adportillo

Hi,

I fly back and forth between Santiago and Mexico City every two weeks with Aeromexico.

To date, I haven't associated any of the miles I've earned in the past year to either Aeromexico or Delta (horrible procrastinator).

Should I book them to Delta (Skymiles) or Aeromexico? For further context, I have 0 miles on either account, am based in Mexico City, and seldom travel in the US anymore. I know that Delta seems to have an easier redemption process (Aeromexico requires phone booking, with an additional charge), but also penalizes you by only granting you a % of the total miles flown on partner airlines.

Would really appreciate the advice!

Best,

ADP

ecaarch

Are your MEX-SLC-MEX flights in Y? Or upfront? For travel on tier 1 partners, earnings on DL for both MQMs (qualifying miles) and MQDs (qualifying dollars) is pretty decent for higher fare classes. It is computed based on a percentage of the distance flown. Similarly, it can be pretty mediocre for low fare classes for the same reason.

DL may be best for redemptions for the reasons that you state. However, I would find out if AM works from a fixed award chart, or if they use dynamic award pricing like DL (the price in miles for awards varies depending on demand)

Finally, you gotta ask yourself if the other benefits of status (priority phone reps, assistance during IRROPS, etc) are important to you. If you have status with DL, it won't do you much good in these situations if you are only flying AM.

MSPeconomist

Can you get elite status? If so, look at the benefits AM gives to its own elites and consider how useful they would be to you.