mtofell

I just checked some of my PDX > OGG flights and AS is still much better for price and time. On Delta anything reasonable involves a redeye or stupid late arrival and early out in the layover city (Does anyone actually land at LAX at 12:30AM and fly out at 6:45AM?)

I agree people blindly follow an airline... I see threads like this and it makes me worry that I am doing that but for now AS is still my best deal.

Someone mentioned the AS B of A card and I agree it's a crappy card. The biggest benefit is free checked bags and you get that with basic AS status so I don't really get the point. I did get it recently for the 60K bonus miles and use it a bit for a new business I want to keep separate from my other to make year-end accounting easier. But before I put much on it I'll replace it with something much better. I think a lot of people fall in love with their favorite airline card because it's working towards a vacation. What is overlooked is you can get the same vacation and A LOT more with a better card.

jrl767

I have actually booked a placeholder trip for mid June with a late evening DCA-DTW-LAS (lv ~2030 ar ~0045) and a sunrise LAS-SEA (lv 0600 ar 0830) … $269+$99 is a whole lot less than $731 for a nonstop or a more normally-timed connection

mtofell

I guess if you're going to be sleep deprived Vegas is the place to do it!

eponymous_coward

The point would be that most people don’t have AS status or spend a lot of time maximizing credit card returns to the Nth degree and some of them like checking bags and bringing a companion to Mexico or Hawaii for $99 + tax.

I agree that the benefits are pretty useless to me outside of the churn, since I never check bags domestic, never have companions, and typically have status anyway (though we will see after 2023), so it’s basically on a list of “eventually you should churn this”.

We’ll see what 2023 is like for fares; I’ve essentially planned 2022 out (some of it as far back as 2021) and have avoided eye-bleeding domestic airfare and AS’s operational shakiness this summer.

As for DL/AS pricing, I suspect DL is still catching up. I’ve found DL prices (cash or SkyPesos) are often pretty good, and Delta is STILL shoveling about 3-4k free SkyPesos at me each year with 12Status. That’s literally a free $100 or so flight every year or two for basically nothing more than registering. Seems very similar to what AS ends up doing in the Bay Area with Giants game promos.

VegasGambler

But that justifies having the card, not using it, which is what the OP was mentioning.

eponymous_coward

See what I said about “maximizing credit card returns to the Nth degree”. Seriously, FlyerTalk and r/churning are the far right hand side of a normal distribution of how people fly/use credit cards.

Xrayman

Have actually flown several single day business trips from seattle to Denver and ATL recently on Delta. No bags just my briefcase and it was fine in main cabin (and much lower fair, I pay my fairs from personal account). Will likely get minimum/lowest Delta status for next year. Have reached AS gold this year and completely open to any carrier for the rest of year. AS prices to chicago are ridiculous through summer and thus eliminating all my Midwest business trips though fall. Have been trolling delta for opportunities for Denver and ATL.

VegasGambler

There's a middle ground between that level of optimization and having a single card that you use for everything.

jhawk737

For PDX to Palm Springs in July, average on Alaska is $700 round trip (though technically is PS low season). Trying to bring my dad from Salt Lake to PSP, $900 on Alaska (via SFO or SEA), while Delta is $300 round trip nonstop. I get that Salt Lake City is a Delta hub, but overall prices are outrageous all across the board on Alaska this summer and appear more reasonable across the board on Delta.

hyedmd

I don't fly Delta but AA and UA fares aren't much lower than high AS. At least on routes that I fly. Even Frontier and Spirit aren't cheap. Hardly surprising considering what's going on around us these past few months.

flytoeat

Check out the Delta Status Match Challenge...

eponymous_coward

So… what happens when everyone sock drawers the card as a good and sensible optimizer and 100% logically uses it? AS and BofA lose money on each customer but they make up for it in volume?

I repeat: FT and churners are the far right side of a distribution. And we should all be very, very happy this is so, because the entire deal we skim cream off of becomes wildly unprofitable for airlines and banks if everyone wises up and only skims cream. God bless people who use their AS cards for 1x purchases

As for “it doesn’t make sense” (cards or flying AS at premiums)… welcome to prospect theory and behavioral economics. Thank God. Markets aren’t rational, which means sometimes rational people who throw away emotional values like “loyalty” or cards with names of precious gems or metals can make very rational economic choices.

Xrayman

will save that one opportunity for next year. If things seem ok on delta and AS continues with the clown show (more cancelled flights this week to Midwest) then will status match in December and will just fly delta in 2023 as primary.

TEDisgone

I'm pricing out some unconnected connections home from LAX in September, depending on when I land there. If I arrive in the morning, these are my choices for J/F:


If I arrive in the late afternoon, these are my choices (AA added in just because):

Very small sample but interesting that it's both "Operated by Skywest" flights that cost the most for these two possibilities.

VegasGambler

One thing to keep in mind is that if you get a DL CC now and spend 25k by the end of the year, you will have the MQD waiver for your challenge so long as you start it this year. This is kind of buried in the fine print.