The Gaucho

I've been a Delta flyer for a couple years now and only have gold status, but I've just moved to Europe and will be here for 2 years. I'm wondering if I should keep using my SkyMiles account to try and keep my Delta status for when I move back to the US or if I should switch to KLM. I want to be able to enjoy my gold status while flying KLM (e.g. lounge access), but I also want to be effective in accruing miles/points. Any help is appreciated!

CPMaverick

I'm not exactly familiar with what KLM status gets you. But despite Skymiles becoming more and more useless, my understanding is it is still better than FB.

Living at AMS you can change your address with Delta and become exempt from MQD status requirements. That's a good thing. You can still use DL GUC on KLM (if you end up flying enough for DM). I would stay with Delta.

jdrtravel

I think that CPMaverick is probably right. The one question I would have is where will you be flying to? I believe that KL has partners that are not Sky Team or DL partners, so this may be a factor.

Grouchy

Would sick with DL. With DL gold you are still a ST E+ and have lounge access & SP where ever AF-KLM flies.

bmoeller1

Not to derail the thread, but what are the requirements to use an European address?

Zorak

Changing Country of Residence in the Post-MQD Era (Definitive)

The Gaucho

Appreciate the help everyone! I'll be flying mostly around Europe (I work in consulting and destinations change all the time). I'll also be flying back to the US 3-4 times a year, so sounds like sticking with Delta is the way to go.

rwSEA

I've moved back and forth between the US and the Netherlands and have had the same question in the past. Years ago I had status with neither so I went all on on the FlyingBlue program as I was on a typical consultant schedule as well with lots of shorthaul flights around Europe. At the time it was much easier to earn status with FlyingBlue than with DL and also it was much easier to redeem points, so I was relatively happy. With the changes to FlyingBlue a couple years back, it's now much harder to get and to maintain status and this time I decided to stick with DL. Most of my travel is longhaul business class now, so it's much easier with the DL program in my case. Since you already have DL status I agree probably best to stick with DL for the time being, and to process the address change if you think you may not meet the MQD threshold. Enjoy the Netherlands!

rucksack

I don't think there's any obvious choice – it depends on what you value. I've generally found that FlyingBlue is better and more flexible for long-haul award flight redemptions and Delta is better for domestic (meaning U.S.) redemptions. It's almost impossible to find decent award fares in J on Delta now, whereas I easily got a TATL J ticket using 60,000 FlyingBlue points recently. Similarly, Delta has started to restrict fare classes for one-way awards in the same way they do for cash tickets for TATL flights, which significantly reduce the flexibility of using award tickets. On the flip side, Delta is aggressively pricing many domestic award flights with some award tickets as low as 6,000 miles one-way.

Mwenenzi

Central Eu is small, so for some destinations a train may be a better option. Considering the the time to get to airports, at the airport before flights and the same at the other end. Depending on your location relative to airports/train station point to point by train can be as quick as flying. Many people in USA do not think of (Eu) trains as a viable method of transport.

jdrtravel

For all those reasons I love taking trains in Europe--especially because you go from city center to city center.

FBplatinum

With your flight pattern, you will catch diamond easily with Delta (if you take most of the time AF & KL, for your domestic European flight, combine with your Intl flight).

The higher status of FB (Platinum), have very small advantage compare to Skymiles Diamond (even lower than Skymiles Platinum).

I have "switch" from FB to Skymiles 2 years ago and not regret it.