Delta, Delta, Delta…. what have you done (and continue to do?!?). Delta is generally thought to have one of the best actual airline operations around (especially among US carriers), but they have shown and continue to show with their actions that their loyalty program is just not very important to them.
In fact, at the Family Travel for Real Life conference, Jason Steele told us that a Delta PR Rep had literally told him that it was their (Delta’s) belief that customer’s just don’t care about award charts. Perhaps that explains why they removed the award charts from their site. Thankfully – thanks to the Mile Matrix (app to give the required miles for any country to any other country on any airline), we still have that information.
Delta Skymiles 2015 update
Delta announced yesterday an update to their Skymiles 2015 program. From the official press release:
- New One-Way Award tickets beginning as low as 10,000 miles plus taxes and fees, available through Dec. 31, 2015 for travel in select U.S., Mexican and Caribbean markets. Customers can now fly to several popular Award destinations with a 21-day minimum advance purchase.
- Improved Award redemption by expanding the number of airline partners that SkyMiles members can select to redeem for Award Travel on delta.com. Delta recently updated the Fly Delta app to give customers the ability to book Award travel from mobile devices. Since January, Delta has offered customers the ability to book SkyMiles Award travel through the Fly Delta app.
- Customers can now earn MQDs, regardless of ticketing carrier, for travel on most of Delta’s airline partners, which will help them achieve Medallion status faster. SkyMiles members will receive retroactive credit of MQDs on eligible partner flights dating back to the beginning of the qualification year, Jan. 1, 2015. MQD earning varies based on carrier and percentage of distance flown as determined by Delta and fare class paid.
The introduction of one-way awards was one of the perks (silver linings?) in the introduction of moving to revenue-based for mile earning starting in 2015. There had been some talk a few weeks ago about the introduction of the 21 day advance purchase to get the lowest mileage redemptions, and now it seems that it is the gospel truth (at least for some awards).
For those of you that chase airline status on Delta, there have been some additions to the partners on which you’ll earn Delta MQDs. On the flip side, if you fly Alaska Airlines metal, you will no longer earn any MQDs on Delta.
What do you think? For me, this is a mostly (slightly) positive change with the introduction of 10,000 mile awards
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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