I guess Delta wants to pump up interest in its partnership with Alaska Airlines, because they’re offering double bonus miles between September 15 and November 15, 2010, when you fly Delta (or certain SkyTeam partners) and Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air on the same ticket.  Click here for details and registration.

So, next week I fly to Atlanta and on the return flight will pass 25,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs), the minimum required to maintain Silver Medallion status.  If my current travel pattern continues, I will make Gold Medallion this year, and it’s not impossible that I could hit Platinum Medallion.  I’ve flown 18 segments on Delta as of today, and I’ve cleared into First Class on 12 of those.  That’s a 67 percent success rate as a lowly Silver.  Yes, I am the luckiest man in the United States of America.  I’m also very discerning in picking my flights.  If there’s a 757 at 8am, and the 9am flight I really want is an MD-88, I’m going on the 757 because they have 24 or more seats in the forward cabin.

I’ve posted numerous times that I like flying Delta.  Their people are pretty good, their airplanes are almost always clean, my Amex Card gets me into the Delta Sky Club, and obviously, the complimentary Medallion upgrades Delta offers are working for me right now.  But still, it seems like I’m missing something.  That something is the comfort of knowing that the odds of my being able to redeem a sensible amount of miles for travel that I really want are reasonable.

The anecdotal evidence is widespread that Sky Miles requires far more miles for certain types of travel (think premium class international) than the programs of its many competitors.  For example, I’m flying American to London in August in First Class.  I got the schedule I wanted for 125,000 miles each for MrsMJonTravel and I.  I could probably tolerate business class to London, but the exact dates/times I wanted weren’t available in J class.  (Note: If I were willing to wait 2 days, J class would’ve been available.)  Not a bad deal in the summer, I think.  When looking at Delta, I could get 2 Business Class seats for 200,000 miles each.  So I’d pay 150,000 miles more to fly Delta, and sit in Business instead of American’s International Flagship Suite.  Yes, I know Delta’s lie-flat product is pretty good, and I’ve already said I like their people and the airline….but do I like them 150,000 miles more?  I don’t think so.

That was a long-winded build up to my “Delta Dilemma.”   Here goes.  After I put Silver in the bag next week, I’m seriously considering crediting my remaining Delta flights to Alaska’s Mileage Plan.  I know, I know…..no more upgrades (most of my flights are short, DCA-ATL) or checked bag fee waivers (try not to check anyway), not to mention no priority boarding (the thing I’d miss most), but I earn miles to spend them on travel I want.  And there is a lot of evidence out there that I’ll be much better off earning Alaska Mileage Plan miles than Delta Sky Miles.

I’ve by no means made up my mind on this, but I think the fact that I’m even considering it should say something about Sky Miles.  And I haven’t even mentioned their award calendar and booking engine yet.    So dear reader, what say you?  Am I crazy to even think about switching my Delta flights to Alaska’s Mileage Plan?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Time for another random post.  Today, I’m blogging from the TGI Fridays at DCA.  I’ll bet many of you have been here.  I’m not flying today.  Instead, I’m waiting to pick up Mrs. MJ on Travel who is arriving from OKC via DFW on American.  I got here early, brought my laptop, and decided to make use of the time here.

As you’ll note in my previous post, I had a fabulous time last night co-hosting the online chat for the 21st annual FREDDIE Awards with Steven Frischling from Flying with Fish.  I was honored to host alongside such an accomplished traveler and blogger as Steven, and thanks again to Randy Peterson for the opportunity.  Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Marriott Rewards really cleaned up last night.  Steven has posted a fantastic summary on his blog.  It was a great evening, and I hope you were able to be there in person or join us on the chat.

My trip to Atlanta next week has been postponed until next month.  I won’t be able to accomplish my primary reason for being there until then due to circumstances outside my control, so I’m rebooked for May 12th.  These many weeks off the road are starting to get on my nerves but that’s the cost of doing business I guess.  Travel runs in cycles for me, and right now, I am in a down cycle.  I don’t have anything else booked until May 22nd, and that’s to Miami to catch our cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas.  Have I mentioned that I’m looking forward to that?!?!  And totally by chance, Dan from Things in the Sky will be on the same cruise.  I’m sure we’ll visit to talk about planes at some point during the cruise.

For what it’s worth, DCA, while not running over with people, is quite busy tonight.  Security is jumping and there’s even a handful of people waiting to use the Clear (R) kiosks at the center pier.  Friday at the airport…gotta love it!  I’ll post more this weekend.

I hope you were able to catch the FREDDIE Awards tonight either online, or live in Fort Lauderdale.  Had a great time co-hosting the online chat with Steven Frischman of Flying with Fish.

Congratulations to Alaska Mileage Plan and Marriott Rewards for winning Program of the Year in North America.

I like Delta Air Lines.  Their planes are usually clean, their people tend to be polite and their customer-facing technology is pretty good too.  But I really don’t like SkyMiles at all.  You may have heard this week that Delta intends to eliminate fee-free award changes and mileage redeposits for Platinum flyers*.  I’m not a Platinum Medallion with Delta so this really doesn’t impact me, but I can see why so many Delta travelers are seriously hacked off about this.  The worst part of this decision was Delta’s reasoning behind the change.  According to Delta, many award seats are departing empty because those pesky Platinums are booking them and not traveling because they can do so without penalty.

Have you ever tried to book an award seat on Delta?  It is usually an exercise in futility which leads to profanity laced tirades.  If you’re really lucky, you’ll get some odd-ball double connection routing even though plenty of seats are available on the nonstop or one-stop flights you want.  Then miraculously, Delta’s revenue management folks open up award seats 2 or 3 weeks before your flight, but you’re stuck with your odd itinerary…..unless you are Platinum.  I don’t blame them one bit for making extensive use of this benefit, and I can assure you I would too if I were lucky enough to be Platinum Medallion.

I appreciate certain aspects of the SkyMiles program, most notably, the complimentary space-available upgrades for Medallions.  But overall, the program pales in comparison to American’s AAdvantage for award availability and overall usability.  Unfortunately, I haven’t flown Delta enough this past year to maintain Medallion status, and the difficulty in getting real benefits beyond the upgrades has me seriously thinking about crediting my future flights to Alaska’s Mileage Plan.  I’m going to miss being a Delta Medallion come March 1, but I surely won’t miss the frustrating searches for an award seat.  I’ll be watching the SkyMiles program with interest as Delta moves forward with the Northwest merger.

* This decision has reportedly been modified to allow for two fee-free changes per year and $50 dollars per change thereafter.