How many of “Generation X” or whatever they come up with as the next label can remember a time when you didn’t have choices when it came to telephone service? How many remember Ma Bell of old?  When things change in a major way, a shift to a new norm, it takes remarkably little time for the old “normal” to be forgotten. Only those who lived through the shift will remember why what is normal now is better or worse than what was normal then.

The video by Lily Tomlin, who said “”We don’t care; we don’t have to. We’re the phone company”, is at the heart of this post and the SWAG Saturday to follow. Today is a gripe day. But also a reality check. Not a “call to arms” but an understanding for me. I minored in Sociology in college and find culture fascinating. We FF are a subculture in society. We will do things considered quite insane by the general public. We are also a bit obsessive over both tangible and intangible things when it comes to flying. That is part of the reason for our reactions to what is going on in the industry and particularly Delta. But as I said, time for a reality check.

Soon AA will merge with US Air and will be the biggest airline in the world. Delta and United said they were fine with the merger. There is only one single reason for this; this will help them. Otherwise they would not be OK with it. Less competition, less choice, less push back when they raise fares, less less less. And like the video from so many years ago, think how much “data” Delta has about us. Do you really think they have not “run the numbers” about every choice they now make?

When the phone company was the only choice, what could you do? In my almost 20 years of running a computer shop (my real job when not blogging), I have sent a small fortune to Microsoft in buying Windows and Office licenses of all flavors. Why? I had no choice. I have never done MAC or “I” anything and for many years no one really had a choice. That, as we all know, is now changing (has changed). Look at where Apple is now. Look at the fact that with a 10″ Android tablet, a bluetooth keyboard and mouse you can, for so many things, just avoid a PC all together. Are these better than a PC? Maybe; maybe not. But when given a choice, even if not as good, at some point enough is enough. Also, you can only push people SO FAR. The problem is, when a company pushes too far it is often hard to get people BACK when they realize what they have done.

Many are talking about the changes to what Delta offers as “Death by 1000 cuts“. An interesting analogy. Many Delta flyers are hub captive or for company reasons must fly Delta. So, like the phone company of old, they have no choice. Others, like me, overall like Delta and will roll with the punches. That does not mean I will just take it nor does it mean I am happy as you will see later today. But, I also know, as we have always known, we can “game the system” to get what we want. Thus, no matter what Delta does, no matter how many times they “push” we will “pull”.

Bottom line is the space has changed. Some will shift spend to AA or UA next year. It may impact Delta or not as they are flying just about full (for now). Some of these may find the grass is not much greener over on the other side. Time will tell. To me, adapt, change, adjust, read, learn, tinker, find the ways to get what we want. Maybe “the more things change, the more they stay the same”! At some point, Delta, we will all look hard and say “What have you done for me lately” and how will you answer? – René

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Hello Everyone!

So far Spring has being cold and dreary around here, but it has given people dreams of warmer weather and Summer vacations. Now is the time to be planning for Summer and I have been busy helping clients with Walt Disney World Vacations.

When I was growing up, my mom would always take our family on vacation. Several times those vacations included Walt Disney World. I have such happy memories of going to the parks and riding the rides!

Then, I thought of Disney as a place for kids, but now, being a travel agent I know it is also a great place for adults too! There is everything from world class spas to championship golf to fine dining. Disney World offers wonderful vacations for families, couples, and even girlfriend getaways.

Every bride wants to feel like a princess so why not make that happen with Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings. You have amazing choices of wedding collection options, ceremony locations as well as some spectacular reception choices. You can even arrive at your wedding in Cinderella’s Crystal Coach which is a silvery, pumpkin-shaped carriage that is horse drawn and guided by a coachman in full royal attire! Or you could choose to have your wedding at a private island or on board Disney Cruise Lines and then spend your honeymoon at Disney World!

When you make hotel arrangements, be sure to stay at the Disney World Resort on site properties for perks that include free airport and resort transportation, early park admission, and package/souvenir delivery to your resort. You will also get a Key to the World Card. This all-in-one card acts as your hotel room key and Theme Park ticket. You can also use the card to charge souvenirs throughout Disney World Resort directly to your room so there’s no need to carry money while enjoying your vacation. Present your card to a select Disney Cast Member to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours benefit. And if you’ve purchased the Disney Dining Plan, use the card during your vacation to pay for meals at over 100 select locations throughout Walt Disney World Resort. Investing in dining packages are really worth it and sometimes, are offered as freebies, however to get the dining you must get park passes.

I suggest the Park Hopper passes instead of the Base ticket option for the parks, because it allows you much more freedom to come and go as you please. A common mistake I see with clients is that they tend to get a 3 day pass even if they are really staying 7 days, thinking the savings is huge. The difference in cost between a 3 day ticket and a 7 day ticket is around $40 total. The passes include admission to one or more of the following theme parks for each day of the ticket:

• Magic Kingdom Park
• Epcot
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park

Get your passes for the length of your stay, you will not regret it and for just a little more include the water park option.

If you stay at the most economical Disney World Resort on site properties, make sure you spend a few dollars extra and get the preferred rooms which are closer to the front of the properties.

One of my favorite resorts to stay at Disney World is the flagship property, the Grand Floridian. It’s a beautiful Victorian style property on the white sand shores of the Seven Seas lagoon. Its has a wonderful spa, a beach pool with a 181 foot long water slide and romantic dining at Victoria & Albert’s.

If you want to feel like you are on safari, you will love the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge. It features its own 33-acre savanna where over 30 species of African wildlife, including zebras, kudu and flamingos reside. It’s Africa in the middle of Florida where guests can swim in a pool or soak in spa tubs not far from giraffes and gazelles. Make sure you upgrade and get a room with a savanna view!

Make good use of your time with Disney’s FastPass that lets you bypass the long regular line. Get your FastPasses at your top two or three rides ( most people include Space Mountain) and make sure you start early since you can get a FastPass for every two hour window.

If money is no object and you want the best experience ever, then try Disney’s VIP Tour Service. They will customize your day to include whatever you need. You can book them up to 6 hours a day to get private tour guides, behind the scenes tours and special front row seating for shows. The rate starts at $315 an hour, but is definitely worth it because with a premium tour you get perks like going directly thru the FastPass line as many times as you want, and getting those impossible to get dining reservations on the day of your tour. Of if you are like most of us and money is an object, get a Chase INK Bold or INK Plus and a Sapphire to help pay for these VIP trips!

Disney often runs great specials mid July to late September so make sure to check out those dates if possible. Right now specials include up to 3 kids stay free with 1 paying adult and 2 free nights at select properties.

Just talking about Disney World makes me smile, I hope you get to visit soon! – Tamara

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I wanted to pop up a quick post about the rumored SDC changes said to be on the way April 16th. I am working to try to get some CORP confirmations, but often times I get the standard “can not comment on planned changes”. Other times I do get confirmations I can share. I will advise when I can.

First, what is SDC? You can look HERE what Delta.com currently has to say about the perk. Basically, Same Day Change, sometimes called same day confirmation, in rookie terms it is changing to a earlier or later flight or flights to get home sooner or later or even to get a better route (either more direct if you want or LESS direct if you want to earn more MQM’s or Skymiles) on the same day you are already scheduled to fly. Some use this perk a bunch others don’t even know that you can do this or understand the rules.

The Points Guy, back when he still loved Delta back in 2011, had a great post you really should review HERE to get an overview of SDC. Then, you can take a peek at the current 11 page FlyerTalk post about the suggested and rumored change HERE.

Since most of this is unconfirmed, and many times, like the SPG CrossoverRewards early info, much of it can and does change by release date. But I do have a few thoughts if this info does pan out.

I get what Delta is doing here. Delta is trying to make as much money as they can (like every choice they ever make now-a-days). Some FF’ers have been using the SDC to work around having to pay higher fare class tickets and then “gaming” the rules to fly as they want and route as they want. Some of this will go away if they impose these new rules as suggested. I also get others just use this to get home sooner!

The one thing that would make my head come off is if, and again if, for award tickets, not just any same cabin seat must be open, but say a low level seat has to be open. That, as we all know, is somewhat hard to find nowadays (especially if you cannot change the route). Again, if this change happens, SDC for award travel will be just about over (unless you were dumb enough to book HIGH level awards to start with)!

I will have much more on this and was planning on an SDC Rookie Wednesday post but will clearly hold off until we get more word on this. Lastly, I will push Tamara’s Friday post off till later in the day so you all can share some feedback on what you think of this, so check back to see what Tamara has to share with you after lunch! – René

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I thought I would hit on a few more reader questions today; I really appreciate all the input from the OPEN Monday a few weeks back. I will try to touch on as many of these as I can and if you have more, the comment section of that post is still open so feel free.

Let’s get stated with one that tends to make flyers the most upset (yours truly included). I have a long one from Gregg:

On this past Monday, I got stuck with the bad weather in ATL. We left FLL at 4:15 (on time) and when we were 20 minutes outside of ATL, the pilot came on the PA and said that ATL was closed due to bad weather. He went on to say that our 757 only had 45 minutes of fuel left and that we would have to divert, most likely to JAX. five minutes later he came back on and said we were going to divert to Savannah to get some fuel and then wait out the storm so we can continue on to ATL. we landed in Savannah at 6:30 and were told that there were 14 other Delta planes on the ground here and that there was no place for us at the gate. at 9:25 they pulled us into a United gate and allowed us to deplane, if we chose to, while the plane got some fuel. At this time, the flight crew said they were now illegal as they had been in the cockpit for 16 hours and that a new crew would be sent from ATL. Now we all know that Delta would not send another plane to Savannah, an airport with only 10 delta flights to Atlanta a day, yet another plane just to move a flight crew and one hour later they told us that the flight would leave the next day. The gate agent said that since this was a weather issue, Delta would not be giving out hotel or food vouchers. hearing that, one of the other people on the plane and I rented a car and drove to ATL, where I then got a hotel so I could take a connection to BHM in the morning. One of the people sitting behind me on the flight to BHM said that Delta ended up giving out vouchers for a holiday in until they ran out. My question after all that is, that since a weather issue caused us to be diverted, but ultimately it was the lack of a crew that canceled us, do I have any recourse? I feel that I should get my hotel and car rental costs back, since they had eventually gave out some hotel vouchers to those who stayed in Savannah. Thanks – Gregg

Wow that is a story AND a question. The bottom line, that just irks me, is the airlines can almost always say it is weather and get away with it. Look at my example in my post HERE. Delta 100% stands by the fact that it was weather, even tough my CJR had a broken part. So on to your question. You are officially entitled to ZERO ZIP NADA NOTHING! The weather caused all of this chain of events. Now when you landed, had the plane say blown a tire and could not fly, then maybe. But my guess would be, Delta would say weather, as they would not have landed in Savannah without the weather first causing them to go there and blow out the tire there instead of Atlanta. See! Maddening is it not. But thanks for the question.

Next we have one about award booking from Jim. He wants to know just what you can do over time. Take a look:

OK, I have a question. Booking low miles tickets to Europe (or wherever), can you book the hard part one week and then a few weeks later book the not hard parts and then get an agent to combine them? I booked JFK-CDG over Thanksgiving a few weeks ago in Business, and now I want to book the SFO – JFK in business too… all at the lowest level. can I do that, or do I have to do it all on one day? Thanks! – Jim

I like the way your mind works Jim and you are thinking in the strange, convoluted and round about way we must all think to find and score low level seats on Delta. So now to your question. You can do what you are asking about, but with a bunch of caveats and for anyone NOT either Platinum or Diamond Medallion DO NOT DO THIS please. You need to keep in mind that too many legs each way or total can bump this from one ticket into two tickets. Also, layover times can break this from one into two. Next, say you find what you are talking about round trip, then hold the next part one way, then call and ask to put them into one, you are now holding the seats. You must get a rep good enough to re-price or re-book them (sometimes releasing the seats you have to free up inventory) and then get the international re-issue desk to do what you want. I have had success with “price as booked” from the help desk, but this is one of those that “should” work and you must get a phone rep good enough to get that.

Now here is a wide open question that kinda fits with the last one from Jim. Jeff wants to know:

I have 180,000 delta points. I would like to fly 2 people from Northeastern US to somewhere (anywhere) outside of the US this summer in first or business class. What would be best place I could go.

OK let me stop you right here Jeff. You need 20,000 more Skymiles. If you have never had the GOLD Delta Business card, with just $500 spend you will be up to 210,000 and that, with a lot of work (see the E7 posts in the Essentials tab) will get you two low level business class seats to Europe. With really a lot of work, you could say fly into Paris, stop over for say a week, then continue on to Rome or Sweden or England. Then, on the way back, you could do the same some place else. Bottom line, the world is wide open, and since you have no place you MUST or are set on going, it will be much simpler to find low level seats as you just want to go someplace and enjoy!

It seems everyone is asking about Europe. And that is fine. Kae has a big family and wants to find out:

Hi, We would like to see Europe the summer of 2015 using Delta miles. Any suggestions on what to do to get enough miles from Atlanta to cover a family of four by that time? Thanks for your time! Kae

First let me applaud you Kae for thinking long term. You don’t want to go in two months and want to all fly 1st class NOW. So on to my answer. To me, clearly, business is the way to go. It takes 60,000 Skymiles to go in coach and 100,000 in business. Now I get that we are talking 240,000 Skymiles vs a HUGE 400,000 for four. That is a big number. Can you get that many by 2015? Sure. You will want to keep your eye on large Membership Reward card deals that come up as they can be sent almost instantly to Delta. You can churn a few Skymiles cards each as well. After you get 240k or 400k it will be hard work to get the low level seats and with children, depending on their ages, strange multi-hop flights may not be much fun. So, the other option is to just buy tickets with Ultimate Rewards points. Let’s say you can find coach seats for $1000 each / $4000 for the trip. To pay for the full ticket price with UR points would take 320,000. If both you and your husband EACH get a Chase  INK BOLD  and  INK PLUS  card, each spend $5,000 on each, and you BOTH got a Chase Sapphire card, and spend $3000 on that, all in, grand total after spend, you would be at 306,000. Pick up a Chase Freedom card or two and you are there. Then, you can pick any airline you want, like Delta, earn Skymiles for the trip, and pick the exact flights you want.

Now we have one about the many perks of the Platinum Membership Rewards cards (NOT to be confused with the DELTA Platinum Skymiles card that is a TOTALLY different product – clear)! Jackie wants to know:

René. My question is: I have chosen delta as my airline w amex plat card $200 credit this year & already gotten $50 checked bag fees reimbursed from jan/feb flights. I am not elite on delta but I am an spg platinum member. So now that as of march 1st I get those great crossover benefits, how can I best use my remaining $150 annual credit on delta? Please help! I don’t want to waste it but I can’t change my airline mid year. Thanks!

Wow what a nice problem to have (Plat with SPG)! Yes Crossover rewards does give you a nice perk now and your bag does ride free plus you will earn points with both programs. You are 100% correct that you can ONLY pick one airline per calendar year. You are stuck with Delta until 01JAN2014. So what can you spend the perk on? You could buy a Skyclub 1 year pass. Or, 3 one day passes. As talked about yesterday, there are often discount codes, like “SJN10″ that can reduce it by 10%. I know you get in free already with your AMEX MR Platinum card so the other option is on board drinks and eats. That is about it for now (stay tuned for other options on the way soon).

Thanks again for all the input everyone. I have a fun Rookie post on the way tomorrow and this weekend’s SWAG is a simple one all will like – a $30 gift card to Amazon.com – René

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The above video, from the BBC about NWA/Delta 253, is worth reviewing. While a few years old, it touches on some topics that I think we, as frequent flyers, should keep in mind and even apply.

I want you all especially to notice the ideas at the end of the video. The suggestions from the “El AL” security individual. Technology will hopefully help out, but so can we. We who fly all the time know the system; we can be part of the solution.

If we are aware, question, and look around, perhaps we can see something not right. After all, do you think a frequent flyer alerting someone about a person who you think is not acting right would be appreciated? Even if it delays your flight by a few minuets, think what it could gain if your suspicions prove true. If not, no big deal.

I would very much like to know what you all think about this. Has there ever been a time where you have seen something and thought I really should say something to someone and did not? Have you ever spoken up before or got involved? I have before and would and will again!  – René

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I really need to every now and then have an “OPEN” Monday to see what is on readers minds. I mean I enjoy sharing what is in my head, but let’s see what is in yours.

John asks: Rene, my wife has a Delta Reserve Personal and I have a Reserve Business. We will spend at least $60K on each giving us each 40K MQM’s[10k new card bonus+30k for spend]. With our flying, I know we’ll both make GM. But, if I understand it, she could gift me some MQM’s and I could make PM and gift her Silver. The question, which is better for two spouses always traveling together: one PM and one FO or is two GM’s better? Also, you mention in this blog that you have two Reserve cards. I thought you once said you have one and your wife has one and you swap about each year. Doesn’t having two Reserve’s mean you will have to go a year with no Reserve or do without the 10K bonus. Thanks.

What a great question(s) John. As you know and talked about, when you have NOT had a Delta Gold, Platinum or Reserve for 365 days, you are eligible to get 10,000 MQM’s when going for the Delta Reserve card (either the  personal  or  business  one). The welcome bonus MUST go to the card holder per the T&C but the bonus, once you spend $30,000 by 31DEC each year, you can send to ANYONE you want who has a Skymiles account.

Also, as you point out John, in the past, I have sent my wife MQM’s or the other way around. This year, and for our current circumstances, just I have Delta AMEX cards (my wife is waiting time period). I suggest for most to churn the cards, that is, hold the personal and then next year, hold the business and so on and so on. Now you can tweak this. I tend to work this way. I keep my business Reserve just about forever since they send me so many retention points each year. Plus I have a HUGE credit line on it. I then dump the personal now and then, wait 365 days, and then get it again. This year, I will spend on the two cards enough to get 60,000 MQM’s plus I got and rolled over the 10k from last year when I got the card!

On to your last question. By my making Diamond I can gift my wife Gold Medallion (GM). This is a big step as Skymiles tickets can get upgrades with GM but not when FO (Silver). We can drop down to her level for the upgrade list or split the PNR (person number record or your ticket locator number) and then I will upgrade and she may not (oh she gets the nice seat and I go back to coach)! So up to you if you want to BOTH be GM or gift her FO when you make PM. Depends on how you fly. Do keep in mind that PM get FREE changes to award tickets. This is a HUGE perk I always want to have. Hope this helps!

Andrew asks: What is your favorite Delta Terminal? Favorite Delta lounge? Favorite restaurant and/or place to visit in a Delta Terminal worldwide and at Detroit Metro?

HA! The ones I can get into (ugg – txs KLM). This really is a fun question. As far as a favorite terminal, it has to be the new F in ATL. I am not a big fan of the B/C side one in DTW. It seems to always get very full but is nice when you need to jump on a regional jet. The main one in A in the middle is nice and most times you can find a quiet spot (just above the entrance doors for example) and they have the showers. But, the “wing” clubs at the ends of “A” are often less crowded so if the main one is really full, just jump on the people mover as they dump out right at the clubs. As to restaurants I need to explore more. I just spend too much time in the clubs to try them all.

Sidd asks: When is the best time to do a mileage run? In the week or weekend? And what is really worth spending for a mileage run? Thanks

I am struggling how to answer this question because so much goes into the answer. What are you looking for? Are you a lower medallion and want the best upgrade shots, then you need to look at THIS post for your answer. Do you work M-F 9-5, then clearly you want to stick to weekends. For me, and again just me, I have week days that are the best for me as my weekends are very full. I also will some days pick flights that cost more or less so I have more or less time in some city. For example, I may want 3 hrs in ATL or LAX or SFO or DTW for a quick trip to dinner or a shower in the Skyclub.

As to your last question, what is a run worth? Before anyone gets their feathers “all a flustered”, understand that even doing a MR is a bit crazy. Flying just to fly? Really? But there is more to it than that. I enjoy flying. As a high level medallion I will get a bunch of upgrades. Free food and drinks on the planes. I can work with GoGo WiFi (discounted from Delta.com web site for Delta ONLY use). I get to spend some time with friends along the way. I get to have dinner 5000 miles from my home. This is the non-tangible fun “worth” of a run. Now worth in value; again, this is to me and it will differ from persona to person. For 2013 I will spend under $2000 all-in for all my runs. Most of that was with my own money. I will earn well over 100,000 Skymiles from the runs. So, I am basically buying a business class ticket to Sweden to see my mom for $2000 (well that and a bunch of days of my year on Delta jets). I will get top status with Delta until FEB2015 and have a great head start on my status until FEB2016. I will be able to gift my wife GM status. I will undoubtedly get a few bumps and ETV’s for next year’s runs or positioning flights. I will have lots to blog about and keep my finger on the pulse of Delta. I will have fun! All this has value to me. You pick what if any of this is of value to you!

Kevin asks: Recent international travel gave me a wake up call with my Delta Reserve Amex card in the way of fees….2.7% surcharge. (Ouch after paying hefty annual fee too) I have a Platinum as well and should have used that, as instructed by the Amex contact who could do nothing about the foreign fees. I see you recommend many cards, if you picked one that had no foreign fees from V or MC, while still building travel rewards usable with Delta which one would you go with? Personal or business, new churn to do. Thanks

Oh you know how to make me mad. It makes me CRAZY that all the Delta cards up-charge you on international transactions. My solution is simple. I would use the   Chase INK BOLD   or my  Chase INK Plus, or as a fall back,  the  Chase Sapphire  since they DO NOT charge international transaction fee’s and Ultimate Rewards points can be used for so much including buying Delta tickets! Depending on how good a flight deal you get (CPM cost per mile) you can, with Diamond Medallion status, trade UR points for Skymiles (if that is what you want to do) via flying and earning points.

So there are a few Q&A for today. I will have more later on and thanks again for all the great Delta questions – René
 

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Thanks to a few booked mileage runs, I now have a huge and newfound interest in MKE’s airport. I reached out to readers for updates and “Cory” was kind enough to leave this comment:

MKE is my alternate airport. MSN is my primary, both of which I love. I am not a big fan of giant airports, so the ease and simplicity of MKE and MSN make me happy. Currently, Delta is located in Concourse E (I believe) and getting through security and to your gate is a breeze. For other concourses, namely the ones housing AirTran and Southwest, sometimes have some substantial security lines. My parents often complain about their experiences and how it’s getting to be as if they have to get to the airport 2 hours early just to manage the security lines.

But, presently, with Delta I have never once had an issue. It’s usually more a surprise when there are more than 10 people in line in any of the flights I’ve taken from MKE. I do believe they have a lounge, but I’ve never used it and I can’t imagine it’s all that spectacular.

Remote parking is $6/day, I think. There are usually a lot of shuttles that take you from the lot to ticketing. I do seem to wait quite a while when wanting to go from baggage back to the lots.

This is great info and I thank you Cory very much. One of the first things I look for at an airport is a Skyclub. Well there IS one in MKE. But there is news. Delta is moving from the “E” concourse to the “D” concourse. When will this happen? Take a look at what I was tweeted by the airport

So that is all set for the 27th. I also reached out to my corporate Delta contacts and can confirm the new Delta Skyclub will also be ready for the 27th in the D concourse.

While I will be driving to the airport from South Bend, I could also take Amtrak but for the time and gas it is about a wash. The plus would be no parking fee and I could work on the train compared to driving. It is something to think about anyway!

Thanks also all for the great questions on the blog today. I will work on covering as many as I can over the next few weeks with posts on them. Some will take some digging to get a full answer for you. Other I will just pop up some links to old posts that cover the questions. – René

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MKE – I ♥ U!

This has been such a fun weekend for me booking Delta trips and mileage runs. I have added up my MQM’s for the year and should end at 174,000! Some will be from work trips, some from vacation trips; part of the points will come from “MR’s” and a bunch will come from my two (personal and business)   Delta Reserve AMEX  cards.  Diamond Medallion status until FEB2016 should be no problem at all (anyone want to join me for dinner in LAX or SFO? )!

But that is all about me. I want to help you today. Ask ANY Delta question you want; any at all and I will pick a bunch of them and cover them this week! – René

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Today I wanted to feature a guest post by an outstanding NYC blogger Michael W. who writes MichaelW Travels… I live so close to DTW that it feels like home to me. But, as we all know, Delta is “taking over” NYC and I wanted to get a NYC feel for what is going on. So, I turned to Michael to get his take. I think you will both enjoy his guest post and his blog each day. I do! – René

**********************************************

Over the last 2+ years Delta has been renovating and expanding JFK Airport’s Terminal 4. The expansion has a budget of $1.2 billion and will replace Terminal 3 for Delta’s international flights out of the airport.

Many improvements and upgrades are on the way including:

• Two rows of check- in counters
• A new, automated baggage handling system
• Security check points being consolidated into one area which allows for all of the retail and food options to be behind security
• An additional 9 international gates, giving Delta a total of 16 at JFK
• Larger waiting areas
• Additional, new and powered seating for charging your electronic devices
• The largest Sky Club Delta has to offer

The Sky Club will have 24,000 square feet of space and include the first ever Delta Sky Deck, a 2,000 square foot outdoor terrace. The Sky Deck will offer guests amazing views of Manhattan which I’d definitely love to get a chance to see. The Sky Deck sounds like a great addition for an airport lounge.

Delta’s new Terminal 4 sounds pretty amazing, but what I am most excited for is the great food options that will be available once you get through security.

Shake Shack is the opening that I am most looking forward to. I can’t wait to hear what the airport- inspired concrete flavors will be for the T4 locations.

I’ve written about my love for Shake Shack a few times- attending the Grand Opening of the Brooklyn location and checking out Shacktoberfest.

Image Credit: PRNewsFoto/SSP America

There will actually be two Shacks at Terminal 4 but it’s not their first time opening in an airport. They opened earlier in the year at Dubai International Airport (DXB). I reached out to Shake Shack and asked them a few questions about the upcoming openings at Terminal 4.They told me how they are excited to be a part of the new Delta terminal, but didn’t have anything else to share at this time. I also asked if Shake Shack had plans to expand to more airports and was told that there are no current plans for other airport Shacks.

Some other notable openings:

• Marcus Samuelsson- theTop Chef Masters champion and James Beard award winning chef will open Uptown Brasserie and Street Food by Marcus Samuelsson.
• Blue Smoke on the Road- An airport version of Danny Meyer’s NYC barbecue restaurant Blue Smoke.
• The Palm Bar & Grille- airport version of the famous The Palm Steakhouse
• La Brea Bakery- The popular artisanal bread maker will have a location at T4 serving sandwiches, salads, fresh breads and pastries.

What are you most excited to see at Delta’s new Terminal 4? - Michael W.

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I thought I would look real quick at some of the most AMAZING deals that are still going strong, but I doubt they will last much longer. I think it is just crazy some of these are still up and running. I just got done booking 2 more days of the killer MKE-LAX MR deal so I should not only make DM this June but by the end of the year will rollover 50k toward my DM status for 2015! So let’s look at the deals that are still going strong:

• As just talked about 10k MQM, 2 days back to back, under $400 all in HERE

•  50k Targeted AMEX MR GOLD with just $1000 spend is HERE

•  I would not wait for the INK 50k cards you can find HERE

These “Tri-Fecta” are just the tops. You will be hard pressed to find much better deals and I have jumped on all of them (other than the AMEX as it is outside my churn window – grrrr)! – René
 

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