Originally Posted by
vatraveler
Nope. Funny he would say I was cherry-picking, when that's the first route I checked.
I asked you to cherry-pick five routes; that's why I presumed the one you provided was. I believe you that it wasn't; doesn't change my point.
We can find tons of examples where domestic Y awards for 25K are not available. Heck, I booked MN-SMF last week for a last-minute trip. One date out of the next 14 were available. ONE. That is it. It was last-minute, logged in as PM. Mooper can tout all the great award availability but you don't see the disclaimer in every one of his posts - book close-in, have to be medallion, have to trick the award calendar, etc, etc. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
It's interesting that all examples being given (except for Vatratraveler's, which I showed to be readily available at 25K with first class upgrades available to boot) are from the past. I reiterate my request: list several examples of current situations, within the reasonable parameters I described a few posts back, where Delta has substantially inferior 25K inventory. You'd be much more convincing by relying on actual examples than anecdotal evidence and recall.
I don't disagree that there is certainly value in Skypesos. I just think mooper paints an unrealistic picture here of availability and value. And he discredits someone like vatraveler when something disputes mooper's theories. Sorry. A balance is needed. And unless you have PM or DM status with DL, their skymiles awards suck.
See above regarding availability issues.
As for sucking, I wouldn't go as far as saying you need to be PM/DM, though I'd agree it's the sweet spot where benefits really kick in that put them above their peers for travel within the 48.