Originally Posted by
skydelt
Which part of Delta's program are you most excited about - the $-based earning, the total devaluation of DL points, or extremely weak upgrade certs (when you get them as a plat)
Every program has their pros/cons, Alaska's remains pretty great compared to the rest.
DL DM GUCs are not as valuable since they only provide one class upgrades these days, but PM RUCs are not that hard to use. Now that they only require revenue Z inventory to redeem (instead of a hidden upgrade bucket), it's pretty straightfoward to find flights with availability. You don't even really need an EF account as you can just do a Google Flights search on a route and it's pretty obvious which flights have Z bucket open based on prices.
No, Skymiles are not as valuable as AS miles. But you can still find values if you understand award system and watch for sales. Heading to TQO in a couple weeks on 19.4K RT awards where revenue fares are going for $700 RT.