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.

+1. This is reminiscent of the early days of BE where the BE cash fare would occasionally be lower than the Y and C+ fare.

Very bad news for SkyMiles -- especially for PM/DM since it effectively kills C+ upgrades (and the rare F upgrade on an award)

So the Diamond line says you have the same redeposit rules as all other SkyMiles awards.

But Delta on twitter i.e. [MENTION=12946]Delta[/MENTION] says no the same rules as cash E Basic fares so no redeposit after 24 hours.

I have an email in to Delta CORP COM and will update when I get word!

UPDATE: From Delta Corp: Basic Economy Awards, like all tickets, are refundable during the Risk-Free Cancellation period. Beyond that timeframe, Basic Economy fares are not eligible for changes or cancelations (including redeposit fee waivers for Platinum and Diamond Medallions).

yay??????

Great catch! Haha! "Pay more miles to be treated worse!" :D

I'd like to say this a good thing, but we shall see whether it remains a "good thing" or if it becomes a way to get more miles in redemptions off the books by folks who won't do Basic Economy. Basic Economy isn't for me but some folks find it right for them as they see it as a way to save money and not pay for things they don't necessarily value that I do value (like seat selection). Now this will also (maybe) allow them to save some miles (though as MSPeconomist points out, it may not even save them miles).

Well, not exactly, it's now a 1% cash back program! :) Elite benefits are still there though. Other than that, it's how I think about JetBlue or Amtrak (though I don't actually know the % back math for either of those). I fly them when I need to and/or it's the best option, and when I accumulate enough points, I'll redeem for the free ticket. It's certainly not engendering any loyalty.

The redeposit benefit is technically listed as a "fee waiver", not a "free redeposit" benefit. I would fully expect it to be the later case (no redeposit after 24 hours). Just as the SDC/Standby fee waiver hasn't stopped them from making BE fares ineligible for SDC/Standby.

They've been working the penny-a-mile angles for a while now, with Pay With Miles as the most prominent example.

I've checked DL/AA/UA/AS annual reports for statements regarding FF plans. I haven't seen an estimate of what any carrier is paid for miles in several years. IIRC, it was about $0.005 a mile maybe five years ago. Carriers sell more miles than they issue themselves. Unless that has changed there's a lot more pain to come.

This is terrible.

This is the final straw, I'm through as a DL elite if this is the case. DL can get bent. I'll just suck it up and start taking nonstops ex-DCA on AA. At least that airline is honest and open about how they screw over their customers, and with the new concourse, the biggest issue with AA at DCA (35X) will be gone.

Is this worth it? I mean if you have status doesnt it negate most of the negative benefits of basic

Nevermind, I see they are only on some routes. Thought they might have been pulled.

Sadly I doubt AA and UA will be far behind.

And at least DL continues to actively invest in and promote a customer-friendly product onboard. The A220, 777 staying at 9, IFE, etc., all help outweigh the downside of SkyMiles. It seems like the other two have stronger mileage programs but enjoy getting stuck on 3-4-3 777s or on the AA 737max.

For me personally as long as they deliver a superior on-board product, I'll stick with them because I'd rather have my hours and hours spent on board being a pleasant experience and not torture just to extract a bit more value from my miles.

I've got my CC flexible currencies to take advantage arbitrage opportunities elsewhere.

Plus DL BE is at least tolerable -- I'd rather keep the 5-7k mileage redemption on RDU - NYC in BE vs it being a 12.5k redemption in Y just for 1 hour.

If they want to throw it on all the Florida and HI routes, fine whatever. But if I start seeing it on flights ex-DCA, and the onward connections from ATL I usually take, I'll be done.

That's been happening for a while -- especially on international flights.

Seems like the net is they've brought in revenue fare rules to award tickets where historically award tickets essentially had fare rules that were in line with the more flexible fare classes

That's half the point of Basic Economy - force Medallions to pay for their existing benefits. So no, they have intentionally made it "not worth it". But at the expense of you now having to pay $50 to get a C+ seat whereas before they were charging you $0.

You mean regular economies are now 2500 SkyPesos pricier than where it should be.

For me, a typical reward trip would be a short one hour flight to NYC for some shopping. So, I could live with Basic on the outbound for an hour, but, on the way back, I may need 2 or 3 checked bags for purchases I made. I don't believe it's possible to do Basic in one direction and Main Cabin in the other direction without redeeming for 2 separate one-way tickets - - so I would lose the discount when the round-trip mileage requirement is cheaper than redeeming for 2 one-ways.

For what it's worth, basic economy does not take away checked bags benefits as far as I know.

Can't you go shopping in Pittsburgh or at PIT airport? Alternatively, Berlin or Mexico City should have some good shopping.

That's exactly what happened with cash BE fares. "Oh, it'll just be on flights where we compete with Spirit/Frontier/etc. so we can match their headline fares". Now it's everywhere. :td:

Hmmmmm. I just checked, and you're absolutely RIGHT! I never bought a BE ticket before, so, guess I had it in my head that it was similar to RyanAir and EasyJet where EVERYTHING costs extra! :)

So, I guess the main difference for DMs & PMs would be whether or not the BE Award Tix are redepositable or not. I can't imaging ANY PM or DM couldn't live for a one hour flight without an UG.

Come on, M.E. You're a pretty worldly gal . . . . Would you really expect the same stores and brands of merchandise in Pittsburgh that you find in NYC, LA, LON, PAR, BER, or MEX?

This thread really isn't appropriate to discuss the cool and fun discount shopping in big cities around the world, but, I should probably write a book about it!

:D