IRISHFLYER1

DITTO

bsdstone

So does anyone know if Delta flies to Paris? All flights I can find are "operated by Air France"?

Boutet Olly

Yes

Luggage Tag

...two via ATL (the ones I have taken if I fly to CDG): DL22/21 & 28/29

at least two more; one from JFK (118 out), one from CVG (44 out).

jimrpa

Yes, but Star alliance offers First Class awards on those carriers that have a first class.

Delta USED to have First Class awards on Air France and Korean Air Lines. The rumor that was going around here when the awards were withdrawn was that AF and KE were reconfiguring their FC and didn't have enough FC seats to continue offering awards.

Supposedly, AF still offers FC awards, just not to Delta.

Bottom line: I don't care WHO is responsible for the lack of FC awards in SkyTeam - I just want it fixed!

spgaston

I have read that the lack of first class awards available to DL is due to the fact that DL has no first class of its own. If KE or AF members cannot redeem First awards on DL, why should they allow DL members to redeem first on their airline?
I realize that this argument is flawed considering DL must compensate these airlines for their award seats, but I have no idea how this compensation is calculated.

MikeyZBT

Really? "below" biz elite? I usually find the overall experience in AF Biz superior to BizElite on DL. I haven't been on a DL BizElite for about 2 years though.

ClipperDelta

Depends on what you find more important. In my travels,

DL BE is better than AF in the following:
- no opportunity of a middle seat
- more personal dining service, and service overall (AF's J cabins tend to have more seats and FAs just go through the meal service with the cart; also AF has never ever addressed me by name in the past 10 years, not even when I was AF FP Rouge or FB Platinum)
- better variety of wines (i.e., not only French wines)
- greater selection of main courses
- better seat for sleeping on your back


AF J is better than DL in the following:
- Better appetisers
- Better cheese selection
- Better seat for sleeping on your side
- FAs better groomed and consistent in appearance (but that's just a rest-of-the-world cultural thing vs. U.S.)

grahampros

The reason First Class awards are not available with SkyMiles was a Delta decision not pay what AF/KE would they require for the seats. Delta has to compensate the partner carriers when its miles are used for the seats. Carriers of course charge more for a higher class of service. Chalk it up to another cost cutting method.

Also, even though you can use UA miles in theory for F class on partner carriers, they are often known to not make them available (even if the partner carrier has the inventory available) because they don't want to pay the cost of the F seat the partner would charge. Many stories of this on the UA/Star boards

jimrpa

I've heard this logic, but I don't get it. Why don't I ever have any serious problems scoring SQ First Class then? Surely SQ First Class must cost a lot more than AF First Class? Further, back when Emirates was a SkyMiles partner, people didn't seem to have TOO much trouble scoring Emirates First Class on their flights with the suites. Again, this was when we couldn't redeem SkyMiles for AF First Class.

The explanation that it's entirely Delta's fault doesn't make sense. I would believe that, perhaps AF jacked up the price to a completely ridiculous amount. Again though, that is essentially an AF decision to not offer the awards to a SkyTeam partner. Note also that it's curious that KE First Class awards went away at exactly the same time.

There seems to be an inherently anti-US bias in SkyTeam (for example, only members of American-based SkyTeam mileage programs don't earn SkyTeam Elite Plus at mid-tier), which is inexplicable, given that the US market probably is a significant contributor to SkyTeam.

bsdstone

I have enough my coke rewards points to get 50,000 Delta Miles...I currently have 0! I am premier with United and typically fly out of ORD, so AA and UA are my primary carriers of choice...Delta doesn't fly anywhere direct that I need to go.So my question is essentially, should I cash in the points for the miles, or are they pretty much worthless with the exception of 2 domestic round trips (which would basically have to be a connecting flight). What I'm trying to accomplish is to get upgrades to Paris from ORD, but it appears that would have to be a connector through New York, or ATL...anyone have any suggestions? Can you transfer Delta Miles to anything worth while?

jimrpa

As was noted earlier, it's mostly a matter of preference. I agree with the points in the post by ClipperDelta. I can't stand the possibility of having someone climb over me on a trans-oceanic flight so, for me, AFs 2-3-2 seating in business is significantly worse than Delta's BusinessElite. Further, I can't sleep well on Mimbari-bed seats, so I find AF business to be very uncomfortable for sleeping.

jimrpa

As noted earlier, there are no SkyTeam-wide upgrades, so you would only be able to use your Coke points to upgrade a Delta-operated international flight. If you're interested in Delta upgrades, you might want to do a search. They've been discussed extensively (Note that only the more expensive Delta international fares are eligible for upgrade).

Delta SkyMiles aren't easily transferred to any other program. I'd just go for the two domestic tickets (or one domestic FC ticket) and suck it up as far as a connection goes.

grahampros

I can explain the SQ situation. It was part of a 10 year agreement that DL/SQ reached back in the late 90s, prior to KE joining SkyTeam. Don't be suprised if SQ goes away when this deal expires in the next couple of years. Also, SkyMiles usage has been reported to be blocked on the new 777-300ER with the new first class. Not sure if this is true, but SQ has tacked on a premium for this equip.

GUWonder

AF wouldn't jack up the price to a ridiculous level, just to what is calculated as a market-clearing price. AF too wants those seats full in such a way that their revenue is maximized.

Why was the Emirates deal, including Emirates First, for redemptions pulled? Not willing to pay what EK thinks is a market-clearing price would never factor into DL's calculations -- never, right? LOL

If the US airlines wanted to give mid-tier elites ElitePlus status, they can ... but it'll cost them money.