Originally Posted by beachmouse

Delta SkyMiles get a bad reputation because their premium cabin long haul redemption options can be genuinely crazy. But their domestic and transatlantic economy redemptions are often pretty solid, especially going back toward LHR, and often come with lower fees than you have with VS.

3-4 times a month on DL is enough to get you some sort of status with Delta, and Medallion members get priority on the upgrade list ahead of partner elites so there’s a certain incentive to keep it native, especially if you’re looking at Platinum Medallion, where main cabin tickets get automatically upgraded to Comfort + seats unless it’s a last minute ticket purchase into a full or almost full cabin.

If you make it to Gold Medallion, Sky Team Elite+ status gets you free lounge access on flights back to the UK and other long haul international stuff.

If you have a current American Express, AmEx also has a ‘transfer my credit history’ option that makes it significantly easier to get a US AmEx card, and the Delta-AmEx partnership is tight with a couple of cards offering MQM boosts to make it even easier to pick up Delta elite status.