Originally Posted by
bennos
It may not bring in more people paying J prices, but it may bring in more money via upgrades.
I've already bought up to K and used (old) SWUs 4 times when I would have bought X or V instead. 3 of the 4 times confirmed at booking, the fourth cleared at the gate. So far the UG lists I've seen have had around 2 people on them on average, so if DL went from giving BE away to K+SWU or K+mileage buy-ups, they're ahead.
I actually have no problem with this. My issue is that K+miles works out to be about the same price as B6, except B6 will confirm me in advance on any flight whereas DL has very limited inventory for UG. Once the 50% RDM reduction comes into play next year, DL will have no advantage to me in carrier selection.
DL K fares on JFK to LAX are running around $820.00 for the few random dates I checked in Sept/Oct. That will net you approx 10660 skymiles. Almost enough for a one way redemption into J. I have to decide if the jetblue MINT deal is better. Thing is, the whole Delta JFK experience tilts my decision making towards DL's K fares. I absolutely love the new sky terrace in T4. I usually get to the AP several hours ahead of time and spend just about all of it on the terrace, enjoying the drink, food and the planes landing and taking off. Call me old school but I absolutely get a huge thrill out of that...it relaxes me.