tr3k

Mods - feel free to move to the discussion forum. I do wonder, however, why there are usually plenty of US based AA and UA deals, but DL seems to be a relatively rare guest here.

cruser1

I have posted a few DL deals in the last few weeks -
DL - YYZ-SAP - 841 CAD / $623 USD r/t - Business / Domestic First - 72 XP
DL - YYZ-KIN - 957 CAD / $710 USD r/t - Business / Domestic First - 72 XP
DL - HNL-SEA-MEX/MTY - $547+ one-way - Business (Suites)
AF/KL/VS/DL - US to DEL/BOM - $865+ o/w or SQ - DEL/BOM to US - $643+ o/w - Prem Econ

To answer your actual question, Delta is expensive and not particularly useful. In general, people don't care whether it costs a few dollars less to fly from Cleveland, Ohio to Des Moines, Iowa unless that flight serves a purpose. Delta flights rarely serve a purpose. Flying Delta doesn't help you reach Delta status - you're better off flying partners. Flying Delta rarely helps people earn Flying Blue status since most segments are domestic and earn a whopping 4-12 XP for a roundtrip at much more than $10 per XP. Segments for VS tier points cost too much, so it's not helpful for that program either.

If we are sharing deals for the price, people mostly want to see international flights, not domestic flights, and the bargain is rarely with Delta. You don't see many intra-European flights for the heck of it either.

This is just my opinion. Others might have more to say, but in general Delta is worthless for obtaining status, even DL status, and people aren't particularly interested in small price changes in domestic flights.

I have shared plenty of economy deals flying Delta over in the thread for economy deals, where people are more lenient with what gets posted!

tr3k

Guess I better read up on that XP thing (given the direction things are moving with SK).

JD1905

I guess it's similar to VS - I would much rather fly them trans-Atlantic, but they are twice the price of BA/AA from Dublin and rarely see any deals.

cruser1

If you're in the US, you're in trouble. The program was designed for small countries where people regularly fly across the border. You can fly JFK-LAX-HNL-LAX-JFK on Delta in economy - over 10k miles, and you'll receive a whopping 8 XP which will get you 8% of the way to Silver status, which isn't particularly useful. You could fly less than 10k miles across Europe for a smaller fare from Norway to Amsterdam to Paris to the UK and you'll earn 30 XP, for example.

I posted in the Flying Blue Mileage Run forum about how expensive XP runs are in North America -
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36056689-post3840.html

NJSwamplands

Another reason to love cruser1

tr3k

I mostly fly long haul international (pretty much never US domestic), so (based on my quick review of the FB XP table) it takes 5-6 flights US-Asia per year (so 2.5 r/t?) to get to the gold status. That's more than the current amount of flying I have to do for *A gold but not by a whole lot. We'll see.

cruser1

No, you'll have to earn 280 XP to reach Gold, then 180 XP every year to maintain Gold. LAX-NRT is Long 3 and would earn 36 XP in business. You would need to fly that 8 times in business to reach gold.

Haha! Thanks!




You wanted a deal, so here - Nashville (BNA) to Seattle (SEA) - as low as $508 roundtrip on some dates in the next few weeks - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...1VoxmbPDHLfpt8

If I created a thread for that I'd be laughed off this forum! At 12.48 cpm it's actually not too expensive per mile, but you'll earn 436 MQD. If you flew 4071 miles in Air France premium economy at 12.48 cpm (which is high for premium economy, you can often do less), you'd earn 1017 MQD or in business you'd earn 1221 MQD. This flight will earn 18 XP at a cost per XP of $28.22 which is absolutely horrible!!! You'll earn 60 VS tier points at a cost per TP of $8.46 which is also high.

I'm not saying nobody wants to fly this route, but the audience here is limited. What's the use for this? Why should I post it? There are enough people claiming I post spam and don't need to make those cries even louder!

AA and UA are not without fault. I live in an AA hub and could bash AA too, but their flights are sometimes useful for earning tier points, which is why I post AA flights sometimes. The disAAdvantage of flying AA is loyalty points are earned per dollar spent and you'll often earn more LP's flying partners than AA, so I wouldn't post a similar flight with AA either unless it's worthwhile when posted to a foreign airline loyalty program.

NJSwamplands

I find your post/threads to always be food for thought with reasonable prices and explanations of who the consumer of such fares might be. Some are BIS, others chasing status and others just being really good airfares.

cruser1

Thank you!!

captainarabiia

cruser1 deserves all the credit , I love his/her threads. My credit card statement will vouch for that

tr3k

Oh, ouch - didn't realize the initial qualification is so high. So the ratio of XP (280) to "miles for Gold" (45K) for the first year is ~6.2. A long r/t flight to Asia with a connection somewhere in the middle that earns 22K miles (without multipliesr) in 4 pieces of 5+ each. With a 200% multiplier it may earn 44K miles, almost enough for gold. But with XP system it will earn 30/36 per segment, so in the best case 4*36 = 144, which is barely half-way. Ugh.

Requalification with 180 XP is somewhat on par. Sure hope if/when SK moves on, they'll consider my current status :/

cruser1

Sorry, not sorry!


They should take into account your current status at the time SAS joins SkyTeam. SAS / Flying Blue (if they merge into the program) isn't going to take away your status instantly. They will give you time to re-qualify.



This is my opinion, but I said Delta was expensive and not particularly useful. I also think SkyMiles (the end result of flying Delta, if crediting to Delta, which seems like most people do) are expensive to obtain and almost worthless when redeemed! You want to fly economy from JFK to LHR on a bitter cold January day in economy, that'll be 500k SkyMiles! The program mostly has value if you think flying from Lexington, KY to Reno, NV at 5AM on a Tuesday morning is aspirational. It seems like the best value is domestic economy awards and I like to use my miles for international awards, preferably business class.

Yes, other programs have started copying Delta and have dynamic award pricing, but you can still find fairly good deals on international premium cabin awards and their partner awards are often relatively reasonably priced, which isn't the case with Delta.

If I fly Delta I credit to Flying Blue, which could be why I fail to see the value of the SkyMiles program, but this also contributes to why I don't post many Delta deals.

Maestro Ramen

Initial qualification is not such a rush. You have up to one year to get 100XP, then another year to get the other 180.

Add connections. Your LAX-NRT rtn at 72xp becomes 102xp if you go through ICN.

FB have recently offered a status match from SK to uk residents so you may be able to get one soon too..it was paid, mind.

sundogx

Where can I find the thread for economy deals?