It’s really quite absurd how the Delta Air Lines SkyMiles program has gone from bad to downright horrible when it comes to aspirational travel. Want to use your miles to upgrade? Be prepared to pony up…to the tune of up to 499,500 miles each way.
Delta Mileage Upgrades: Absurd Pricing
View From The Wing highlights some of the absurd pricing we’ve seen on Delta to upgrade. Want to upgrade a trip from Atlanta to Johannesburg. That could well set you back 500K miles each way.
This is hardly a fluke. Instead it’s all part of the plan. Delta has replaced traditional mileage upgrades with letting you upgrade by paying the difference between the coach price and business class price, at a rate of one cent per mile. The good news: there’s generally always upgrade availability. Bad news: you can’t afford it. Especially if you are smart.
Here’s why it’s absurd: you have a choice when you earn and you have a choice which credit card to put spending on. It makes absolutely no sense to put any sort of spending on Delta and despite its above-average treatment of top-tier flyers, it ingcreasinlyg is becoming attractive to credit your SkyTeam flights, including Delta, to Air-France KLM Flying Blue.
Why would you spend money on a card that gives you one cent back (the de facto value of a SkyMile) when you can use cashback cards or other points card, with a much more lucrative return?
And Delta is so smug about it too. Prashant Sharma, Delta’s Vice President of Loyalty, recently explained:
“Our focus here is to provide consistent and sustainable value…so we are not necessarily trying to play the game with customers or with bloggers. We listen to what customers want and we try to offer that on a compelling value across the board and that’s been our focus and we look at value more holistically as well. Mileage redemption is a big portion of it, but also just everything else that Delta can provide in terms of experience and making them come back to us…
“It’s also validated by the fact that customers are not only joining the program at record levels but also taking up co-brand at record levels which is further faith that this is a currency they want to earn.”
Translation: why should we give you any value with premium redemption when you suckers will sign up for our cards and credit miles to us anyway? He’s got a point.
> Read More: Delta SkyMiles Chief Defends Higher Prices For Premium Awards
So don’t expect any changes, unless you are willing to walk away from SkyMiles. Are you willing?
CONCLUSION
It’s really quite sad to see SkyMiles become so worthless in terms of premium cabin redemptions. I get that many find relative value in domestic economy class redemptions, but it isn’t just “bloggers” who like to redeem their miles for aspirational awards. At Delta, it is simply no longer feasible. I mean, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn if you want to keep crediting to Delta in hopes of scoring a great premium cabin deal.
They are still good for some things….just got 40k miles per person in Garuda J from Sydney to Bali. There are better products and, yes, its not a long route. But flights into Bali are insanely booked/expensive at the moment (like everywhere) so I thought it was a pretty good deal.
But think about all the delicious prosecco you can drink in Delta One.
I assume Jerry that you were being sarcastic about “delicious prosecco you can in Delta One”, because @Matthew is ABSOLUTELY correct: Delta is the most shitty, abhorrent airline in the US for international award travel… I’ve been living in the Atlanta area for the last 25 years, and I could see how Delta devolved from being a very decent company in terms of the royalty program to what I’ve become today: a miserable airline, which takes advantage of a very misguided sense of loyalty of their frequent flyers to fleece their most loyal customers of their hard-earned skymiles.
I must say people who live in the Atlanta area feel that particularly acutely. The reason is that Delta has a close to absolute monopoly on the international travel out of Atlanta, which happens to have the busiest airport in the world. The reason for such dominance is that Delta basically bribes the top brass at the Atlanta city Hall and the top management at ATL airport, which results to stifling any competition to Delta from various domestic and foreign carriers could fly non-stop to many international destinations.
This bribery has been going on years (a couple years ago, Delta signed an exclusive 30 year gates lease and landing rights at ATL. Some public people attempted to raise objections to that sweetheart deal but Delta immediately threatened to relocate their operations to other city, and of course nothing happened.
I believe that this sense of impunity affects their skymiles program, giving them sense that their customers are going to swallow anything that Delta would shove in their throats.
Again, @Matthew is totally correct in his stinging rebuke of that pathetic, corrupt, “woke” airline…
Cry harder for me Trumpette. Using woke as a pejorative is a clear sign of a piece of s***.
If ignorance is bliss, you are Eden
One should only use an airline card for things like airfare, hotels, and other things that earn an enhanced rate
What we do is use my wife’s 2% cash back card for mundane purchases and use mine for things like UA tickets, hotels, or things I am reimbursed for
“I mean, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn if you want to keep crediting to Delta in hopes of scoring a great premium cabin deal.”
How many times do Delta flyers have to tell you – I credit to Delta all the time, and it has absolutely nothing to do with scoring a great premium cabin deal. It is to
1) Earn status to help make my voluminous domestic travel a lot better
2) To get benefits like GUC, which still can be used to get premium cabins
3) To earn SkyMiles for various domestic redemptions
You can get “premium cabin deals” a myriad of ways that have nothing to do with flying an airline (like spending on a Chase or Amex card).
@Anthony is correct. But, so is @Matthew. The bottom line is that Delta’s overall program has continued to become less and less valuable. My spouse and I are 2 MM Charter Diamonds and have qualified every year for Diamond status since its inception (except 2020) , but neither of us will requalify this year. Our failure to requalify won’t be due to a lack of travelling, but will be because we’ve had enough of being screwed over by Delta. When/if we can qualify again cheaply (e.g., on a$5k partner J/F fare), we will likely be back temporarily just to grab the Choice benefits (if they still exist in their present form), but otherwise I say **** Delta.
I can’t agree more, and it’s what every travel blogger consistently misses about Delta flyers. We’re flying DL because it’s leaps and bounds a better soft product than AA/UA, and mostly a better hard product, although UA is catching up. It’s as “premium” as a Big 3 carrier is going to get. I’ll sacrifice the FF program and the big international upgrades for higher quality on Delta and a pretty strong domestic upgrade program.
DL miles are terrible. I’ve gone from DL PL to DL nothing and I’ve only earned ~ 3k miles (from their partnerships w/ Uber, etc) in the last 2.5 years.
Looking at both Delta’s profitability and their hollowing out of SkyMiles (as well as their reduction of complementary upgrade space), I get the feeling that something big happened about 10 years ago. Delta leadership sat down and asked themselves if their industry as a whole was over rewarding their frequent flyers. It looks like their hypothesis was “yes” (though they could never publicly admit that) and they’ve rolled with it with good financial results. The big problem airlines have had is that their premium cabins are more profitable, but only if people actually pay for the seats. That’s why Delta has:
-Reduced the cost of domestic premium cabins compared to coach
-Made it really easy to buy upgrades in their app (critically with a different payment method so you don’t have to add an unacceptable charge to a corporate card)
-Cut down available reward space so that even Diamonds often miss out on an upgrade
They decided they’d leverage their reputation for a better overall experience (reliability, service, cabins) and say “You want to sit in the front? Pay for it.”
They also probably speculated that while frequent travelers should be able to use their Miles for aspirational trips, they didn’t need to give them out at industry standard rates. “Should flying with us a ton net you a free Delta One level flight each year? Yes. Should it net you 1/2 a dozen Delta One flights each year? No.”
Like a lot of folks on this blog, I like flying Delta but put little stock in their program for getting me those sweet, lie flat seats. That’s while I’ll always book them for domestic trips when I’m paying cash, but I count on MR and UR points earning to travel in style, knowing full well that the style won’t be happening on a Delta plane. I’m fine with that and I’ll bet they are too.
Well, once the revenge travel period is over this fall and the country starts into a recession Delta will be seeing a lot of cobwebs forming on their premium seats. At that point watch them reverse this trend pretty quickly. I hope though people don’t forget…that they will turn on you in a second once things get better again.
What is more absurd? This or AA charging my parents $18,000 each for a round trip between GRU and MSP in business class?
At least with Delta I have been able to use all my Diamond certificates to upgrade my family of 4 to Delta One all the way to Europe this summer.
Try using AA upgrade certificates. Impossible! First of all you can only use them domestically and to add insult to injury only in the continuous 48. Then, when requested, one will only get moved up to first class when you arrive at the departing gate and if there are available seats. Fat Chance!
In my upcoming flight, A359 D1 is nearly completely filled, 2 seats remaining.
PS had 4 seats remaining. (I took PS)
Your blog buddy decided to pick the most expensive redemption in a traditionally expensive route then decided to do a blog about it.
Meanwhile, in the real world D1 is still doing well, too well, almost.
Another comment on credit card spend
I spent $30K on my Delta Reserve last year. I will spend $30K this year. Last year, that spend earned me Platinum. This year, it will earn me both Platinum and Diamond (all of course in combination with paid flying).
For $60K in spend, what do I get
– 60K in Skymiles (call it $600)
– 8 RUC – I value these at a minimum of $100 each (Platinum Choice Benefit in 2022 and 2023)
– 4 GUC – Can reasonably be valued at $500 each if you can use them to upgrade to D1; but let’s be cautious and say $200 (Diamond Choice Benefit)
– 25K skyMiles, worth $250 (Diamond Choice Benefit)
– $200 voucher (Diamond Choice Benefit)
That’s $2,650 in value for $60K in spend, or about 4.4 cents per dollar.
Matthew:
I have heard that United finally removed the Italian ragu and replaced it with vegan meatballs. Can you confirm this and give us a taste test please?
I hear over on DL they have actually different meals rather than a rotating ragu or chicken…
Your top photo is from Korean Airlines, not Delta, which offers closed door suites to JNB
I don’t have any miles unless they are incidental to travel. Over the last 20 years I typically pay from $300-$380 for a r/t ticket from Dallas to Europe (Frankfurt, Rome, Paris, Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Helsinki, etc) including baggage. Some friends I know pay more for their ‘free mileage’ trips than I do. The best use of miles IMHO were for upgrading coach to business class on international trips and only on the way there. I didn’t see the value for the return.
Wanted to add – the least I’ve paid was about $140 for an AA flight Dallas to Paris in 2008 or 9. Before 9/11 it was easy to get flights less than $250 on airlines like Sabena.
Hi Matthew – Can you please write a piece on the benefits of crediting Delta flights to Flying Blue, as you suggest?
I am a Delta Elite (Diamond) and probably will stay that way, as I primarily maintain it through cost efficient Air France or KLM business class mileage runs. I also fly Delta regularly, domestically – at this tier and having a Delta Reserve card, it makes sense and is great value.
However, I’ve never heard of this strategy of crediting DELTA flights, domestically, to Flying Blue. How does it work, how much do you earn and why is it advantageous?
I think of almost everything through the redemption side, since I find (at least with my 1K status with United) upgrades are few and far between this year.
I think that people still need to tread carefully with FB, as the redemption rates often border on the insane. There are a couple of sweet spots (e.g. KQ within Africa, AFKL business class to/from North America), but they also price plenty of one-way awards at six figures. Consequently, I don’t think anyone should be relying on their FB balance to help them out in a difficult situation.
Delta is good for domestic travel, but with limited routes. But their mileage program is terrible. I put all my miles flying DL on AF, where I can get saver awards (not always, but often enough to be worth it) in TATL business class for 55K miles. I just purchased PE on BA to LHR connecting on to Paris for $2.8K (including those ridiculous fees) and upgraded to business class for 59K miles. There is no point in flying DL internationally.
Matthew, I cannot agree with you and Gary about the SkyMiles program. Yes, there are some wacked out upgrades for some international routes, but that is not the norm domestically. I am Platinum with Delta and YTD I have been upgraded to FC 67% of the time. If you are looking at all upgrades, because I am Platinum every reservation automatically upgrades to C+. I have not experienced your “few and far between upgrades”
We must fly to different locations. Like you, I am a Delta Plat and have been upgraded to FC 0% of my Delta flights in 2022 and have a 0% success when trying to use RUCs to upgrade as well. One night before a flight I was #1 on the upgrade list using a RUC and when I woke up the next day I was #9… with a predicable result.
I’m a DL DM…I usually get my upgrades, but every now and again I won’t. I’ll go to sleep #1 on the list with 4 seats available, wake up 5 hours later and there are no seats..then I see employees in those seats. No clue why an employee gets an upgrade over a paying passenger….even if they are deadheading.
One more point before I go to bed – Delta haters always bring up “ATL monopoly! DTW monopoly” or whatever else.
If so, how does Delta do so well at itenarionnal, competitive airports like BOS. JFK, LAX, even SEA?
I think US frequent flyers are tragically unaware how much better the European programs are in Sky Team (credit to AF/KLM not Delta for any long haul international segments but not domestic) and One World (credit to BA/Iberia no AA). Both for award redemptions and in many cases also to get to tier status.
If you need to get US domestic tickets with miles then transferring in Chase points to United might be a way to go. BA Avios often aren’t usable for US domestic tickets because only AASaver fares will show up.
The one thing I’m still undecided on is the best program to credit miles to within the Star Alliance. United is rapidly devaluing to become like Delta when it comes to the value of miles. So don’t want to credit my miles there anymore.
Mr. KLINT, your not a Delta flyer anyway but you love to hate on the only consistently good airline in the country. Keep on flying crappy airlines and try to make them look great. You Delta haters are simply envious. It bleeds from your posts. The days of flying for nothing are over. When demand is not high the freebies will come back. It’s capitalism at work.
I love flying Delta–
https://liveandletsfly.com/delta-air-lines-a350-900-business-class-review/
But I also love miles and points and I hate to see what Delta has done to a once-competitive program. Stop blindly supporting Delta.
Sorry for my mistake Matthew. I appreciate that you Love Delta. I enjoy your articles.
I accumulate miles solely to get business class awards on long international flights. For that purpose Delta miles are useless. So I avoid flying Delta and usually fly United instead. I can generally get U.A. international business class awards for half or less of what Delta demands. And because star alliance has so many more airlines than sky team, I have many more options to use my United miles on other airlines. Theres just no comparison.
A life long 50+ years Delta flyer. Love my Denta experience domestically. But planning international travel – my upgrade awards and miles are seemingly useless. There are better airline offers out there. Sure, no real bargains on business class – but other classes that align with Drlta have much better class of comfort. Sorry Delta, my big ticket international flights will go elsewhere.
Delta Biz Class Redemptions are outrageous. Round-trip from SFO to Europe on Air France cost me 240K for Business. So instead, I ended up BUYING Avianca Miles to get flights cheaper on Star Alliance Airlines. Avianca had a 150% bonus for buying miles, so for $1600, I bought enough miles for 2 one way Business class tickets at 63,000 each, a total of 126,000 round-trip- SFO to ZRH Biz Class Swiss Airlines and Frankfurt to LAX Business Class Lufthansa 747-800 service.
Avianca’s website requires EXTREME patience and flexibility to eventually find flights, but once you do, it’s highly rewarding.
Quick “blogger” question (LOL), I’ve heard mixed reviews on LH Biz Class service being outdated on the 747-800. I have Upper Deck seats. How does it stack up to others? Avianca makes getting LOT Polish, TAP Portugal and Brussels Airlines Biz Class seats easier to obtain than LH. But I still assumed LH was better. (For the equivalent of about $800 for a one way LH Biz ticket FRA-LAX, outdated or not, it’s a bargain)
Diamond member. 1 million mile flyer. Delta Amex. Got awarded global companion coupons. Used 495k for premium econom and was told guaranteed upgrade with global coupons. Never opened up to allow global coupons. Others got upgraded. Not us. And even today on waitlist. The Diamond program is useless and the global certificates are just a gimmick. Delta has devalued their skymiles and skybonus programs directly at international travel experience. The main Reason I had used delta exclusively. No more. All garbage.