Originally Posted by
UA Fan
You don't think that the reason DL customers are mostly domestic US award redeeming types for this reason? That DL is okay in this aspect?
There's no doubt that, to some degree, some people are DL customers because they recognize domestic strengths beforehand. I doubt that's a substantial cause for the majority of their revenue and flights being domestic, however.
Originally Posted by
UA Fan
Thw WSJ is a reputable group, I'm sure they realize that majority of FF would like both domestic and intl awards. They also realize that intl awards represent greater savings and obviously they will consider that more important than domestic.
Realize it or not, the fact is that domestically - especially for elites - DL offers a better value. Skymiles can be *vastly* cheaper to acquire - the half of the equation often ignored. Many of us purchased hundreds of thousands for 1 cent each last year, earned almost two miles per dollar spent (non-airline spending) along with status via credit cards, or used conversion bonuses to turn hotel and/or MR points into Skymiles at ratios of 1.5 - 2 : 1. When spent, inventory has been just as good or better. Factor in last-minute availability and unlimited first class upgrades for elites on coach awards and they really stand out. Outside a few niche uses, no one would argue that Delta is as useful internationally, but that matters *only* for customers wishing to redeem international awards.
Originally Posted by
UA Fan
The only good thing about DL is last minute awards. This is to me the only area in which they sort of exceed others. With the recent rule of no changes 3 days prior to departure, even this aspect is not much to talk about.
It is the *only* good thing about them? None of the aspects I mentioned above are advantageous? As for last-minute redemptions... when they put in that 3-day rule, my observation (albeit empirical, not scientific) was that their inventory opened up even more.
Originally Posted by
UA Fan
Assuming the following:
1. You did not have to make any trips, i.e. all your trips were completely optional /leisure (i.e. you have no friends or relatives outside of your town),
2. and if you want to travel equally between domestic and intly destinations
3. You have the chance to collect only one airline's miles
Which airline would you choose?
The split between dom/intl makes it a tough call. With upper-level status or better, given your assumptions, I'd go with DL. With low or no status, I'd go US or UA. Mid-tier status I'd be on the fence. If I could spend a lot on CCs and/or utilize a lot of promos, it would tip me to DL in all cases except no status.
In reality, my situation is that 90% of my trips are domestic, 50% are leisure (many miles redeemed for friends/family/employees, too), and about 30% are last minute. As a DM, I've never missed an upgrade on a coach award (GMs I redeem for have about 50% success in getting into F), and about 80% of the time I redeem at the 25K level, 15%+ at 32.5K. My cost of acquiring SkyMiles, largely because I use branded credit cards + various promos, is about *half* that of my cost of UA miles, about 2/3 of my AA mile cost, and about 80% of what I spend to acquire US miles. Certainly not everyone has the same situation, but for me, DL is a no-brainer.