kihei1995

After my next trip, I will cross over to Platinum. Which gift should I choose? The SWU certificates? Or gift certificate/card? I heard SWUs were hard to use. Is this true? I fly out of SFO.

DL Platinum

for me, I take the swu's but there is a lot of discussion on this topic already.

from the original DL PLATINUM

slipbeer

SWU are hard to use but harder for some travel types and easier for some others.

If you want to use them internationally, particularly TPAC, it is extremely difficult to find inventory and you are going to be buying coach tickets of at least M class which can cost upwards of $3000 or $4000 for round trip.

Do not ever spend $4000 on a coach ticket unless you are sure there is BE inventory to upgrade into.

If you want to use them domestically and you are buying really cheap fares, you cannot use them at all but sometimes mid range fare classes are not that much more expensive.

If you fly Monday/Friday flights you might have trouble findng inventory but if you fly alot and have some flexibility of when you fly and can pay a little more for a ticket, you can probably use them.....maybe.

You also have to remember if you are flying alot and flexible when you fly and pay a little more for tickets and are Platinum, you' re going to get some upgrades anyways without using an SWU.

Ti22

I never thought I would choose SWU's but we recently booked a trip to Hawaii and using EF (expertflyer) found available inventory to apply SWU and confirm F/J cabin for reasonable Q fare.

Since complimentary UG's aren't available on this route we feel we got a very good redemption using 4 SWU certs. Other routes, it's just hard to say if they would ever become useful?

Maybe, perhaps domestic holiday travel, etc? But, you really need to be able to see RP inventory in order to "confirm" cert will be of any practical use before paying extra for qualifying fare.

Of course, finding an agent who can properly apply them is another potential pitfall and point of failure.

BusTrav8yrs

The only real value I found for SWU's was securing the UG on the JFK-LAX route Mon/Thu travel, for that it worked perfectly, especially the one time it was down to 1 seat left, a FC no show, and me and one other DM was waiting to see. The other guy was PO when I got it yelling at the GA that he was DM on a B fare and I smiled and said well I have a SWU.

They did improve when they changed to allow gate waitlist, it is only when FC is full that they don't work domestically. Of course with FCM that happens a lot more these days.

orr333

$200 voucher.

ATLpat

SWU's can be difficult to use. I would highly recommend a subscription to Expery Flyer to monitor inventory levels.

All that being said, if you you can use them, I think the value of 4 SWU's is significantly higher than the other choice benefits. For example, if flying ATL SFO round trip, lowest coach is probably $400, K is probably $500 and F is $1,000 up to $2,000. If you spring for K both ways and properly apply a SWU, you got $1,000 flight for $500 plus 2 SWU's. Those numbers all get a lot higher if trying to use for international UG's.

BusTrav8yrs

Not really. I have found many times where M/B is only a couple of hundred less than discounted BE and in some cases discounted BE cheaper.

For domestic it also varies. I have found cheaper G fares only $50 more than buying K+ and trying to use a SWU where many times inventory is held back.

kihei1995

Thank you all for the great insight on this gift. I was originally going to give Silver status to my wife, but she made silver on her last trip.... I am currently leaning towards $200 voucher. I travel on the cheap and the fare class rules to use SWU would make using the certificate for me just out of reach.

JulienMSP

I took the miles @ platinum and then the miles again at diamond and the gift card.

1) I travel nearly every week for work and as a DM; I am usually always upgraded domestically anyway
2) My company won't touch M, B or Y fare classes on TATL or TPAC flights like ever so SWU's would never work for me. I still think this is really Delta's fatal flaw with their FF program.
3) The voucher was pointless again as I travel nearly every week (will finish this year with 160k BIS miles) I have so many miles to spend, I'd never use the voucher. Similarly; there are too many ***** limitations on how you can even use vouchers and since I can't use them to pay for the taxes and fees on any international award tickets--they too; are useless.

CarmenOM

Like the OP, I am a leisure traveller; my ticket costs come out of my own pocket. I take the $200 voucher to defray those costs a bit.

I may take the SWUs if it ever becomes reliably possible to upgrade to J from W fares on AF and VA, which are considerably less expensive than Delta's M+ fares.

MedPhys

If you continue to fly often on Delta, won't you get more use out of 20k miles than $200? At worst the values are equivalent, but it's incredibly easy to book award travel worth at least 1.2+cents/mile.

Ti22

Book it, sure. Fly as a bonus earning medallion? Rookie mistake, IMO. What may look like 25k tcon quickly rises closer to 35k when you fail to earn MQM + bonus RDMs.

Segment haulers and/or short hops doesn't hurt as bad but I never, ever fly dom award trips. But, my family sure does.

Josephmay

Me too, I'm taking the 20K miles.

guyinmotion

I am based in Asia and so I have always chosen the 20k miles. I find it relatively easy to redeem 35-40k miles for a flight within Asia that would otherwise cost me $700-900 for a seat in Y. @ a 40k miles redemption for a $700 ticket, that equates to 1.7 cents/mile or 2.2 cents/mile for a $900 ticket. When I redeem miles for a biz ticket (approx. $2,400), the value per miles goes up to 4 cents.

Choosing the 20k miles gift will render you the highest value over the other gifts, even higher than the Tiff certificate (I.e., 20k+20k = $700-900 for me while 2x Tiff certificate = $400). But this only works for you if you accumulate miles to redeem for a mid-to-high priced flight later within your region, or for a long-haul flight if you manage to book a saver award in Y or, better yet, in Biz.