antonius66

I have been flying Delta/Skyteam for several years now, and a recent increase in miles in my United account from a promotion has lead me to evaluate using those miles for an award ticket on United/Star. Now, reviewing the award charts and availability, I am pondering why I am flying Delta still. Now, this is serious, if I am missing some obvious benefit, please let me know.

I am Silver with Delta, so I should theoretically get "some" better award availability than I would get as a lowly United nothing. First of all, a US-Europe ticket on Delta is 60k miles at its lowest, and is 55 for United, a US-Asia ticket is 80k, versus 65k.

A brief perusal of the availability of sample flights during August/Sept for the cheapest redemption prices leads to the following for me...

LAS-MAD
United @ 55k miles RT
Outgoing: August 2-6, 7, 10-14, 16-20, 23, 25, 28, 30
Sept 4, 6-8, 11-28
Return: August 16
September 1, 3, 7-10, 14-17, 21, 23, 24, 27-30
Delta @ 60k miles RT
NOTHING
Outgoing and Return: ENTIRE month is medium or high, so 90k plus.

LAS-NRT
United @ 65k miles
Outgoing: August 1-31
Sept 1-28
Return: August 14
Sept Every day except 3 and 18

Delta @ 80k miles
NOTHING
Outgoing: All medium and about 30% high.
Return: Same


Now this is a very small sample, but I did several other searches and found similar results. What am I missing? I am not even elite and I can book the cheapest award redemptions on TONS of different dates, many during peak seasons and only a month or two away in many cases. Not to mention the redemptions are 20% cheaper. What gives? What is the secret benefit that has kept me loyal to Delta? In all honesty I had not really given the United/Star charts or redemptions any research in the past, so this is coincidence since I suddenly have miles to burn and am wondering...why?

Djlawman

Excellent post. Excellent questions. No answers from here. Delta's award system sucks for just about everyone at this point. (A few apologists will wiegh in, screaming that there is availability, but 99% of us sure don't see it.) If you actually want to USE your miles, in addition to earning them, DL does not seem to be your airline these days.

seanp7

It's true. I just booked LGA-GIG for NYE, Brazil-style, for 100,000 on UA in C, and they had multiple dates to choose from.

Somehow we scored 150,000 JFK-MAD biz mid-summer, but that was still 50,000 miles too many.

antonius66

I don't know...I am seriously thinking of switching over to United. I am getting a ton of miles from the Hyatt promo, and they have a Chase card offer right now for 50k miles for signup. I mean, that is a ticket to Europe almost....very tempting.

elitetraveler

It's why I've pretty much wound down my DL flying and SM account. Overall I like DL's approach with the BE seating and improved meal service. On redemption I have found DL not competitive with AA, UA, BA or LH.

I think the entire "Best in Class" moniker was a mistake. Get to the top of the hill before you start celebrating. The JFK terminal, Awards, getting the new BE seats installed in a majority of the international fleet are still on the To Do list.

CCIE_Flyer

Although a consistent 100,000+ mile flyer on UA, I am by no means one of their apologists. When it comes to award availability and economy, though, I don't see anyone doing any better - least of all Delta. I have worked many places around the world where Delta could have gotten me to my destination in one or two hops, where United/Star Alliance required three or even four. I've had more than one customer pressure me to make the Delta switch so we could fly together. It is exactly for this reason that I have always refused to do so. I only fly Delta when my United/Star Alliance flight is canceled and there's just no other way to get there. Even then, I request "original routing" mileage credit to my UA account!

Don't know if Delta monitors your forum or not (UA seems to do so spottily over on their forum). If so, Delta you should know that my long-term average flight revenue floats somewhere around $50k/yr and I avoid your airline like the plague because of your upgrade/award nonsense. If you were to ever clean your act up you might stand a fighting chance for my business. It sure would be great if United were to face some competition for my business!

bwhite

There are many components to a FF program but if award redemption is important to you DL may not be the best FF program at the moment. I like DL for a lot of reasons, but current mileage requirements for award tix are too high IMO.

There have been some suggestions from DL posters on this forum that they are aware of award issues but I am not certain what they interpret "issues" to mean and what they intend to "fix". Until I see evidence or something concrete I have come to the realization that I need to invest my efforts into another FF program to be able to get reasonable award tix. YMMV

CCIE_Flyer

Yes, it's a bit tongue-in-cheek since there is no such level. Last year my tally was something like 235,000 EQM w/ UA. But I flew during both of UA's Double EQM promotions, so that's not actually a good number. I have flown 50,000+ EQM this year already, though, so 200,000 BIS EQM for the year looks to be about right for 2010.

MikeMpls

Every time I check out international awards on DL, I end up booking on some other airline. Last weekend:
Bottom line is that the business (all paid tickets in the end) went to CO & LH.

rankourabu

Right on. Star Alliance is far superior in award travel. Period.
Especially internationally.
While scoring a low-level ticket on Delta is like the holy grail, on Star, not having anything available on your dates with reasonable connections is a rarity internationally.

I have 60k left, I want a ticket in summer 2011 to Europe or Asia.
Good luck to me.

btw, to the poster that said KLM taxes were more than the ticket.

Does DL now charge fuel surcharges on partner awards???

OP, be ready to be told off by Delta apologists that your data is invalid, youre too demanding, etc etc and Delta is great in so many other ways!, some may give in that the award is broken, but you can still get a ticket, youre just not trying hard enough!

Blank Sheet

Out of the mouths of conditioned newbie's. Are you listening Delta or is that the goal!

Italy98

Maybe the pain feels good.

+1 One should not have to be a contortionist or be required to use a tool to find the desired flight at a low award. My options from GNV are DL or US. I would bolt from DL, however, I will walk before I set foot in another US or UA aircraft after the problems I've had with them in the past. Yes, I could drive to JAX, MCO, or TPA to catch another carrier, but is a four-hour RT drive and hotel cost really worth it?

andrew10412

i am having this same problem and asking myself these same questions recently.

the award thing is driving me nuts, and being based in denver makes it worse. I fly mostly to Mexico and having to fly 1000 miles out of the way to atlanta to get anywhere is starting to test my patience. not to mention delta's rude ground staff in ATL.

the fact that as a platinum it is next to impossible to get an upgrade on these monday or friday morning ATL-Mexico flights is also starting to make them lose any appeal...

Aeromexico is not worth it either because they start Mexico-US routes and then canx/make them seasonal after a few months. they are usually 2-3X the price of Mexicana for intra Mexico flights and i am not so sure they are worth it.

if i switch to star, who do i fly in mexico?

a switch to oneworld would not be my choice because AA is not my favorite...

i need advice!

thezipper

I don't know all the answers, but DEN-IAH(UA/CO)-MEX(CO) would be a possible combination. Try using the on-line schedule at StarAlliance.com to see if there is anything that fits your needs.

rankourabu

There is a saying on the Continental board, if there is a runway in Mexico, we fly there! They serve 28 Mexican cities!!