Originally Posted by Caspavio

i fully agree with emma dog. besides repricing when price drops, you can also

1) cancel for ecredit + the miles back. there are ways to extending the expiry and i think it is also possible to use for ecredit to buy tickets for other passengers (others please confirm)

2) cancel and rebook a korean air flight. there is a 1 stop layover, but this can be purchased via delta. for example, there is a JFK-ICN-HND for $5852 (Round trip to Tokyo | Google Flights). maybe let me know your travel dates and see if we can better help

Originally Posted by ATOBTTR

Yes, you probably overpaid even for D1 to Asia. You could probably find a better deal either:
1) Flying another airline (that may well have a better product)
2) Utilizing position flights. I.e. check LAX-HND, SEA-HND, etc. or such routes with more direct competition, and then buy a separate STL-XXX positioning flight to get to the city you booked your flight to HND out of

Originally Posted by Eastbay1K

This one trip, if the OP has the right credit card, gives GM. That might have a lot of value. Or it might put the OP over the PM or DM level. I recently just paid 'too much' (but in the hundreds department) to qualify me for PM on just "one more" trip.

Originally Posted by GagaPilot

Hey OP - I totally get the feeling of post-purchase regret and/or buyer’s remorse! I think it’s normal to have some (to some extent) after a high value purchase such as business class international airfare on one’s own dime.

I’m in a similar situation right now with feelings for a trip coming up in early November. I have two D1 tickets ANC-BKK round trip for myself and spouse totaling $18K for both. Now there is some difference as we have much more limited options departing ANC as we have to backtrack to SEA (or another major hub in the US) then to ICN (or NRT on other carriers) then onward to BKK. I looked at various options and none were a major cost savings over DL on the dates we needed, and this routing was not as painful as others. Despite all that, $18K total / $9K each stings.

Could you have found a better deal to HND from the lower 48? Possibly. But you have to weigh what all that would involve such as changing your dates, preferred airline, routing, risk tolerance for connections, etc.

If the DL ticket was acceptable to you at time of purchase, then enjoy! Don’t worry what others think. Perhaps they would choose a more stressful itinerary to save a few bucks, or perhaps they aren’t familiar with what business class tickets actually cost.

Now, I will say that DL isn’t really worth the premium that they charge when other carriers are a viable/equal option. As an example I’ve booked some domestic travel recently in F on both AA and AS because I couldn’t justify DL on those routes being twice as expensive for an equal or worse itinerary. But for my BKK route? DL was essentially the better option. I’m viewing things as trying to balance out in the long run by booking DL when it makes sense, but not afraid to look at other carriers too.

Anyway, ENJOY THE TRIP! We only get so many laps around the sun. Let us know how your trip goes.

Originally Posted by steveholt

You should book and pay whatever you feel most comfortable with, but there are plenty of other airlines who offer better service and equal or better reliability than DL. I'd encourage you to be more open to other options next time.