Originally Posted by
Repooc17
To be fair, isn’t that XN (economy saver) pricing, which requires status or credit card access?
That said, I do agree with you on Delta's award pricing structure - Delta has largely gone off my radar for redemptions. Domestic awards used to be its strength, from a consumer POV, but that has been wiped out.
I have been using my AS miles more and more as of late for last minute domestic flights, especially short and mid hauls, where you can book AA flights for 4.5K (short haul) and 7.5K (mid haul) miles each way.
I think the devaluation with awards are largely due to the increase in the use of co-branded credit cards. When miles become so easy to earn, it's totally par for the course for airlines to increase the overall miles requirement for awards.
Delta reported an exceptionally good profit for 3rd quarter this year. The cynic in me first thought they may have done an adjustment on mileage awards which allowed them to recoup some of the accrued liability on future redemptions. So far no sign UA is following suit and like everyone else here, I'm happy with that.
As an example of extreme watering down of benefits, I have lifetime Titanium on Marriott. But when it is my choice I use them far less than I used to because both the earning of free nights and the few remaining yet inconsistently delivered loyalty benefits are not worth the premium I have to pay to stay in a Marriott. When it comes to hotels, we have so many choices. So I dropped their card.
My DL card will be next to go if I find domestic redemptions go as crazy as their have international redemptions have.