Basic Eco is now available on awards!
 

It's usually 2500 SkyPesos cheaper than MC on a one-way!

I tried 4 different route options domestically and nothing for basic economy was showing up when using miles

This is a very disappointing development.

Try 1-way CHS--PIT or CHS--DTW or v.v. in December or early January.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...00f2520469.jpg
I think I'll stick with Main Cabin.

Wow, Dave! I never expected that!
Now please try CHS--CAK on Dec. 18 one-way. Or DTW--CHS on Jan. 2. Or both of these together in a Multi-City itinerary.

Welcome to Deltaland. . . . . . Land of the UNEXPECTED! ;)


I don't really have the energy at this hour to start checking other city pairs . . . . Suffice it to say that, every time I have searched for award tix since the advent of Basic Economy, I have ALWAYS wondered how long it would take this to suddenly rear its ugly head. That said, when I first saw your post a few hours ago, I did check a couple of other cities, PIT/LGA, for example, and the Basic Economy option was NOT showing. I'd bet that they are either testing the waters, and/or, simply testing the functionality for planned imminent implementation . . . . ie . . . everyone better hurry up and grab your award tickets!

Years from now I doubt we will remember this as a happy event.

Yes, but I suppose it was inevitable. I see this as part of Delta's silent march to 1 SkyMile <= 1 cent.

In general, domestic main cabin redemptions tended to yield anywhere from 1.2-1.4 cents relative to the equivalent main cabin fare. There are exceptions (you may occasionally get lucky and find a 1.5-1.6 or be unlucky and find a 1.0-1.1) but in general this is the range you see on most tickets.

Decomposing that value though - you see that roughly .1 to .2 of those cents are just the difference between main cabin and basic economy fares (since award tickets always booked into main cabin). So now you're at 1.0-1.2 cent redemption value. You then have to account for the fact that you aren't getting the ~10% "cash back" when you buy paid tickets (since you get miles when you book paid tickets). This means that the real value equivalent is more like .9-1.1 cent range - exactly where I think Delta wants it to be.

This of course assumes that today's main cabin prices become basic economy fares of the future - which is fair since this is precisely what Delta did when they introduced basic economy (old main cabin price = basic econ).

The Skymiles program is now officially worthless! Not too long ago, you could fly biz most places in the world for around 120k. Now the same flights price out at a minimum of 390k (unless you get them on sale) and I've seen them go up to almost 800k. Couple those increases with stingier mileage accruals and now the impending baseline for tickets being basic economy! Imagine a domestic reward that was 20k is now almost 50k and you only get Basic Economy? I was once a loyal Platinum flier for a number of years. Back then it was worth being loyal. No longer. Gotta love the continual "enhancements" that just further deteriorate the value of this program!

Death by a thousand cuts. One cut at a time.

Won't be long until DL fixes/adjusts their system so those basic econ fares are what the main cabin mileage rate was... and then the main cabin will increase by several thousand.