Your paltry Delta miles aren’t accepted here

by Grant Martin on

If Delta Skymiles could be equated to a currency, they would be Zimbabwean Dollars.

Over the past several months, numerous changes at the Atlanta based company have brought significant detriment to the joint Delta and Northwest frequent flyer program. These modifications range from an increase in mileage fee for economy tickets (tickets to Europe, for example, went from 50K to 60K miles,) application of fees for award bookings (up to $150,) and the reduction of benefits such as free miles redeposits and system wide upgrades.

There are plenty of small annoyances, but what all of these program changes boil down to is a change in the model in which award tickets are exchanged. Formerly, supply of award miles was lower, availability was higher and the top few passengers who earned numerous miles could spend them fairly easily.

Now, supply is higher, availability is lower and the masses all generally have access to a few scrappy seats. The very few extra that are booked are done so at excruciating costs. So as a result, the airline loses less money on award bookings and gives passengers the false sense of reward with useless miles.
No passenger is in a better perspective to observe the change than he who was a Northwest Worldperks member. Over the last six months, that customer watched his counterparts at Delta reap the benefits of numerous mileage bonus offers, virtually dumping miles into the pockets of passengers and severely diluting the mileage pool.

Meanwhile, program changes continue to cut Worldperks down to the level of Skymiles and defectors leave in droves. At a poll on the frequent flyer website Flyertalk, nearly 30% of passengers queried are leaving the conglomerate to join another airline program, another 20% are leaving at year’s end and 20% are too distraught to know what to do.

Out on the underground mileage exchanges, Delta/Northwest miles have lost their value. Most don’t even bother trying to trade, and one passenger trying to exchange Delta miles for an equal number of competitor miles was laughed at. The best offer so far? A few beverage certificates.

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Jumpstart your US Airways elite status with Double Miles

by Grant Martin on

Tired of hearing about all of this “elite status” stuff and ready to give it a try? US Airways just started a double elite miles promotion that should help you find your way.

Between now and March 31st, any flight that you take on US Airways, US Airways Express and US Airways Shuttle will earn you double Dividend Miles, meaning that it will only take 12.5 – 50k miles to reach some sort of elite status. Sure, you might not be able to get them all in before the end of the month, but one quick trip to Europe will get you 2/3 of the way to Silver status. Oh, and you’ll be in Europe too.

Just make sure you don’t book flights on another Star Alliance member and expect to get double elite miles. This promo only applies to flights taken on US metal, so you unfortunately have to spend time on their aircraft to earn.

Also make sure to sign up before you book your flights, else your earnings don’t count. You can check out the details and sign up here.

Merge your Delta and Northwest frequent flyer accounts — get 500 miles

by Grant Martin on

In this week’s chapter of “Merger Mania, Delta Devours Northwest,” lots of changes have happened to each respective frequent flyer program.

To merge the two programs, small changes in mileage earning, spending and transfer have been implemented, largely to make Northwest’s program emulate Delta. System Wide Upgrades, a feature that many Northwest flyers briefly enjoyed, will now be translated to Medallion Upgrades, a weaker, less useful tool. Northwest Platinum flyers will now earn fewer bonus miles as well; their earnings will be reduced from 125% to 100%.

The most abhorrent change to the programs, however, is the addition of an extra “reward tier” on mileage tickets. As billed, this change is supposed to provide “more flexibility” by charging more miles and providing extra seats when searching for rewards. But in actuality, it’s just another way to gouge passengers.

Think of it this way. Last year, if you wanted to fly from Atlanta to New York there were 10 options to fly for 25k miles. This year, there are 20 options to fly at 30 – 35k miles and 2 options to fly at 25k miles. And those latter flights? Only good on Wednesday redeyes on a 12 seat propeller plane.

It’s not that egregious, but you get the picture.

The (scant) good news is that we now have better, fluid access between both accounts. As of last week, passengers from each program can log in, link accounts and swap miles, which means if you have orphaned miles in either account, you can move them over. Yes, you can move elite miles as well.

You can link the accounts by going under Worldperks | Manage My Account | Link Accounts and Transfer Miles. Once you link them up, you’ll get 500 bonus miles.

If you want to read more about the details of the mergers, a good resource is Flyertalk.

How to earn 300,000 frequent flyer miles without buying a single plane ticket

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Over on his Art of Nonconformity blog, Chris Guillebeau details how to use credit card sign-up bonuses to earn up to 300,000 frequent flyer miles– all without purchasing a single plane ticket.

After spending $500 in fees for thirteen different credit cards, Chris has earned about 300,000 miles, enough for six round-trip tickets from the US to Europe or twelve round-trip domestic tickets within the US.

Chris has even made a twelve-minute video explaining just how the process works (go here and scroll down), if you’d prefer not to read through his entire long-ish post.

Keep in mind that this clever scheme has brought down Chris’ credit score somewhat, but he says it’s been more than worth it for $12,000 worth of miles. Just remember to cancel those cards as soon as possible or you’ll get stuck with hundreds of dollars in fees per year.

Check out the whole post here.

HT: World Hum

Update on your Northwest and Delta miles

by Grant Martin on

As we barrel forward into 2009 and the processing merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines, small facets of the company are slowly being integrated. Just a few weeks ago, the first NW 747 was repainted in DL colors, and ever so gently the NW routes are starting to disappear.

Throughout the year, mileage accounts between the two airlines will also be integrated, with the joint rules pulling from both carriers current programs. Here are the basics:

  • Miles from each program are safe.
  • Partway through this year you’ll be able to transfer miles between each account at no cost. You won’t be able to transfer elite miles, but before year’s end they should be integrated. So miles on each airline will count towards 2010 status on the new, merged airline.
  • New award fees for non-platinum members will be instituted. Booking award tickets:
    • Outside of 21 days of travel = free
    • Between 8 and 20 days = $75
    • Between 4 and 7 = $100
    • Inside of 3 days = $150
  • A new award tier asking for more miles with “better availability” will be offered. You can check that out here, but effectively if you want better flexibility with your tickets you’ll now need to cough up 30-40% more miles.
  • All passengers will now be able to earn elite status with segments.

Are these changes for the best? Most passengers I’ve listened in on are unhappy with the new fees and award tiers, but I think they’re being a bit gloomy.

I concede that in 2009 it will be harder to spend your Skyteam miles, however, so if you’re thinking about booking a ticket this year, it’s never too early to start looking.

Got a question about your miles? Shoot us a note at editorATgadlingDOTcom and we’ll try to help out.