CLTUSCAPTIVE

Background: I am a million mile flyer on AA, living in CLT. Was a Silver Medallion member on Delta years ago but stopped flying them after I was unable to use my over 90,000 sky-pesos for any flights, and let them expire unused. I will be flying Delta Business class JFK - FCO in August, connecting from an AA flight from CLT. Haven't been to JFK or flown Delta in over a decade. My dumb questions:
1. Can I connect from AA to Delta airside, without going back through security?
2. Can I visit the Sky Club when I return from Europe, or only on the outbound?
3. I don't plan to fly Delta much/ ever after this trip, any point in signing back up for sky miles (I am guessing no)?
Thanks in advance for your input.

FlyinHawaiian

1. You can't do a sterile terminal transfer (T8 for AA, T4 for DL) at JFK for your itinerary. You will need to exit security and take the free AirTrain (hopefully it will be running) from T8 to T4 and then re-clear TSA.
2. Assuming you will be flying AA JFK-CLT on your return, you will not have gateside access to T4 (needed to access the Sky Clubs) once you clear Customs and Immigration from your DL flight. You will be curbside and need to take the AirTrain to T8 and clear TSA there.
3. DL points never expire so there's no harm in signing up for Sky Miles.

rylan

How long ago did you have any activity with Delta? They eliminated mileage expiration back in 2011. You may just have an in active/dormant account and still have miles in there so worth calling them up if you have your old number, or try setting up a new password online.

Some answers...
1 - No. Delta and AA are different physical terminals. You'll have to exit the AA T8 secure and take the airtrain or shuttle over to T4, and go through security to get in to for your Delta flight. I hope you have a decent amount of time for the connection.
2 - No, upon return you'll have to clear immigration and customs which then puts you outside security when completed. You won't physically be able to access the skyclub unless you are connecting to a DL flight after your arrival.
3 - See my initial comment. Miles don't expire, and its better to have your number/account in there as even a no status flyer will get better treatment in case of an issue compared to somebody who doesn't have an account with the airline.

joeyday

I didn't think there was anybody flying on a paid ticket these days who wasn't getting miles. Especially not a million mile flyer (albeit on another airline).

xliioper

Delta Pay with Miles program is available to anyone with a DL Amex card (included no annual fee Blue card) -- https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...pay-with-miles
Miles would have at least have some value with a DL Amex card even if you don't use the miles for an award booking. You can generally do somewhat better with award bookings than the 1 CPM redemption rate you get with Pay with Miles. But either way, it's a bit silly not to earn miles (or refuse to redeem them) just because you might not be able to find a particular mileage redemption rate you are seeing on other carriers.

Adelphos

It looks like JFK to FCO is running at $4K in August. As a general SkyMiles member, you would earn 20K miles. 20K miles could get you something like a one way to or from LGA from CLT depending on the particular day. As a general practice, I never fly an airline without earning miles

itripreport

As the saying goes, any miles not accrued are miles lost

bgriff

Depending how much time you have at JFK, you do have the option to clear security at T4 (using your AA boarding pass -- you can enter any JFK terminal with any valid departing BP from any terminal that day) to use the Sky Club there on the basis of being an arriving D1 passenger, then exit and take the AirTrain to T8 and reclear security for your AA flight. I'm not sure it's worth the extra hassle, especially as the Sky Club is a ~10 minute walk from security at T4 (and then 10 minutes back out to head to T8), and often very crowded in the afternoons and evening, but if you have a long time to kill it's an option.

ty97

OP, I expect you have your reasons for flying AA on the CLT-JFK/JFK-CLT flights, but it would almost certainly be easier to fly DL flights on those sectors so you don't have to deal with the terminal shuffle and don't have to reclear security for the outbound to FCO.

NW.BTR.Than.The.Rest

If for no other reason than their business class seat is atrocious on 2/3 of the August flights I took a look at. Two-thirds of the flights are on 767s and the seat is the worst of the 3 majors flying trans-atlantic. The other flight is an A330 and it is marginally better. Note that none of these flights have the new 'suites.' I left Delta due to these seats and won't ever look back. Anything else they do better does not compensate for the uncomfortable hard product.

ty97

Only one of the 767 flights is the 763 with dated J. The other is a 764. That fleet was retrofit with new J seats within the past few years.

ijgordon

Well I don’t know how long ago, but SkyMiles are quite easy to use today. The value isn’t great compared to “years ago” but there is availability on every Delta flight, and the miles required tracks very closely to the cash price at about a 1.2˘/mile valuation. So the 20k miles someone said you’d earn on your FCO flights will get you a ticket worth about $240. Why *wouldnt* you want that?
Also, you do earn elite qualifying miles and dollars on award tickets on Delta flights.

CLTUSCAPTIVE

Thank you all for your very helpful answers! To clarify a couple points mentioned, my wife booked an Italian vacation through Costco, and the air portion was only available on Delta. Flying from JFK was MUCH cheaper than originating in CLT. I bought tickets on AA for the CLT - JFK leg as flying on Delta would have meant a connection in ATL. The Delta transatlantic segments are on a 767-400 outbound, A330 return (from AMS). And regarding lounge access, I am spending the night at a hotel near JFK before taking the AA segment back to CLT the following day, so my question about lounge access is just for a couple hours post AMS - JFK flight. Is there a time limit to lounge access post flight?
Still not sure whether to sign up for sky miles again, all my business in the last 12 or so years has been on AA or Lufthansa, but since it's free, I may just do it.

xliioper

You won't have lounge access upon arrival at JFK from AMS as you would have to re-clear TSA security to access lounges.

bgriff

And, to be clear, the option I suggested won't work because you won't have a same-day BP departing JFK, so no way to get back into T4. (And obviously by the time you come back the next day to depart on AA, you'll no longer be a same-day arriving D1 customer.)