pbarnette

Let's all play a game! Let's see what $7k+ flights cost in miles!

People seem stuck in a past that no longer exists and is unlikely to exist anytime soon. If you aren't willing to spend $7k for a ticket or be happy with a 10% to 30% rebate using miles, it might just be that you don't really want to go to SYD that bad, or might have to fly SIN-EZE in coach.

jrl767

wow ... just wow talk about slick marketing-speak ...

sethb

Delta is handing out about the same number of SkyPesos, just distributed differently.

The people who gain are the ones who (typically) care the least: those flying very expensive tickets OPM. They probably see SkyPesos as free, so they're happy spending 500,000 SP to buy a companion ticket.

sethb

Redemption is worse for me (and I'm not looking for any kind of premium tickets, just domestic coach fares not even tcon).

sethb

Where did you get 40k F award to Hawaii from? Elsewhere in Hawaii?

sethb

It's merely enough to get DL's management to whine about ME3. A lot.

I wonder what would happen if they were allowed to fly tcon in the US. I bet Delta would whine a whole lot more.

sethb

I think Delta hired him for his ability to obfuscate and avoid outright lying.

I'd love to see him interviewed by someone who doesn't throw him softballs.

GUWonder

There is indeed a group of customers who view this as a "I fly TATL/TPAC at company expense 6-7 times, and my SO gets a 'free ride' for the next of those trips."

LETTERBOY

Just like AA & UA are doing. That's not unique to DL. Furthermore, how do you relate their complaining about the ME3 to their poor FF program? They're complaining about the ME3 for reasons that aren't directly related to the FF program.

That will never happen (for a variety of reasons). Ever.

gooselee

This. I understand the frustration had by those who lose out based on their spend/travel patterns and how they have previously been able to redeem their miles.

But I have yet to fathom the consistent argument by these folks that a sinking boat for some equates to a sinking boat for all. If the grass is that much greener on the other side, nobody is stopping anyone from leaving. But then, perhaps the ones who scream and yell but stay put are finally realizing that they, like most other customers, should probably focus their purchase decisions on more important things like schedule, routing, price, and product quality.

This. Exactly this. What other product is out there where people complain about getting nearly 1/5 of their purchase price back?

I just redeemed my SECOND trip to Europe/N. Africa for 2 pax at 125k RT (OJ) in J, even using DL metal for the TATL legs. Out of curiosity, I priced those same flights in cash: $11k each. Realistically, I would have paid $6k for slightly different routing on a different airline.

But even with a $6k/person valuation:
250k = $22.7k MQD as PM with Amex, round up to $25k total spend
$12k / $25k = 48% rebate

I will, of course, take that redemption and enjoy it. But I'm also quite understanding of the reasons why they would no longer wish to offer those types of redemption opportunities - I just can't see how that is a sustainable business model.

Even if the miles were earned through the most expensive route - at 1 RDM/$1 via a DL Amex and non-DL spend, this redemption represents a 4.8% rebate on their everyday spend. Not too shabby of a deal.

I have redeemed for at least four 25k domestic RTs (and one 50k in first) within the past 6 months. All giving me a 3 CPM+ value. Sorry, I'm not going to complain about that.

The small selection of flights you are looking for has tended to increase in price. The small selection of flights I am looking for has tended to decrease or remain the same. Each of us is affected differently.

Correct. There is almost no scenario outside of the FT crowd where people are spending any amount of money on plane tickets just to get a rebate. Generally speaking, people spend money on airfare because they want to get from point A to point B.

+1000

But then again...who the heck does a search for a specific route on a specific date and then doesn't choose one of the dozen cheaper options?



No, 350k isn't anything like 160k, but two points on that:
1. Given that a cash ticket is something like $16k for these flights, that's still 4.6 CPM - a decent redemption by many FT standards.
2. Having to be flexible on dates/times to get the lowest award prices is not a new concept.

DiverDave

It has been for many years. Until just now at the point in time where every airline in the US is rolling in cash.

And even then apparently not all that well, as evidenced by the recent reduction in service ATL-DXB.

Why would you think that? There aren't that many HVC customers, and DL has the 75K cap per trip. The cap really puzzles me, but I digress.

My recent trips on Q fares (which are not high, but are not deep discount) have yielded me as a PM about 55% of what I would have formerly earned.

Even for those without status, it's a decent reduction. Look at HSV-ATL-LAX as a roundtrip. A general member formerly would have earned just under 5K miles for the trip. To earn that now, would require a ticket of around $1050 since you don't get miles on the taxes and fees.

My FCM trips earn less, as previously there was the 50% bonus on those. So on those, I have yielded less than 50% of the former mileage earnings.

David

Bowgie

That is the one-way price. For example, SAN-OGG on the AS nonstop can be booked for that in domestic first.

whlinder

It's definitely a cool story, bro, that GTL VFTW got a bunch of a quotes in a NYT article on Delta changing its program again. Crazy that the controller of an alternate currency wants to control it! Sounds like the free market at work.

Maybe this has been posted elsewhere, but I couldn't find it:
Delta ties compensation guarantee to Corporate Operational Performance

So yeah, Delta isn't doling out pesos/rubles like it used to and like its competitors do, and it is removing transparency from the redemption side of of its rewards program. It's program is now worse than AA/UA's, but not orders of magnitude worse.

On the other hand, Delta is getting people to their destination at such a higher rate than UA or AA that it is now a competitive advantage in the corporate travel market. Which group pays the bills, SkyMiles complainers or Corporate Travel buyers?

pbarnette

Damn... I am actually embarrassed that I didn't bother to double-check the search. Nice catch.

TheBOSman

Somehow the libertarian streak of his goes into hiding when it hits his bottom line .