Delta has not been a program for Asia-based flyers since it gobbled up the NW World Perks program. This latest just adds insult to injury.

I have done many stupid travelling moves and learned things the hard way over the years, but one of my more brilliant maneuvers was taking every last World Perks mile I had in 2009 and booking various future intra-Asia awards until the miles were down to just about nil, while I could still access the NW infrastructure. And then not accruing any other flight miles on Skypesos since then. I only keep the account open in case I move back to the US and have to deal with a captive airport situation.

Though I guess 25K miles for an intra-China roundtrip is not that bad if you need to do Shanghai-Urumqi or Harbin-Sanya. That's basically similar to a North American cross-continental trip. The problem is the add-ons, especially if that International Origination Surcharge of $150 on awards is still hanging around.