shimauma

I am living in Europe now but have still been using the NWA Worldperks program with my US address. Will easily make gold this year on either program. Wondering if it is better to join the KLM Flying Blue program or to stick with NWA? Seems with gold on KLM you get free lounge access but with NWA (or Delta) no. Has anyone out there transferred their miles to or from these programs and can tell me which the better deal? Not sure if the codeshare KLM/NW flights I often take will become KLM/Delta flights or not.

sbm12

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!!

The codeshare probably won't matter all that much since the true benefits only apply if you're flying on the metal of the program you're an elite in.

Beyond that, if you fly discount fares at all FlyingBlue seems to be particularly horrible. Plus there is the point that WorldPerks is done. It will be SkyMiles now and there isn't much you can do about it. If you change your address to Europe you should get the lounge access in SkyMiles (I think, but someone else would need to confirm that) so that should help a bit.

cfischer

tell us your travel patterns and we'll give you advise. What are your priorities?

shimauma

Thanks for your response. I fly 3 or 4 times per year from Norway to NYC connecting in AMS. These are usually a KLM/Northwest flight or recently on Delta. I also fly about 2 times per year from Norway to Tokyo, again connecting in AMS on KLM. In addition, a few European flights and domestic US flights where I try to stick to Skyteam partners.

I often have layovers in AMS therefore the free lounge access with KLM is appealing. Many of these tickets are purchased by travel agents but when I have to buy them myslef I usually go with the cheapest fare. Seems that on the NWA program I am currently on I pretty much get miles for all fare classes which I believe is more strict on KLM (not sure about Delta).

GenevaFlyer

Hi shimauma,

Disclaimer: information provided here is as of today, in a world in flux

On cheap KL fares, you will be better off with NW and DL next year, except for the V fares. DL does not, at the current time, let you earn mileage on KL V fares, unless booked as a NW codeshare on NW ticket stock (thus not a 074 ticket number). However, on all other fares, you will earn 100% mileage with both NW and DL, as compared to not much on Flying Blue.

If it is purely for lounge access in Amsterdam, you could consider:
- Priority Pass (I believe the base membership is $99 per year, with a $27 fee per visit)
- DL SkyClub membership, which provides lounge access in AMS

It is hard to tell what next year will bring, as the full picture of the NW/DL merger is only slowly emerging. However, for the time being, stick with NW in my opinion.

The only caveat to this is if you do decide that you want to switch to Flying Blue. This should be done asap, because it is not clear whether you will still be able to transfer from NW to FB next year.

I know it doesn't help you much, but it's always hard to provide a one size fits all answer. You may get some slight benefits from being Flying Blue member flying on KL, as you would get the extra luggage allowance. On the other hand, the revised earning rules since 1 April mean that you will never earn enough for an award ticket if you fly on cheap fares.

(Example, a return flight in Europe with a stop in CDG earned me, with platinum bonus included a whopping 1'496 miles (whereas it would have been 6'000 miles before April 1).

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

orbitmic

With FB, you are gold when you reach either 40,000 level miles or 30 level segments. On the basis of the pattern that you mention, if indeed you go for some of the cheapest fare classes, you would NOT make it to gold on Flying Blue on miles alone. You could make it on segments if you fly 30+ segments (which seem like the upper limit of what you mention), but not on miles alone. So unless you are sure that you will fly 30+ segments in 2010 and beyond, I'd stick to NW if I were you. You will be treated better on the whole, will get domestic upgrades which will disappear for us soon I should think, and lounge status will be the same if you are US-based DL/NW gold or FB silver.

For the sake of comparison, here are the qualifying (level) miles you would get for your various trips if you transferred to FB, assuming you are flying one of the cheap fares:

OSL-AMS-NYC-AMS-OSL: approximately 2194 level miles in total for four segments
OSL-AMS-NRT-AMS-OSL: approximately 3378 level miles in total for four segments
OSL-AMS-anywhere less than 750 miles away from AMS-AMS-OSL: 748 level miles in total for four segments

So 4 returns to NYC via AMS + 2 returns to NRT via AMS would earn you 15532 level miles in total and 24 level segments in total. You would need at least 6 more level segments (or another 25,000 level miles!) to make it to gold (10 more if you do 3 NYC returns rather than the 4 I counted)

cfischer

DL SM for sure ... just stick with DL flights or AF/KL flights with DL flight numbers for 100% miles.

PELO

PELO

Hi,
I just joined this thread so your decision about going with Delta or FlyingBlue has already been made since we are already one year later. If you decided to go with FlyingBlue I would be very interested in knowing if you succeeded because they forced me to go with Delta SkyMiles and I made my request in mid August 2009.
I have a French residence and I take the same route twice a year, so for me to fly from Nice to Montreal I would need a minimum of 60 000 FlyingBlue miles whereas with Delta SkyMiles I would need at least 100 000 Skymiles.

Does anyone know what recourse I have to make Delta transfer my Worlperks points to FlyingBlue as I had originally requested in August 2009.

GenevaFlyer

Hi PELO,

Welcome to FT!

- I don't think you have any recourse, as this transfer is now totally gone.

- While you may need more points with SM, you do accumulate faster on cheap fares (100% on SM as compared to 25% or 50% on FB), so in the end, it may be a wash.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer