On the other hand, I think Delta deserves some applause for having the cajones to try something different and a little outside the box. On the surface at least, it sounds like it might work. I’m not smart enough to know, but I’ll admit that where others won’t. I will make one prediction, this will either turn out to be the best airline idea in history or a bad idea (but not the worst in history ). Only time will tell. In the meantime, I’m willing to give Delta the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Now about that Delta.com award booking engine……

I find Delta’s MD-88′s to be quiet, comfortable, and more modern feeling than some other airline MD-80′s I’ve flown. The extra investment Delta made in modernized interiors shows. Anyway, this concludes my airplane geek post for the day.

Aside from SkyMiles, Delta really has it going on. Better hard product in domestic coach, better soft product, great people, fleet wide wi-fi, relatively generous domestic Medallion upgrades (as long as you’re flying alone), great SkyClubs, an aesthetically pleasing (and functional) iPhone app, @DeltaAssist…..I could probably go on for awhile if I tried. Did I mention @DeltaAssist? Yeah, I thought so. In short, Delta does a lot of things right and the overwhelming majority of my Delta flights border on downright pleasant and many far exceed that.

Now that I’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s talk about the rumors of a move by SkyMiles to a revenue based mileage earning formula. This post by The Points Guy was the first I’d heard of it, and then I dove into the Flyertalk thread he referenced. Fun read, huh? I’m a firm believer in not reacting until I have something to react to, and a 40 bazillion page thread on FT doesn’t qualify (not that I don’t love me some Flyertalk, mind you). The way I see it, there are a few things that could be going on.

A) Delta could be floating a trial balloon to gauge reaction (most doubtful in my book)

B) Delta intends to go the Southwest way with what I call a “points per fare dollar” program

C) Delta is going to add a component to SkyMiles Medallion qualification that better recognizes higher spenders (aka Elite Qualifying Points at AAdvantage)

D) None of us really know what the hell is going to happen and should just wait and see

I lean towards option C/D, but I digress. Naive as I am, I’ve never truly understood why frequent flyer programs shouldn’t be revenue based (at least to a point) to begin with. Heck, I would opine that Delta has had a revenue based redemption program since it went to 3 tier awards with a lot of availability at the high tier and not so much at the low tier. Am I the only one that thinks those 300,000 mile business class awards are more by design than a fluke of Delta.com’s whizz-poor booking engine? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve redeemed miles for some pretty sweet premium class redemptions, and I’m going to keep doing that until there’s no reason to do so. Hey…I didn’t build the mileage system we have now, the airlines did….and I can’t help but think that they did so because they benefited more than I did. Let’s face it, the airlines sell miles like candy corn for a reason, because it pays. So far, it’s paid off for me too.

So, I will be taking a wait and see approach to these rumors. Of course, that worked out well when I first heard of Delta’s oddball (and sucktacular) 72-hour award cancellation policy, didn’t it? In the end, I think some kind of change is coming to SkyMiles. It surely could be coming to another program near you too.

That said, there are a lot of air miles between today and any kind of acquisition of AA by Delta or anyone else. Management has yet to present its own plan of reorganization which it has an exclusive right to do for several months. Then there’s the not so small issue of a Delta purchase of AA’s impact on the Oneworld alliance. The downlow on that – I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hades that British Airways doesn’t find a way to keep AA independent and part of Oneworld as opposed to letting Delta buy the assets they can with the rest being parted out to other airlines. Long story short, no AA, no Oneworld, and I just don’t see it happening.

It’s going to be one heck of an interesting 2012.

Now I’m at a crossroads. It’s December, and I only have one more business trip this year, DCA to SEA on Alaska Airlines. I need 7,464 MQMs to maintain Silver Medallion. I’m figuring roughly 4,600 MQMs from that trip as I will be crediting my Alaska Air flights to SkyMiles. Through December 15th, I can buy MQMs from Delta in 2,500 mile increments (up to 10,000 MQMs). So…. 7,464-4,600 = 2,864 MQMs to go. Unfortunately, I can only buy 2,500 MQMs or 5,000 MQMs. $295 and $495 dollars respectively. In other words, I can hand Delta $495 dollars to settle this or buy 2,500 MQMs and hope for a low fare short-haul roundtrip from DCA (not likely around the holidays). Or I suppose there’s another answer, a coast to coast mileage run.

There’s a growing chorus of folks out there that will tell you that basement elite status is hardly worth having anymore since you can get a lot of what it offers by carrying the right credit card nowadays. I think they have a point worth considering, but I’m not quite ready to embrace that opinion just yet. I will continue to fly Delta just enough to make Silver Medallion almost worthwhile. The question for me, is it worthwhile enough to go out of my way to keep it right now? December 15 is coming soon, so I’d better get it together. What would you do?

As I mentioned in my post, SkyMiles can be a challenge. It’s not that the program is totally unusable, it’s just frustrating sometimes. I’m absolutely convinced that Delta’s website simply doesn’t “see” award availability that really is there, and when it does….something usually goes wrong to give you some kind of error when you try to book it. This has been covered at length by bloggers far more eloquent than me in explaining it so I won’t belabor the point. That said, it’s something that should be fixed. Given that my Google Analytics data clearly points out that there is interest in the topic, I thought it might be interesting to list the top 3 things I think Delta could do to improve SkyMiles, only one of which is even tacitly related to their well publicized “availability” issues. So here ya’ go.

1. Fix the Delta.com booking engine
2. Offer one-way awards
3. Make at least a token portion of their systemwide upgrades from Platinum and Diamond Medallions usable on any fare

So those are my 3 ideas for SkyMiles. See, I’m really not all that demanding, am I? What are your ideas?

The fact that Delta is adding “Economy Comfort” seating to their entire domestic fleet is just one more reason to love flying them. So now that we’ve established that, let’s delve a little deeper. Today, I flew from DCA to ATL aboard a Delta 757. Yes, my Medallion upgrade cleared and I know that always makes things nicer, but still. I was greeted at the doorway by pleasant people and the first class flight attendants were second to none. Personable, pleasant, and attentive without being annoying. Really, they were good. And did I mention that I had wi-fi access?

Somehow, I’m going to find a way to make SkyMiles work for me, starting with frequent reads of Delta Points right here on Boardingarea.com. Who else loves flying Delta? I know you’re out there!

Reader P (Note: I’m editing several emails into one for clarity)

“I need to pick your brain about travel rewards and what you think I need to do to maximize my return.  Looks like I’ll be traveling quite a bit in 2012 and I want to get the most bang for my buck. I live in Greensboro, North Carolina and will be flying quite a bit more than I have in the past, with a focus in the south, east, and west. Further, I’ve never really paid much attention to hotel programs. Which one do you think is best? Also, what do you think of the Amex Platinum Card? Should I upgrade my Amex to Platinum?”

MJonTravel Responds

Living where you live, either US Airways or Delta will probably be your best bet. All things being equal, I’d rather fly Delta than US Airways, but all things aren’t equal. If you fly Delta, you have to go to Altanta. If you fly US, you have to go through Charlotte (or Philadelphia)….OR you can get in your car and drive to Charlotte if you need to. Either airline can fly you up and down the east coast, and to the west when you need to head that way.

As for the miles, in my opinion, US miles are better than Delta miles IF you intend to redeem your miles for international travel. If you are mainly going to redeem for domestic flights, then Delta will work just as well. US Airways is part of the Star Alliance, and that’s a better alliance than Delta’s SkyTeam. In either case, it’s always best to pick one airline mileage program and try to fly that one airline (or one of their alliance partners) as much as you possibly can. Not only will you build miles, you’ll be building “elite” miles and segments towards earning elite status…..and that’s what you want.

For hotels, if I ruled the world, I would only stay at Starwood hotels. But since I don’t, either Hilton HHonors or Marriott Rewards will probably serve you better. It’s a little easier to get to mid tier elite status with Hilton….16 stays or 28 nights will get you to Gold…..  making you eligible for room upgrades, and best of all, they give you free internet at all their hotels if you have Gold status. I’m always torn between Marriott and HIlton….on the whole, I like Marriott hotels better….but it can be more difficult to achieve and maintain elite status with them. Starwood’s points program is the best. The SPG Card from Amex is one of the most popular cards out there. SPG points transfer 1 to 1 to most airline programs including American AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles. The good thing about Marriott or Hilton is…that usually…no matter where you are going, they have some kind of hotel….whether it’s a Courtyard or a Fairfield Inn….or a Hampton Inn or Hilton Garden Inn with Hilton. With Starwood, they mainly have properties in your big cities in the US and around the world. Whichever you go with, my advice is the same, pick one program and stay in their hotels as much as possible. You want elite status.

I am a big fan of the Amex Platinum Card. It is not cheap, but if you get the business version, you might be able to write off the annual fee as a business expense? (Note: I’m not a tax professional, and the deductibility of business card annual fees is something you should consult your tax professional about.) It will get you into the airport lounges of US Airways, Delta, and American on the day of travel. Just hand them your card and a boarding pass for your flight. Heck, US Airways will even admit you with it whether you are flying them that day or not. US also happens to have a lounge in Greensboro. Between the lounge access and the Amex Cruise Privileges program, the card pays for itself as far as I’m concerned. You can read a few of my thoughts on Platinum here.

So….. Delta or US Airways, pick one and fly as much as you can with that program. If you decide to go US, you need to read this link and sign up for their Trial Preferred program. I don’t know if US flies to Colorado Springs (which I understand could be a frequent destination for you) or not. It might be cheaper to fly into DEN and drive down? Don’t know. If you wind up on United, you can credit your flight to your US Airways program and earn miles and elite miles/segments too!

What do you think of my advice to this reader? Are there other options that I’m not considering? Comment to the blog if you’d like to share your thoughts.

Delta’s move in this direction with its international flights must have paid off for them to be doing this domestically. With the 2 largest US airlines now offering a superior economy product, can AA afford to ignore this? Is it time for a “More Room Throughout Some of Coach” effort? Time will tell. In the meantime, I say this is a good move!

Hat tip to Gary.