Originally Posted by
355F1
Can someone please give me a fact-based answer to the following question:
What is the reason why Delta prefers to offer cheaper award tickets on their partners' metal?
I don't understand this from a business sense, and I've been trying to figure this out for awhile after booking so many Skymiles award tickets on AS metal and AF/KLM metal.
Doesn't it cost Delta MORE money to pay for those seats on their partners rather than fill a seat on their own planes?
It all depends upon the value of the miles, the price they pay for the award seat on the partner, their true marginal cost for flying someone else on their planes, the cash price for their own seat, and the probability they will sell the seat. Since you don't have that data, you really have no way to know whether it is the smart play or not. My guess is that DL knows what they are doing and if it truly were profit-maximizing to offer the award on their own metal, they would do so.