Unless you live on the moon you will know Delta opened the mighty TX4 terminal in JFK today. Some are upset to see the old T3 former PanAm “World Port” go (my grand dad was with PanAm for years btw) but for me new is better and time to move on! So what else is making Delta-ish news? Check it out:

• The Chicago Seminars soon sold out!  – don’t miss out HERE

•  Michael W’s blog has a nice Delta giveaway going HERE

• PM&M has a good post about using MR points for Delta 1-way is HERE

• Delta has updated their blog HERE

• Will Delta “oil” ever make money? Maybe is HERE

• A short video from Delta CEO is HERE

• A longer video from Delta CEO is HERE

• “They” say FF programs are not worth much – HA! is HERE

• OK this video had nothing to do with Delta or flying it is just funny!

Have a great weekend everyone and be safe and be sure to check back tomorrow for my trip/cost report for my last mileage run as well as SWAG Saturday on the way at 1:PM- René

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Readers have been e-mailing me about having to RUN in ATL due to very very long lines at security. If there has ever been a time to go ahead and get your GOES and TSA Pre done it is now as I blogged about  HERE  . Also, the strike in Brussels, Belgium (BRU) could affect you today as well.

➤ Points Miles & Martini’s has a good post on the latest “enhancement” to our Economy Comfort seating fees!

➤ In case you missed my post last night, nothing but “skunky beer” now for free in the Delta Skyclubs!

➤ If you are going to Scandinavia Delta is resuming seasonal flights to both Sweden and Denmark.

➤ You may want to read the comment on the Delta e-Gift cards if you have an AMEX PLAT card of either the personal or business flavor!

➤ Live in Austin? Phoenix? Join me and other points enthusiasts for lunch on Tuesday!

➤ I have posted some Mileage Run updates at Milepoint – 11,000+ MQM’s under $500!

➤ And lastly today, always take your SKY with you and shoot a photo for a chance to win from SKY!

 Any other little Delta updates I have missed or you know about? Please comment on the blog below. – René

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With a HT to reader Marc I can say I am not a happy club “hopper” as Delta Corp Guy has posted this:

Update from DL on Club beverage changes – FT

Delta Sky Clubs are changing the selection of both complimentary and for-purchase premium alcoholic beverages beginning tomorrow. Complimentary well-known alcohol brands will still be provided at the Club just as they have been.

Altering our complimentary offerings will enable us to expand our portfolio of premium for-purchase products and maintain complimentary spirits, beer and wine as we continue to invest in the overall Club experience. We review our Club offerings periodically so that we are able to make changes based on customer feedback, financial considerations and other factors including the variety of options we offer our members.

The new offerings are comparable to house/well brands in other airport lounges.

• Complimentary spirits: Vodka – Gordon’s; Gin – Gordon’s; Rum – Myers’s Platinum; Scotch – Scoresby; Bourbon – Jack Daniel’s; Sweet Vermouth – Martini & Rossi; Extra Dry Vermouth – Martini & Rossi.
• Complimentary beer: Budweiser and Miller Lite
• Complimentary wine: no changes to current wine offerings

Other brands will be available through our for-purchase options available through our Luxury Bar. Our goal is to offer members quality products and services at reasonable prices that are competitive with other airport lounges while continuing to provide good value for membership.

__________________
DLCorpGuy  -  FT

I am all for Delta making as much money as they can from the Skyclubs but in NO WAY is Budweiser and Miller Lite a drinkable beer. I have said it before and will say it again, soon Delta will charge for AIR on the jets (unless it is a stinky CRJ 200 as they smell so bad that it would be criminal to charge for that air)! – René

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Last night Delta Air Lines sponsored a really fun concert and nummy BBQ in Colorado Springs in connection with BAcon or the BoardingArea Convention. This weekend has been both educational and fun and I think you will see many new features from BA bloggers over the coming months.

But on to the news. April & May have been busy for our airline & here are some headlines that caught my attention and may peak yours as well:

• Delta is rewarding DAL shareholders is HERE

• Making Delta elites happy is HERE

• Legal update on the Delta phone APP is HERE

• Skywest is dumping more CRJ200 is HERE

• The result of the above could mean less flights is HERE

• The Delta Pinnacle Airlines takeover continues is HERE

• Not Delta, but you can now sleep & dine on a 747 is HERE

• I just thought the below was too funny!

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone and you still have time to take part of SWAG Saturday as well as a ReTweet contest both ending later today! – René

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I just don’t get people’s fear of flying! The part you should be scared out of your wits about is the driving TO the airport part. I mean take a look at the photo above and now please read THIS news piece from my local WNDU station of what happened right outside my hometown SBN airport.

So what else is going on in travel news? Let’s take a look:

• Delta does right by a young boy HERE (wish they would do the same with Delta DieMiles)!
• Pinnacle Airlines is on it’s way out of bankruptcy and MEM is HERE
• Wahoo – The airlines are making money is HERE
• DAL is to be inline with expectations is HERE
• I will never use a hotel room drinking glass again is HERE

So there are some of the latest travel & Delta headlines. Any other news worthy of our time? Be sure to include a link below on the blog in your comments! – René

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Delta thinks it is a very bad idea to fly in and out of Chicago today. I have been out in it in the South Bend area today and I can tell you it is nasty out here! So, if you are flying in and out of ORD or MDW, or even just connecting through there, you can change for free. HERE is the Delta link. – René

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 Sample from Delta corp

Some good news from Delta today from Delta that we will no longer have to “hope” we are selected by TSA PreCheck (I always feel like a puppy waiting for a treat when I wait for the 3 beeps)!

We’ve got some good news for you if you’ve already experienced TSA PreCheck. Starting today, we will become the first airline to print an indicator on kiosk-printed boarding passes to give you some advance notice if you’ve been selected for TSA PreCheck. On Thursday, April 19, we’ll add a similar indicator on OCI and mobile boarding passes. The indicators will be available at the start of the check-in window in all formats.

“TSA PRECHK” will appear immediately underneath the passenger name on printed boarding passes and for customers using mobile boarding passes the TSA PreCheck logo will appear at the top right corner above the barcode.

The TSA PreCheck indicator will appear on boarding passes throughout your itinerary whether the airport has TSA PreCheck or not so be sure to verify that the airport is a participating location.

The addition of this visual queue does not change any other aspect of the program, but it gives you some valuable information. While passengers with the TSA PreCheck indicator have been pre-cleared, no passenger is ever guaranteed expedited screening. The TSA continues to incorporate random, unpredictable screening measures. – DLCorpGuy

But, as the last few lines say, we may still get randomly pulled out by TSA. It will be fun to see what difference this does make in practice.

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Clearly everything is much more important than an airline flight, but Delta is doing the right thing and letting you change if you need to. The update from Delta is here. – Rene

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Delta had to get these changes out to all their personnel, so information about the update was “leaked” to FlyerTalk. In today’s instant information age, it is very hard to keep secrets.

Now the changes. Here is a chart of what has changed:

So, good or bad? Medallions are a bit “jumpy” lately as Delta has been eroding our benefits and making it harder next year to quality. Delta is selling this as an enhancement to the SDC program and if you are a non-medallion it is great for you as you now get a chance at SDC.

If you are a GM+, overall this is mostly a downgrade since, depending on the change, you may have to pay, not be in the right fare class, or now have a bunch more competition from regular flyers and elites (all in the same fare class). I am also confident we will see this more and more as Delta begins selling these perks at the kiosks to tell non-medallions they can do this if they want!

Award seats are an issue as well with this change. Delta says that inside the 72 hr window, many more award seats at HIGH/MED/LOW open up so this should not be a big issue. We will see. But keep in mind that each of these has a “Delta Award Fare Class” associated to HIGH/MED/LOW so you must be able to find seats in THAT fare bucket to be able to SDC your award seat.

Lastly, Delta IT will NOT be able to give you “lower” fare class seats. For example, say you book in “K” class, and seats are open in LUT, but NOT K, you booked HIGHER so the lower seats should let you get the SDC. You can, but you will have to CALL Delta to get this done!

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that the above event is very unlikely to happen in real life. As an example, from TrojanTraveler from FlyerTalk who says:

“I can only look at my own experience, but on most of the flights that I am on, they are packed. And each time I have SDC’d, the only bucket available has generally been Y, maybe B (I know because I have looked at Expert Flyer). As many have said, this puts a practical end to SDC.“

Thus, anyone who has not booked a very high fare class ticket, will just about be DONE with SDC unless you are willing to pay the much higher fare class fee!

The standby rules are very different also as to changes in routes (you can’t) and more. You can see the full new update page HERE at Delta.com to read all the updates live.

I am sure you will see a lively conversation over this over at THIS new FlyerTalk thread put up by Delta CORP. Feel free to chime in what you think here on the blog or join the discussion over there as well! – René

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Thanks to reader “KS” who sent me the above clipping from the “LA Times”, it would seem the LAX Skyclub will not only be upgraded to have top shelf drinks for those who want to pay up for those, but the “Stars” will have their own Skyclub inside the Skyclub – their own VIP room!

I plan to reach out to my Delta CORP contacts as I will, on just a few occasions over this year, be in the LAX Skyclub so I hope to get some pictures to share of the new place for celebrities  (or maybe I can just get my own VIP pass while I am at it ) – René
 

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