bigmillz

Currently I'm a Delta Silver Medallion, on track for Platinum after the next few months of travel.

I've started noticing that more destinations I tend to visit (South America, Africa, Europe) have much better cash prices with SkyTeam airlines, with Star Alliance and specifically United typically offering the best prices.

I've enjoyed even Silver status with Delta, and often get upgrades on flights to/from South America. I anticipate even more international travel this year and next, and minimal domestic. I'm mostly interested in upgrades (really just to Comfort+ on Delta), priority boarding, and lounge access, specifically with partner airlines as well. I normally have at most 1 checked bag, so more isn't a big deal. I get a nice array of lounges through PP Select already. I don't know how United is, but on Delta's partners, I seldom get more than a pat on the back, maybe an upgrade if I'm lucky.

Thinking about switching over before I get too deep in Delta. I have some 50k points, plus both my Amex personal and business Platinum are set to Delta for the year for the $200 credits.

Any comments on switching, and if recommended, the most efficient way to do it? Currently thinking burning up my Delta miles and credits first, then requesting a United status match in the 2nd half of 2022 would be best.

Obviously open to other loyalty programs as well...or no loyalty program at all (already have been considering taking the cheapest flights I can and paying for upgrades in cash).

Goodoldflyer

Great question. I'm wondering the same thing.

I have some legacy card with United, but it doesn't seem to be accumulating any of the points that matter on United, just miles. So it occurs to me that I need a better card/strategy for United. Haven't flown them in a while, as I've been flying through Atlanta recently.

HNLbasedFlyer

My personal opinion is the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is much more superior than any UA branded credit card.

xliioper

Neither DL nor UA or their partners will upgrade you for free to business on long-haul international as that is not a status benefit. It can happen rarely when coach is full and flights are oversold and they need to make room, but it's not something you can actually count on (they won't upgrade you just because there are open seats up front). DL Skyteam AF/KL partners also won't upgrade you on their short haul flights because they don't offer comp upgrades to their own elites.

Once you hit you Gold status on Delta, you will have Skyteam ElitePlus status and will be able to enter Sky Clubs and Skyteam partner lounges on international travel (except for Caribbean flights). If you are into card churn and manufactured spend to earn points for long haul international, then UA is definitely your airline as it's points are more valuable for international travel and Amex doesn't really allow much in the way of card churning.

tx_wiingman

Isn't Delta Comfort+ equal to United Economy+? International flights still get free upgrades to Eco+ at check in for silver and at booking for gold, don't they?

xliioper

Yes, they are the same thing. DL offers it for free at time of booking for Plats and Diamonds, while Gold gets access at 3-days and Silver at 1-day. Technically, DL has an upgrade bucket for C+ seats (they book into a separate fare class) and they may hold back open seats, but it doesn't seem to be something they actually do very often.

tx_wiingman

For "points that matter" I'm assuming you mean PQP or Premier Qualifying Points. You obtain those based on actual cost of tickets (excluding taxes) plus upgrades, bag fees, etc. You can get 500 PQP for every $12,000 in card spend on most United credit cards, but the Explorer ($95 annual fee) caps you at a maximum of 1,000 points a year earned that way. The newer Quest card ($250 AF) will allow up to 3,000 PQP to be earned that way a year. Some of the other United cards (business, Club, etc) also can earn some, but they all earn at a rate of $12,000 in spend = 500 PQP and even if you have multiple cards, United caps the amount of PQP you can earn in any one year from all United branded credit cards just from spend at 5,000.

You can not earn status just from card spend and you have to fly a minimum number of flight segments to reach any status level, so it's not a very efficient way to earn status, but it can help push you over the top to get from one level to the next.

findark

United (unlike Delta) does not consider Economy Plus a separate class of service, so it is not an "upgrade", per se.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I guess if you view it that way (selecting a Comfort+ seat being an upgrade), I guess far more UA passengers are getting "upgraded" more of the time than they think they are So if you do move to UA (and get status) you will get to "upgrade" yourself to E+ seats per status guidelines..

Good marketing by DL to get some people to think they're actively being "upgraded". At UA, moving to the exact same coach seat w/ just a couple of more inchers of legroom is called "seat selection" "Upgraded" on UA means something more significant - into Premium Economy, Business, or First.

Hipplewm

DL also institued a strict one class upgrade for long haul flights for their upgrade coupons - so you can go from econ to pre econ (whatever delta calls it) or prem econ to business - but you cant go econ -> business like you can with PP

bigmillz

Thanks, this answers a lot for me.

I think I may burn up my Delta points then start working on UA the second half of this year. If I can get a status challenge, I'm planning on more domestic flights later this year, so it should be much easier to fly with United versus partners.

xliioper

Specifically, it's for Global Upgrade certs which are only available to Diamond Medallions. Upgrade terms for Regional Upgrade certs offered to Plats (which can't be used to upgrade to international D1) aren't impacted. So if you are only going for Plat, it's not really relevant. They are limiting the validity of both types of certs to the end of the program year for which they are earned instead of 1-year from benefit selection. So you can't potentially extend their validity by waiting to select them until just before you want to use one. The certs can selected and used as soon as qualify for status for the following program year which means they will be valid for at least 13 months.