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If you are booking a Delta ticket, beware of the new E class
Lowest Delta Fare Class does not earn MQMs - FlyerTalk Forums
Lowest Delta Fare Class does not earn MQMs - FlyerTalk Forums
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Might as well have a class that doesn't earn miles. Delta is the only airline that never has a super saver (25,000 mile) ticket available for us. United, American and Frontier have all been easy to book FF tickets. In fact, we recently booked FF tickets on United for Honolulu at 40,000 miles each. With Delta, 40,000 miles will get me a domestic ticket only. We also have FF seats with AA for a flight coming up in a couple of months. We check Delta for every singel flight we're going to take and, in the past couple of years, nothing is ever available.
We're pretty much done with Delta unless they're just so cheap we can't help but fly them. If they're going to compete on price only, they'd better be the cheapest option all the way around.Our timeshare and other photo's at http://dougp26364.smugmug.com/ -
I'm sure a lot of people have been watching the UA/CO merger with interest, as when DL and NW merged. This new development is not a surprise to me, and I fully expect UA/CO to move in this direction as well. We've already seen significant reductions in elite benefits and I'm seeing a lot tighter NY/XY/NC/XC/NF/XF control than in the past. Capacity is down, loads are up, fares are high and things are a changin'. After June 16, I'm going for a status challenge to AA just for backup.Comment
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When DL took over NW, I bailed out to CO and comped my elite status there. Now I am debating whether to stay or do a challenge to AA. I like AA's TATL award chart better, but I don't like its two main gateways, LHR and JFK. It is also weak on European partners, although that is improving with Air Berlin in the wings. With UA, its new TATL award chart is a drawback, but even more so is its *Net blocking. Right now, unless anything else bad happens in the merger, I may try UA for a year before making a decision.Originally posted by camachinist View PostComment
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Some possible good news are reports of *net blocking being significantly less than in the past, anecdotally and via comparisons using the ANA/AC tools versus actual booking attempts with UA/CO via computer or human. This appeared to change as the merger proceeded. YMMV.
I also have misgivings about moving to AA but will give them a try anyway. One positive is that they are the only mainline service O&D at my local, save for US A319 service to Vegas. After years of getting delayed and cancelled on UX due to 'flow control', I'd like to feel confident in that big old clunky MD-80 flying out on time. We'll see.
Many international carriers who codeshare with the US majors have fares which don't earn miles so that aspect has precedent; cutting mileage earning for publicly available fares by a domestic major is new, especially for a legacy major like DL. Where one treads, others are bound to follow. Eyes open
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Delta tried something like this once before, giving only 50% of miles on three fare classes, copying some European airlines and hoping other US legacies picked it up. Customers rebelled, organized Save SkyMiles! and fought back. Their alliance partner CO partially following them, reducing milage to 50% on some low fare classes, but made one important exception. Unlike DL, even after the change, all CO fares earned 100% of miles if the ticket was purchased on CO's website. Eventually, CO went back to 100% miles on all fare classes whereever purchased. The airline that really stood up to DL and put a stop to the spread of this tactic was NW, specifically the late Beth Shutis (sp?), head of NW loyalty programs, who firmly put her foot down and refused to go along with DL. NW's refusal to go along coupled with increasing publicity for their own customers complaints after two years forced DL's hand and they restored full milage to all fare classes.
Now DL is trying again and NW is not there to play the blocking roll this time.
DL has also picked up another very bad habit from European legacies, and that is charging a stiff YQ fee on award tickets, but so far they are only doing this on tickets originating outside the US. Again, they are the only US-based legacy airline doing this.
Originally posted by camachinistSome possible good news are reports of *net blocking being significantly less than in the past, anecdotally and via comparisons using the ANA/AC tools versus actual booking attempts with UA/CO via computer or human. This appeared to change as the merger proceeded. YMMV.
I also have misgivings about moving to AA but will give them a try anyway. One positive is that they are the only mainline service O&D at my local, save for US A319 service to Vegas. After years of getting delayed and cancelled on UX due to 'flow control', I'd like to feel confident in that big old clunky MD-80 flying out on time. We'll see.
Many international carriers who codeshare with the US majors have fares which don't earn miles so that aspect has precedent; cutting mileage earning for publicly available fares by a domestic major is new, especially for a legacy major like DL. Where one treads, others are bound to follow. Eyes openComment
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E fares do earn miles after all
The later postings on Flyer talk as well as the Delta Web Site show that E "published" fares do earn miles just like L,U,T fares. That means to me that one will still earn miles. Not that delta would not try something else in the future but as of now, they do earn Sky Pesos if you buy that class of ticket.
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