Originally Posted by
avidflyer
But the OP'S main concerns are Low Award availability and Upgrades. DL is not the airline for low awards in Biz to China or cheap upgrades.
Good point, glad you brought that up. DL is horrible for international redemptions (in low), and even worse in J than in Y. OP, please be warned, esp from US-Asia. I and a few others who look at US-Asia in J have been VERY VERY frustrated. And despite the nay-sayers who defend DL on their FFP, even they will admit that going to Asia is horrible on DL compared to competitors (CO, AA, UA).
That being said, DL miles are fantastic intra-Asia. DL metal is hard to find, but you can book on KE, MU, CZ, MH, and CA. It was even better when SQ could be booked too.
Originally Posted by
CkCrunch
I'm not that familiar with DL, is the redemption really that bad? if I accrue to DL, is it very difficult to get partner awards (i.e. starnet blocking like *A)? Conversely, any one have experience on how hard is it to spend CZ/MU miles on DL tickets?
Per my advice above, DL metal is horrible esp across the big pond. However, using DL miles on CZ and MU are great. I've used DL miles to book MU/CZ flights across China, fly to Japan several times, the Philippines, and Thailand. Again, Y is 20K and J is 40K (sigh, the good old NW days of 30K in J are gone).