Blistering NYT piece on SkyMiles: In DL’s FF Magic Trick, Not Just Rabbits Disappear
Aug 6, 2015, 8:58 pm
#181
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Just checked AA V. DL for business class awards from JFK - HKG for next week. Best you can do on AA is 350,000 miles whereas with DL you can get it for 285,000
Another for next week...JFK to PVG on AA comes in at 350,000...DL is 295,000.
Delta handily beats AA to a pulp in both HKG and the PVG markets.
Another for next week...JFK to PVG on AA comes in at 350,000...DL is 295,000.
Delta handily beats AA to a pulp in both HKG and the PVG markets.
Aug 6, 2015, 9:17 pm
#182
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Aug 6, 2015, 9:19 pm
#183
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So true! My sister, who usually flies Delta from Germany to SoCal to come see me, has accumulated quite a few SkyMiles over the years. When she was planning to burn them on overvalued hotel rooms, I howled in protest at the apparent waste, but it became quite apparent that STR-LAX-STR is nowhere near as available/good value as LAX-STR-LAX...
Aug 7, 2015, 6:30 am
#184
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Sound a lot like delta.com, ever since nwa.com (where you could do everything you needed online) was taken down and the res. system was downgraded. Now just over last few months, more airlines have been added to delta.com, but still it's of limited use for anything but simple direct flights, given the broken (on purpose) multi-city functionality and the award pricing bugs of the past now having been made officially features (if you call a pig a duck, then it is a duck!, or so DL believes).
Aug 7, 2015, 6:49 am
#185
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So true! My sister, who usually flies Delta from Germany to SoCal to come see me, has accumulated quite a few SkyMiles over the years. When she was planning to burn them on overvalued hotel rooms, I howled in protest at the apparent waste, but it became quite apparent that STR-LAX-STR is nowhere near as available/good value as LAX-STR-LAX...
Aug 7, 2015, 6:54 am
#186
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Sound a lot like delta.com, ever since nwa.com (where you could do everything you needed online) was taken down and the res. system was downgraded. Now just over last few months, more airlines have been added to delta.com, but still it's of limited use for anything but simple direct flights, given the broken (on purpose) multi-city functionality and the award pricing bugs of the past now having been made officially features (if you call a pig a duck, then it is a duck!, or so DL believes).
European origin fees.
Aug 7, 2015, 7:01 am
#187
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A coach round trip LAX/STR/LAX is 60,000 miles + $ 95.50 USD
A coach round trip STR/LAX/STR is 60,000 miles + € 427.33
So, it doesn't matter if it's a round trip or 2 one ways.
Aug 7, 2015, 7:21 am
#188
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I've been seeing regular paid roundtrip tickets all-in for STR-California in the $300-$600 range. Given what DL charges as a cash component when using DL miles on the one-way to the U.S., let's just say that I wouldn't be doing a DL mileage ticket redemption starting in STR.
Aug 7, 2015, 7:24 am
#189
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which according to many DL flyertalk folks, having to call the airline to do anything is a major set back and a major pain in the a$$.
Aug 7, 2015, 7:25 am
#190
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Aug 7, 2015, 7:28 am
#191
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I agree - I was mostly calling out the contradiction previous posts about how one of the reasons DL miles are so terrible is because you have to call in to get any good redemptions. DL is not alone in that you often have to jump through hoops to get partner awards, where often the best value is to be found.
Aug 7, 2015, 7:33 am
#192
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I agree - I was mostly calling out the contradiction previous posts about how one of the reasons DL miles are so terrible is because you have to call in to get any good redemptions. DL is not alone in that you often have to jump through hoops to get partner awards, where often the best value is to be found.
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Aug 7, 2015, 8:26 am
#193
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So true! My sister, who usually flies Delta from Germany to SoCal to come see me, has accumulated quite a few SkyMiles over the years. When she was planning to burn them on overvalued hotel rooms, I howled in protest at the apparent waste, but it became quite apparent that STR-LAX-STR is nowhere near as available/good value as LAX-STR-LAX...
Taxes and fees come out to EUR 234.06 for a one-way STR-LAX and $12.00 for a one-way LAX-STR. Better than EUR 427.33 for a round trip STR-LAX-STR. Also, for cases where dynamic award pricing is in effect, from what we've seen, booking one-ways would result in lower miles for the return portion. However the change/cancellation fees would obviously be 2x if it came to that.
Aug 7, 2015, 8:28 am
#194
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some more data in favor of Delta.
For comparison purposes, if I want to earn enough miles to fly JFK to LAX/SFO in:
MINT - at a base fare of $400.00 it will take me nearly 60 RT flights to earn enough TB points for a MINT seat.
D1 - at the same base fare of $400.00 I will only need to fly roughly 23 round trips to earn enough skymiles for a D1 seat.
So, who has the better program in this regard? Delta
For comparison purposes, if I want to earn enough miles to fly JFK to LAX/SFO in:
MINT - at a base fare of $400.00 it will take me nearly 60 RT flights to earn enough TB points for a MINT seat.
D1 - at the same base fare of $400.00 I will only need to fly roughly 23 round trips to earn enough skymiles for a D1 seat.
So, who has the better program in this regard? Delta
Aug 7, 2015, 8:38 am
#195
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There are, of course, many partners and complex itineraries that require calling - I was just saying that that seems to be the case with all the legacy airlines' award systems.