far in advance of March 1?) OTOH, how does the hotel know that someone is eligible for an enhanced room if the requirement is to register and have the accounts cross linked 48 hours before checkout if checkin occurs, for example, 24 hours before registration and cross linking?

I'm interested in understanding the fine print of the timing rules because I plan to fly DL on either February 28 or March 1, and probably again on March 3 with a SPG hotel stay that night. So it looks to me like the March 3 activities will earn miles and points under this program assuming that the website is really operational and I can succeed in registering "on the road" on March 1, possibly even requiring that I do this early in the day?

MSPeconomist

The DL website (aka affectionately as delta.dumb) IIRC says three additional persons on the same PNR for the free checked bag and eight additional for elite security and zone 1 boarding, with no number mentioned for the elite check in lines. I think I found this in the FAQs.

Note that this is zone 1 boarding, after FC/BE and SkyPriority (all GM+). Zone 1 includes Silvers on DL, SkyTeam elites (and AS elites?), and holders of DL branded AmEx credit cards. The DL AmEx card benefit is one free checked bag for up to nine on the same PNR, but it's often extended at the counter to traveling companions on separate PNRs. AFAIK DL has no published numbers regarding whether others on the same (or separate?) PNRs can use elite check in, security, or boarding.

Finally, I didn't notice an explicit statement, but because of the parallel with DL Silver status benefits (except upgrades now), I would assume that SPG Plats would check in using the special check in lines for Silvers, etc. where offered, not SkyPriority in larger DL stations. (SkyPriority is the ground handling package for GM+ and those confirmed in premium cabin seats.)

Mrtravel28

As much as I appreciate the attempt to offer more, I feel like spg Gold elites are getting the shaft on this one especially if they are not Delta customers. I can't imagine that the hotel will hold an upgrade for a Gold spg member if bunch of DM and PM non-spg members show up. Further more I assume this will be even easier way for properties to tell the Gold that they are already in the best room available as all enhanced rooms are already booked. I wouldn't trade the occasional suite upgrade and almost always club level upgrade as spg Gold for few sky pesos at best if I had a choice.

MSPeconomist

Do you mean that the particular flight segment would need to originate after that date? (If the date really is March 1, this would allow the example that I check in and fly MSP-NRT on February 28, arriving in Tokyo on March 1 and connect on to Singapore without a stopover. The "flight" language suggests to me that I would earn Starpoints for NRT-SIN, but how would a through fare even be broken down to determine the amount that I spent for just this flight?) I suspect the requirement must be in terms of the first flight in a given "direction" before a stopover? But what if a through fare allows a stopover? (I actually have such a ticket in March, but it's late enough in the month so that I should earn point for the entire itinerary.)

To me, "flight" is different from PNR or ticket, so that a RT flying outbound in February and the return in March should earn point for the return segments, right? In other words, one can have flights on the same booking that are taken before March 1 and still earn points for part of the itinerary, namely those flights that occur after March 1 if I understand this correctly.

MSPeconomist

That's nice. You can get 250 additional points per stay if you pick this instead of free internet as your Gold check in amenity.

However, as a DL DM and SPG Plat, I get nothing in terms of additional benefits beyond the one Starpoint per dollar spent on DL and one bonus SkyMile per dollar spent on an SPG eligible room rate (not including miscellaneous additional eligible spending at the hotel, such as F&B).

I appreciate the additional points and miles, although as I pointed out in a post yesterday in the DL forum thread on this, the Crossover benefits are likely, for a "normal" DM and SPG Plat, to amount to one additional category 5 night per year and one low domestic RT coach award ticket every couple years--if you can find a low domestic coach award ticket you want and if you use miles this way. (Otherwise, think maybe 10% of the miles needed for a low international business class award ticket, assuming again that you can find low availability on DL and its partners.)

Starwood Lurker IV

While the details are proprietary, there is a process in place for SPG Gold members to be prioritized for enhanced room upgrades, when available.

Best regards,

Christopher Carman
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

For now, I stand by our earlier statements that the benefits begin on March 1st and flights that originate on that day and later are the only ones that qualify, assuming that the member is registered and all other tenets of the benefit are met. If that changes, I'm sure that SPG will let everyone know.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

To be perfectly clear, if the first leg of this trip starts on 2/28, the entire trip is not eligible for Crossover Rewards because it started prior to 3/1. It doesn’t matter what happens after that. If your departure date is on 2/28, nothing is eligible, even if it occurs after 3/1.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]