seand1397

I was a frequent Delta flyer for years. Moved to American due to a move. Now considering Delta again.

I have about 6 million miles spread out between many airlines, many from Amex.

I like to use miles to fly to Europe or Asia from the US biz class last minute.

Most airlines are like 50-100k each way. Delta is now often 300-400k each way.

This is absurd and Ive never seen an airline so far off all the others.

Why have they done this - obviously it saves them money but biz class international travelers are key to airlines. Why would they screw the travelers they desire the most???? So weird.

Sean

DLHubber

They desire paid business class international travelers. They adjust the award tickets accordingly. They absolutely do not desire giving away international business class seats, which is what Delta would be doing if they priced them as you suggest other airlines do.

ND76

I've got a suggestion for Delta--if you want more business travelers to pay cash for Delta One, bring back Royal Service which was offered in the 1980s and 1990s. The onboard food is, to quote Al Czervik from Caddyshack, "dog food". As Al said, I got better food at the ball game. The sparkling wine product they serve as a PDB has to have been aged about two weeks. Korbel would be a vast improvement over what is served now. Delta's people, seats and AVOD are very good. An improvement in F&B is what's needed to make Delta One a luxury that is worth the thousands of dollars Delta charges for it.













czervik

DLHubber

The food is nowhere near as bad as you claim. But who’s got significantly better food in business class?

Qwkynuf

There is a faulty assumption here that frequent flyer miles have equal value.

What you are complaining about here is the equivalent to saying "How can they charge 83.92 Japanese Yen for a can of Coke??? It only costs 80 cents in the US!!!!!"

While conveniently ignoring the fact that 83.92 Yen is only about 57 cents.

If Delta's miles are 3x to 4x easier to get (cheaper), then it would stand to reason that the points cost of a flight would be 3x to 4x more expensive.

Also, this might be obvious, but if you don't like their pricing, don't buy their tickets. Full stop. If enough people feel the same as you, then they will either adjust pricing or go out of business.

Goodoldflyer

How are they "screwing" anyone? we all know the valuations on Delta are high. You can use your Amex miles wherever you want. They clearly want paid passengers in D1.

DLATL777

They will give them away to Non-Revs/Employees just fine.

Therein lies the hypocrisy of the "integrity" and "exclusivity" they so absurdly desire for their sub-par business class product.

Goodoldflyer

If you feel United's business class product is better, by all means use that. Eventually Delta will get the memo.

But I'm not sure how giving away more business class seats to AmEx card holders would improve their business.

I think what consumers are saying, and Delta is listening, is that they aren't going to pay for white glove service. They're perfectly fine with business class service, and will pay for that.

It does seem like they could lower the price a bit, as there are seats available on most flights that do go to nonrevs. Near the date of a flight, D1 or PS is very expensive.

seand1397

They may want paid biz class but they are losing a lot of it by having such bad mileage fares.

I fly biz for work all the time. I probably buy 20 -30 US flights each year in biz, another 20-30 in coach (get upgraded on short flights) and 4-8 US-EU or US-Asia trips each year in biz. All this is billed to work.

I travel for fun on my dollar. By flying American (or United ) for work, I earn about 2 RT biz class tickets each year that I can use for fun. If I flew on delta for work like I used to, Id earn .5-1 trip.

So basically, Delta is losing about $45-65k a year in my travel cause their miles are so useless.

I am sure there are many many other people like me who travel on work all the time and want to have some value in the miles earned.

But you are right - Delta is pushing people away with this but they must know what they are doing. I literally keep a VA card that I spend about 100k a year on so I can fly Delta biz reasonably. Though those flights are harder and harder to find.

Duke787

Agreed it’s bonkers and then add in the one way and date restrictions for award tickets it’s frustrating.

UA’s hard product is certainly on par with DL these days (maybe even better) and you can still (a) book for 60-70k last minute (I just did for a trip later this week) and (b) aren’t bound by date restrictions or having to find/book round trips for international, you can still book one way

MichaelKade

I do wish Delta would offer upgrade purchase opportunities at check-in for unsold fares. I'm sure they've done the math on what this would do to people purchasing business class outright but that's why it's a wish...

Goodoldflyer

Now THIS I agree with. Giving them out to nonrevs doesn't make a lot of sense.

But you're right, why would someone pay $6000 for a last minute business fare if they'll sell them as a $1000 upgrade at the gate?

emma dog

I’m pretty confident DL has examined the effect of ongoing last minute fare deals vs keeping price high in the net collections. While I’m also sure DL would be thrilled to sell a seat for $10k vs give it to a nonrev, the presence of some premium nonrev seats also allows DL to pay employees less by dangling a carrot. FWIW, employee groups are also quietly complaining about the decreased seat availability.

Nah… someone else is spending $45-65k a year on the seat you’re not sitting in.

emma dog

Some of this goes to the heart of the “SkyPesos” nickname. I think about this a lot when it relates to credit card spend. Ignoring sign up bonus and/or MQD waivers etc and oversimplifying how one earns and spends points:

A $100 spend on my Marriott card yields 100 points = $0.70 in rewards

A $100 spend on my DL amex yields 100 miles = $1.10 in rewards

A $100 spend on my Chase Sapphire Reserve yields 100 points = $1.50 in rewards.

So why do people leave money on the table using their DL and Marriott cards vs CSR (excepting bonuses or waivers)? I’d contend most people don’t think about this stuff too deeply until they try to cash in and then are too deep into it to effectively switch loyalty.

sydneyracquelle

MQMs and DM status are worth much more to me than CSR and more RDMs.