Is 1.8 million Skymiles DTW to JNB R/T a good deal for 2 passengers?
Aug 21, 2018, 11:50 am
#31
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Anyway, for 900K a piece though, wouldn't a better redemption be buying the cash J ticket so one would at least get the MQMs (with 50% bonus) at this point?
Or if one could find partner availability, booking USA-Europe & then Europe-JNB (I opted for a booking this way when DL wanted 400K+ one-way in J on SYD-LAX but I was able to get partner redemptions on Australia/NZ to Asia and then found some 80K redemptions for Asia-USA.
Aug 21, 2018, 12:02 pm
#32
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I've seen "SkyDongs" used before (after the Vietnamese Dong, which is one of the most devalued currencies in the world). Right now $1 USD exchanges to ~23,300 Vietnamese Dongs.
Aug 21, 2018, 12:02 pm
#33
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Sounds like a ripoff to me... at cash prices thats basically 1c/mi.
Searching for those dates, you'd be better off routing through AMS and using pay with miles.
DTW-AMS-JNB routing with those same dates is 8.5k with DL metal for DTW-AMS and KL metal for AMS-JNB, so you could spend 800k miles each and still earn MQMs.
Searching for those dates, you'd be better off routing through AMS and using pay with miles.
DTW-AMS-JNB routing with those same dates is 8.5k with DL metal for DTW-AMS and KL metal for AMS-JNB, so you could spend 800k miles each and still earn MQMs.
Aug 21, 2018, 12:21 pm
#34
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You did say he purposely misled.
Anyway, for 900K a piece though, wouldn't a better redemption be buying the cash J ticket so one would at least get the MQMs (with 50% bonus) at this point?
Or if one could find partner availability, booking USA-Europe & then Europe-JNB (I opted for a booking this way when DL wanted 400K+ one-way in J on SYD-LAX but I was able to get partner redemptions on Australia/NZ to Asia and then found some 80K redemptions for Asia-USA.
Note - mods have since modified title
Aug 21, 2018, 1:10 pm
#35
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This is true today, but I don't think it will be true in the future. Airlines could previously provide outsized value on international J/F flights because only people who'd already flown a *lot* of miles on the carrier could amass enough miles for those trips anyway — it was part of an award program that would seriously increase customer retention.
But at this point, most miles don't come from flying — they arrive via credit cards. If anybody in the country can get 70k miles by signing up for a credit card, giving away free premium-cabin long-haul flights for 70k miles becomes a much more expensive proposition than when it required sitting in the airline's planes for 14 cross-country round-trips, doesn't it?
I'm not sure if Delta's rewards program is "worse" simply because they're looking farther ahead; if more people have taken advantage of them because of Amex; or if their smaller alliance means the pain is more immediate. I am sure this is an inevitable result of the credit card rewards train all the airlines are on.
But at this point, most miles don't come from flying — they arrive via credit cards. If anybody in the country can get 70k miles by signing up for a credit card, giving away free premium-cabin long-haul flights for 70k miles becomes a much more expensive proposition than when it required sitting in the airline's planes for 14 cross-country round-trips, doesn't it?
I'm not sure if Delta's rewards program is "worse" simply because they're looking farther ahead; if more people have taken advantage of them because of Amex; or if their smaller alliance means the pain is more immediate. I am sure this is an inevitable result of the credit card rewards train all the airlines are on.
Aug 21, 2018, 3:14 pm
#36
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SkyMiles are optimized on domestic non-hub to hub routes, and on partner redemption internationally (at least for J). You just must accept this when joining SkyMiles, but also accept DL is more liberal with miles for problems than AA or UA, it seems.
Aug 21, 2018, 4:58 pm
#37
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SkyMiles are optimized on domestic non-hub to hub routes, and on partner redemption internationally (at least for J). You just must accept this when joining SkyMiles,
but also accept DL is more liberal with miles for problems than AA or UA, it seems.
Aug 21, 2018, 5:02 pm
#38
Formerly known as scootr29
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Well check out what was waiting for me this morning at DTW A77. Maybe I need to complain about SkyMiles more oftern
or mislead FlyerCO more often. 🤗
Last edited by SSF556; Aug 21, 2018 at 5:08 pm
Aug 21, 2018, 5:26 pm
#40
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Since Delta is asking $10,725 per ticket with cash, PWM would run you 1,072,500 miles per person. So let me run the numbers 1,072,500*2=2,143,000 > 1,800,000 + ~120.00 taxes/fees. It appears you save 343,000 miles by booking as an award, but also loose out on a lot of MQMs.
Aug 21, 2018, 5:35 pm
#41
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Ok? Not sure what that has to do with anything? Glad you got a car ride. BTW I wasn't the only poster that felt your post was misleading. Again don't think it was done on purpose. However it still was misleading, as can be seen by mods changing title.
Aug 21, 2018, 5:37 pm
#42
Formerly known as scootr29
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Actually I changed the title...lighten up a little 😉
Aug 21, 2018, 5:51 pm
#43
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Agreed, partner redemption are the only way to go on Delta these days. Which is why I brought up the "worst alliance" issue - it's no secret that SkyTeam is vastly inferior to Star Alliance and not as good at OneWorld. Still better than trying to redeem on DL obviously.
ST is "vastly superior" to *A and OW on many routes and in several regions, elsewhere OW options are better, elsewhere *A (though *A airline hard product is often the worst; SkyTeam is more often than not the best in flight product).
Aug 21, 2018, 6:03 pm
#44
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Not really. It all depends on from where to where you are going.
ST is "vastly superior" to *A and OW on many routes and in several regions, elsewhere OW options are better, elsewhere *A (though *A airline hard product is often the worst; SkyTeam is more often than not the best in flight product).
ST is "vastly superior" to *A and OW on many routes and in several regions, elsewhere OW options are better, elsewhere *A (though *A airline hard product is often the worst; SkyTeam is more often than not the best in flight product).
Aug 21, 2018, 6:09 pm
#45
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