Delta institutes fuel surcharges on award flights — who is next?

by Grant Martin on

One of the perks of having a frequent flyer number used to be earning enough miles for a free ticket. Free being a relative term, because we still had to pay some taxes. Domestically, this was about five dollars, while internationally this could be up to fifty or a hundred. No big deal, I always had a few empty cans to return.

Not any more on Delta. Citing fuel costs, the Atlanta-based airline is now going to charge a 25$ fuel surcharge for domestic award bookings and 50$ for international itineraries.

“But Grant,” you say, isn’t an award ticket supposed to be FREE?

Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

These sort of shenanigans are what we in the community call “devaluation of miles” and are indirectly a product of downsizing in the industry. Airlines want you to use fewer of miles, so they make them harder and more frustrating to spend. Fewer award tickets = more revenue tickets = more cash on hand.

Devaluation is another reason that many passengers in the Delta/Northwest merger are a little concerned. While both CEOs claim that our miles and status are secure, neither will profess to if they’re secure in value as well. Sure, you have 100,000 miles, but our new Deltwest airline charges 150,000 miles per award ticket. With a 200$ fuel surcharge.

Expect more of the same petty fees to show up across other carriers as they scramble to raise extra cash — my guess is that this will be picked up by the other legacies pretty quick.

Delta’s fuel surcharges go into effect August 15th, so book your award travel before then.

Continental Airlines to join Star Alliance

by Grant Martin on

Continental just issued a press release saying that they’re entering a cooperative agreement with United Airlines, saying the two airlines will “cooperate extensively, linking their networks and services worldwide to the benefit of customers, and creating revenue opportunities and cost savings and other efficiencies.” This means that Continental will also join United in the Star Alliance.

For those of you who follow airline alliances, this means that CO will be dropping Skyteam, whose partners include Delta, KLM and Northwest, and picking up partners such as Lufthansa and US Airways.

Basically, Continental Onepass members won’t be able to accrue or spend miles on Skyteam anymore (similarly, partner airlines can’t spend miles on CO), but they can on Star.

It does not, however, mean that the airlines are merging — only that they’ll be collaborating on many routes, codeshares and other logistics.

In the current airline industry, this change was almost inevitable. Carriers are looking at ways to collaborate on operations and cut costs, just like Northwest and Delta announced earlier this year. With the two airlines’ combined routes and networks, a stronger entity will now exist that can better compete with the soon to be uber Delta Airlines.

No word yet on when exactly the alliance changes will take place and a schedule for the official divorce from Skyteam airlines. But if you were thinking about booking a ticket with your Skyteam miles on CO, now might be a good time to do it.

Delta sued for $1 million after ruining elderly woman’s birthday

by Jeffrey White on

A few weeks ago I asked, in relation to a man’s $2 million lawsuit against JetBlue for being forced to sit three hours in the toilet, whether that wasn’t a wee too much money to be seeking.

Now, from the New York Post, comes a report that a Manhatten man is suing Delta Airlines for $1 million for…ruining his mother’s 80th birthday.

Richard Roth’s suit claims that a Delta worker caused him and his immediate family to miss a flight to Buenos Aires, leaving them stranded in Atlanta and forcing the family — Roth’s wife, two children and 80-year-old mother — to drive to Miami to pick up another flight, the Post says. Then Roth alleges Delta lost the group’s baggage.

The story, reported here in full in the Post, sounds like a real nightmare. Roth had arranged to fly a good portion of his family, including some cousins, to BA this past December. After arriving for their connecting flight in Atlanta, Roth says his party was barred from boarding the flight as the gate had just closed. Scrambling, Roth found another flight on an Argentine airline, leaving out of Miami, but Delta did not deliver the party’s bags until after Christmas.

Roth sought $21,000 in reimbursement from Delta, which, perhaps not surprisingly, refused to pay. “I tried so hard not to sue,” Roth told the newspaper.

No word yet on how $21,000 turned into $1 million, though Roth — an attorney — is claiming, among other things, that Delta caused his mother emotional distress.

Delta shuttering nearly a dozen members-only airport lounges

by Jeffrey White on

In another effort to cut costs, Delta Airlines says it is closing down nearly a dozen of its exclusive airport lounges worldwide.

These are places that you, loyal Delta travelers, pay as much as $600 a year to have access to. And it seems that some significant hubs will be affected: Delta says lounges in Boston, Phoenix, London, Denver, Kansas City and Seattle will close in the next few weeks, according to the Boston Globe.

An airline spokesman says that Delta intends to focus more on reciprocal lounge privileges available through agreements with Continental and Northwest, the latter being the airline Delta merged with last month.

No word on how much money Delta hopes to save by doing this.

Delta has a total of 42 lounges in airports worldwide.

Delta’s baggage fee to be applied retroactively

by Jeffrey White on

As we’ve reported before, Delta will begin charging a fee for checking more than one piece of luggage starting on May 5.

But the twist at Delta is that the fee, $25 per additional piece of luggage, is being applied retroactively. Delta is waving the fee for passengers who booked their tickets between February 4 and April 4, but if you booked on Delta before then — as many have — be prepared to pony up some cash at the check-in counter.

Though it remained quiet on the fee a little more than a month ago, Delta is now finally announcing the fee on its Web site. Not surprisingly, however, it doesn’t mention that it will be retroactively applied.

Traveler “Jason” is angry about this. He tells the Consumerist that he and his wife booked on Delta in January and are planning on checking two bags each. They now face paying an additional $100 for those extra bags on the round trip flight.

“If I would have known that when I booked, I may have thought twice about Delta,” he tells the Web site.

Funny, I’d think whether I really needed four suitcases for a vacation. But hey, that’s just me.