Kathy (Will Run for Miles) & I landed in AUS for the second time in two days but this time we did something very strange on a mileage run – we actually left the airport (I know who knew you could do that right?)! Meeting us there was Dave aka TexasYankee.

You know, there are few times in your life that a moment becomes so imprinted on your mind and heart that you will retain it forever. The above was just such a moment. Dave had taken the time to (in a joking way over my Skunky Beer post) got not just Blue Moon for us but Dasani water AND a snack basket with the same goodies we get in 1st class on Delta. Dave, you are amazing and I can not thank you enough for this moment in time!

We zipped right over to Franklin’s with a fun fact tour of the city on the way. Once we got there the line was long. How long you ask? The place did not open till 11:AM but just a few people after us they said the food would be all gone when they got to the restaurant!

We were told it would take 3 hours to get to the front of the line. Dave had assured us it was well worth the wait. It only took a little over 2 and we had a fun time talking about points and such with all who made it including my aunt and uncle who live in Austin.

We at last made it up to the building itself and it is nothing special from the outside or inside but that is not why you go to Franklin’s. You go for the food. They brought out some samples and wow it made me hungry.

Then it was time to order. The pulled pork was sold out. We did get brisket, ribs and sausage. You don’t get plates but just paper for the table and the food is family style. Then time to dig in. Oh my. I have never ever had food this good. The ribs, melt in the mouth and the brisket the best I have ever tasted. The sausage was smoky and so nummy. It was just too much so my in-laws got a to-go box to enjoy for later. I do respect a vegetarian lifestyle but this is the place for those who say about animals that they are “nice to pet but better to chew”

This mileage run has been a blast. I will have a nuts and bolts post on the miles and such soon but a run really is so much more than just points – it is about the adventure along the way (again thank you Dave for such a fun day)! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
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from American Express®
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I have been, off and on, a Platinum Medallion with Delta/NWA for a long time. Many years ago, the first time I hit Silver, I was amazed. Acually Lisa & I both qualified on segments back then and we got our fair share of upgrades even at the then lowest elite status (now having any Delta AMEX card is the unofficial lowest elite level). But those old days are long gone.

I have also a few times stopped short of some medallion level to rollover to make it simpler to make say Platinum the next year. I have always contented myself with stopping at Platinum Medallion. The perks it offers are huge. For me, the ability to change frequent flyer tickets all I want and as much as I want is a great value. I have found, with some work, this status level gives me good access to low level seats both international and domestic. Now I have, thanks to a blizzard of MQM’s from my 2 Delta AMEX Reserve cards, at last made it to Diamond. Oh my!

My very first flight as a DM was less than exciting but what I have come to expect on a Pinnacle Air flight out of South Bend. The toilet was broken and the plane stank and the pilot had to have us all acknowledge that we were OK to fly and hold it until ATL. The choice between flying this way or not flying is a simple one – just hold it!

But now to my run as a Diamond. As you have seen on the blog and on twitter, all, I mean ALL of my upgrades cleared. All but one 5+ days out and the last one 3+ days out. Not just upgrades, but I have been very impressed with the Diamond Medallion phone line staff so far. Then on to low level space availability. All those who are looking for low level seats on Delta and wondered where they are, I have found them! They are all in a big bucket for the Diamonds. Wow!

This run, unlike most, I booked some extra time and drove from Phoenix down to Tucson to stay with some friends. I truly enjoyed the tour.

My friend who goes by “Voucher Vulture” was “the” points guy to talk to years back. Now I share a few tips now and then that he does not know about. Anyway, I had never been to the desert of Tucson so it was great to see the sights.

I have so much to share about this “Fun Run” including some great BBQ in Texas. I also had the privilege to fly with Elizabeth or “Lisa” the new Delta in-flight safety video “star” we see each time we fly. She really is as nice in person as she is on the video. Stay tuned more on the way soon!- René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
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I always try to use points. I try not to waste points and over pay for things vs. what I personally value my points at but still the standing rule is spend them whenever I can.

Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) is one of the most simple and flexible points programs to use. Sure you can send them to many programs 1 for 1 but for me I love to spend them for travel “stuff” and get 1.25 cents per point value towards say a car rental or a resort. You can just pick all points or part cash & part points or all cash to earn more points (since starting at the Chase portal). Just do what you value the most!

Having redeemed well over ½ million UR points I have learned a bunch. I have learned when it comes to cars, you will not lose your Visa Signature protection when redeeming points or points and cash for your car and blogged about it HERE.

With airline tickets, it is simple. Once you are ticketed, UR is, for the most part, out of the loop. You have with say Delta, just purchased the ticket and you deal with Delta for say a flight change or a plethora of other travel issues.

With hotels or resorts, it is another matter and you need to understand how this all works. Chase uses a travel agency to do all the bookings. It is, btw, the same one that Citi Thank You also uses.

Anyway, as a simple example let’s look at my trip to Grand Cayman at the Reef Resort. To get the 1.25 cents per point value you have to pick a resort that partners with Chase. Then, the Travel Agency (TA) books this for you. Many times it will NOT be direct. For me, the Chase travel agency used “Fun Jet” to do the booking with The Reef. You see the steps and the connections going on here. I had: Chase→UR Travel Agency→Fun Jet→The Reef. WOW! So, what if something goes wrong? You don’t call Chase, you call the UR TA. They are your go to point. But, this is not always simple. Say you have an issue with the resort, they have to answer not to you or to UR TA but to Fun Jet. Fun Jet does not deal with you, they deal with the UR TA. Now I am not saying any of this is “bad”, and when I had a major issue with this year’s booking, it all worked out very well and everyone worked hard to make it right and they did. But it did take time, stress and many many MANY e-mails to get it all worked out and I got some credit back to my card and a check for the difference as they could not put the points back into my account.

Are the extra steps worth it? You bet. I mean think about this, the INK BOLD card or the INK PLUS card both, once you meet the $5000 in spend (thus 55,000 points), will give you  $687  in travel value when redeemed at the 1.25 cents per point through the UR portal. If a husband and wife each got both cards in one year, after spend requirements on each card, you are talking  $2,750 credit towards your vacation! You could even each also add a Chase Sapphire, after $3000 spend pick up another 43,000 total points, and have another  $1075  added to your totals! For me, to not have to come up with that much cash for a vacation is truly amazing and a great travel value (many will say you should ONLY redeem for premium cabins etc – if that’s what you want, fine – for others like me I like this way)!

As a Delta flyer, I will use my Delta Skymiles and fly business class, use my UR points to rent cars and pay for resorts and the result is amazing vacations year after year. How about you? – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
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We all know Delta / Delta partner CRJ100/200 & Embraer145 jets are evil (ok that may be a bit harsh but not by much). I know some readers say they like them but as one who “must” fly them out of South Bend all the time – take my word please they are evil little things (you hear me Jeff Robertson – please get SBN some CRJ700/900′s)!

OK mini-rant over and now to what can help you in today’s post. If you have to be stuck on a regional jet there are some things to know. The first is overhead storage. I “like” row 1 on a CRJ as it does give you “some” extra leg room in B&C to stretch into the galley area. But, many times, the overhead for row 1 is full of first aid oxygen and for FA use so your bags could end up in row 2 or much worse. If you are going to sit in row 1, be sure you board #1. If not, pick row 2 to be safe.

The next little torture jet is the Embraer145. The ONLY plus of these little gems over the above ones is if you are alone you can have your own private row. This is so much better than fighting for space in a CRJ. But, please be alert for seats 1A & 2A. 1A does have some extra leg room (nice) but there is NO overhead space until row 3 and all of it is on the other side of the jet. Again, you need to be one of the first on board to get your stuff “up there”!

Another nice tip for those of you like me that need to lose 10 pounds (ok 20 pounds) is the little button under your armrest. As you can see in the above shot, on most, some both sides, you can raise your armrest if you want to (thus the announcement each time to lower them before landing on this aisle side). Many times this can be a nice way to gain some space and comfort!

Anyway, Delta has promised to continue to reduce these “gems” from the inventory and for me it can not happen fast enough. Any other tips to make regional jet travel better? Please share them with us too – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
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It is hard to say how much worse the changes are going to be to not just for Delta’s frequent flyer program, but to ALL airlines frequent flyer programs. I talked about what I see on the way in a post HERE and my fellow blogger Gary Leff had his thoughts about our beloved airline.

But what really “burns” me up is people who email me or comment (whatever) and then say, I have 400,000 or 700,000 or over a million Skymiles. What - ARE YOU CRAZY? I always try to have almost ZERO Skymiles. As soon as I earn them I try to book with them. Now I do have a leg up over many Delta flyers as Platinum & Diamond Medallion flyers can book Skymiles awards and change them all they want up to 72 hrs before flight. I get that. But if you are NOT a medallion and if you KNOW the dates for next winter’s or spring’s trips, please think about booking them ASAP. Why? The below is not my travel plan for next year but it gives you the idea of what a business class ticket would cost to buy.

No way in this lifetime or any other am I going to spend almost $7000 to fly in business class to Sweden. I would and do many times a year burn 100,000 Skymiles each for Lisa & I to go, plus under $100 in taxes each.

But just think if tomorrow, or next month, Delta announces a change to each Skymile only being worth 1 cent across the board, but you can book any flight any day as a result of this change. Then, the above ticket would cost me 677,360 Skymiles compared to 200,000! Oh my is right. There is no way they will be able to go back and ask for MORE miles once you have booked so you see the logic of burning as fast as you can and lock in what you can sooner than later.

The 64 million dollar (or should I say 600 million powerball) question is will this happen tomorrow or next month? I doubt it and I do think it will be a disastrously stupid and financially destructive choice for Delta. That does not mean they will not do it, but if I only have under 100,000 Skymiles then if and when it happens I will be a happy camper and enjoy my last 3 or 4 trips in Delta’s international business class seats!

I hope you also see the logic of having other points that are NOT tied to an airline like Chase Ultimate Rewards from cards links INK, Sapphire & Freedom or the AMEX Membership Rewards points from Gold & Platinum cards (i.e. NON-Delta ones). Even those you must be careful not to allow to build TOO large a balance.

I fight to bring my point balance down to not come across as a hypocrite in saying all this. I do a great job with Delta Skymiles & with Chase but have well over ½ million AA/USAIR points now and need to burn up my last ¼ million United. I think Hotels are done for a little while causing mayhem so I am risking letting them grow just a little. Either way, I hope this makes you think and to by all means BURN BABY BURN those points! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

Warren who bravely says: KC BBQ is better!

Congratulations (well… Hummm)! I will e-mail you soon!

I cannot wait to try some authentic Texas BBQ and be able to provide, for once and for all, if Texas BBQ really is the best soon (with input clearly from Will Run for Miles)! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

Anyone who ever calls Delta, when you are done with the call, you get the request about cars and hotels. Also, as you can see from MY DELTA page, we also see the adds on our home page at Delta.

Now I am all for earning extra Skymiles and a discount on top of that would be great too as I am always looking to both earn more Skymiles and save a few bucks.

But when I looked to rent a car from Hertz in Sweden on this last trip, you can see that for a day rental the price was just a little high. But was it a good deal or not? So I went direct to Hertz to see.

Humm… Not seeing the BIG 15% discount Delta.com was promising here, but I would get a few extra Skymiles this way if I booked it so there is that, right?!

But you know what, Air France also has a deal going. They are saying I can save up to 24% off and when I use their link and code, as you can see from the above, the price DOES in fact drop a bunch. How nice and even a bigger car for the price (I also check other places like MouseSavers as well).

I would love to get feedback from readers if you have ever used the Delta codes and have found a good deal in both price and points due to the offer on the website. As for me, in the end I used my USAA discount and earned Hertz points and got a much better rate than any of the above. It does go to show that Delta.com links can be checked to see if they are worthwhile, but as most have found they are rarely the best deal to be had! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

They say Texas has the BEST BBQ in the world (we will just have to see about that). I am looking forward to lunch with some fellow Delta Points & Will Run for Miles readers on Tuesday and you can check the post to where we are going HERE.

I will naturally be paying with my Chase Freedom card as the 5x points they are paying as a bonus now is much better than the standard 2x points my Chase Sapphire card I normally use at restaurants is. For many “chain” restaurants I can still use my INK BOLD and INK PLUS to visit the gift card section and get 5x points that way also!

But on to today’s SWAG. As always, the rules are HERE. Since everything “IS” bigger in Texas, this week’s prize has to be really really big right. So, as you see in the photo above, in addition to a shot at Silver Medallion grand prize in July, this week you can get a set of iGo noise canceling headphones and a Marriott passport cover and tag, a Delta tag, a Delta Points tag, a GoGo SCREAMING monkey and a one day GoGo in-flight pass. Fun!

To enter, all you have to do is comment on if you agree that Texas has the best BBQ or some other state is better. Or, even, if you think say the lobster in Maine is better than Texas BBQ anyway! As long as you in some way talk about food – you qualify! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

I have been seeing this more and more as of late, that when I use my phone APP it shows me much higher on the upgrade list than Delta.com. That is, when I can get it going since it takes so long to start up as I blogged about and uploaded a video to YouTube of just how much time it takes HERE.

When I do check at the gate, the upgrade list with my phone app does match the gate display compared to when I log on to Delta.com with my laptop and compare the same list. Have you all been seeing the same thing on the I-Phone app vs. Delta.com or any other strange goings on at Delta.com? Let us know please.

Or maybe it is just something you don’t like about the updated Delta.com. For example, another thing that I wish they would change is the uber-tiny scroll bar on Delta.com (does it make you crazy too?)!

On a plus side, I can tell you with my first mileage run on the way as a Diamond Medallion, all 10 of my flights with 1st class have cleared (2 are CRJ200′s grrrrr) compared to my mileage run last year as a Silver Medallion (FO)  when just 1 of the 8 cleared pre-flight! So I guess now all I need is an FO to carry my bags (hello! MJ?) and is it wrong to tease and have my old FO tag on my backpack? – René

PS – Don’t forget about SWAG Saturday
starting at 3:PM!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

#1 Richard G who says:

“Retweeted. Crossing my fingers. Thanks for the giveaway.“

Congratulations, Richard! I will e-mail you soon! Wow was it hard to get readers to both comment AND to tweet as well. If you are not using @DeltaAssist yet, you are missing out and need to get on Twitter if ONLY for that. Please! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information