I already have my new Delta SkyMiles AMEX in hand! I applied Sunday and got it in the mail on Wednesday!
Here are some posts on redeeming SkyMiles:
- Issues with Delta's website and awards are discussed here.
- PDFs of the award chart that is now no longer public.
- This post (from Jan 2015) indicates that some Delta partners are not currently included in their online flight search tool. It also notes regarding fuel surcharges: "if your trip originates in Europe, Delta will add fuel surcharges to all carriers -- an annoying reality, but there is no way around it. The best way to prevent that is to originate in North America, where fuel surcharges are not collected on Alitalia, Air France, Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic."
It also lists this nice summary of: "partners with service to North America, whether fuel surcharges are imposed on trips originating in North America, and how much those fuel surcharges tend to run:
- Delta Air Lines - no fuel surcharge
- Aeroflot - fuel surcharge - ~$250/ticket (r/t)
- Aerolineas Argentinas - no fuel surcharge
- Aeromexico - no fuel surcharge
- AirEuropa - fuel surcharge - ~$500/ticket (r/t)
- Air France - no fuel surcharge
- Air Tahiti Nui - fuel surcharge - ~$450/ticket (r/t)
- Alaska Airlines - no fuel surcharge
- Alitalia - no fuel surcharge
- China Airlines - fuel surcharge - ~$250/ticket (r/t)
- China Eastern - fuel surcharge - ~$350/ticket (r/t)
- China Southern - fuel surcharge - ~$400/ticket (r/t)
- Hawaiian Airlines - no fuel surcharge
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - no fuel surcharge
- Korean Air - no fuel surcharge
- Saudia Airlines - no fuel surcharge
- Virgin Atlantic - no fuel surcharge
- Virgin Australia - no fuel surcharge"
- It looks like Delta Miles don't expire, which is great news on something we could slowly but surely build up (and hope it didn't get devalued).
- I have now come across two blogs that indicated that it can be quite hard to find Delta saver level availability. Probably a good thing those miles don't expire! Both AMEX and SPG will transfer to Delta so you could always keep points in this program until you saw a Delta availability (if they transfer quick enough). This post discusses how you can set up an alert for Delta seat availability.
- Here is a post describing the complicated nature of what reward ticket pricing on Delta. I found this when I looked for flights to Europe; very few were actually available at 60 K (RT). The post describes how Delta is "pegging the redemption side of SkyMiles to revenue. In some cities (Savannah and Charleston are particularly subject to this, along with other smaller cities where Delta has control of the market), the lowest effective award price to Europe is 28% more expensive than in 2014. You don’t see this happening as much in more competitive markets, and again, if you use partner airlines for the long-haul segment, this isn’t an issue." Therefore:
"In terms of pricing your own awards, all this essentially boils down to two best practices:
- I have now come across two blogs that indicated that it can be quite hard to find Delta saver level availability. Probably a good thing those miles don't expire! Both AMEX and SPG will transfer to Delta so you could always keep points in this program until you saw a Delta availability (if they transfer quick enough). This post discusses how you can set up an alert for Delta seat availability.
- Here is a post describing the complicated nature of what reward ticket pricing on Delta. I found this when I looked for flights to Europe; very few were actually available at 60 K (RT). The post describes how Delta is "pegging the redemption side of SkyMiles to revenue. In some cities (Savannah and Charleston are particularly subject to this, along with other smaller cities where Delta has control of the market), the lowest effective award price to Europe is 28% more expensive than in 2014. You don’t see this happening as much in more competitive markets, and again, if you use partner airlines for the long-haul segment, this isn’t an issue." Therefore:
"In terms of pricing your own awards, all this essentially boils down to two best practices:
- If all your flights are on Delta, the price the computer gives you is the price you’re getting
- If you’re leveraging a partner (and you should!) the old rules of searching segment by segment for the lowest tier still apply"
Hugs,
Jen
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