I received an email from Delta SkyMiles this evening that I thought was worth sharing. It’s apparently a targeted offer, so your mileage may vary. That said, Delta is offering a rebate on SkyMiles award tickets to some customers.

From the email: “Book a Delta or Delta Connection® round-trip Award Ticket and earn a 20% mileage rebate in BusinessElite®, First or Business Class and a 10% rebate in Economy Class. Plus, earn a 25% mileage rebate for each additional BusinessElite, First or Business Class Award Ticket and a 15% mileage rebate for each Economy Class Award Ticket.

Award Tickets must be booked by October 31, 2011, and travel must be completed by April 30, 2012. There is no limit on the number of rebates you can earn. Rebates will appear in the redeeming member’s account after travel is complete.”

Again, I believe this email to be targeted.

Every once and a while, I get emails from readers with various questions about my thoughts on something travel related. Historically, I’ve kept them to myself for no real reason, so I’ve decided they might make interesting blog material. For every one question, I’ll bet 10 others have been wondering the same thing anyway. With that, on to the question. Reader M. asks:

“I need some help. I want to have your thoughts on Delta medallion membership. I am a silver this year and am about 2k shy of making Gold. I could take a quick trip but I am not sure if I should go for the gold or take the rollover miles of about 24k and go for it next year. I am based out of LAX so the upgrades as a silver are nil.

My problem is that I will make silver again next year for 2013 but I don’t think I will come close to 50k in trips. My trips for next year are LAX-JFK twice, YYZ once, FLL, once, SLC twice, and finally DUB or Rome with a stop in London.

As you seem to fly Delta often I would like your thoughts.”

And MJonTravel responds:

“Thanks for reading, and your note. I’d have to say the answer to your question from my perspective is an unhelpful “it depends.” I’ll begin with saying that the difference between Gold and Silver is, in my opinion, noticeable. Sky Priority service when the upgrade doesn’t clear is reason enough to have Gold in my book. (even though I expect I will only be a Silver next year)

Based on your travel plans, it appears that alone is enough to make Silver for the following year. Might as well go for Gold and enjoy the benefits next year, even if you only are able to maintain Silver in 2013. If you weren’t going to fly as much next year as it appears you will, then I might recommend banking those extra miles to rolling over into next year and having an easy climb to maintain Silver again in 2013. 

Just my thoughts.”

How do you feel about my advice? Do you have a different take on things?

I received an email from Delta Air Lines today announcing that they are adding premium wines and spirits to the normal complimentary Sky Club bar fare. Premium offerings are something that Continental has offered for a while, and American along with United have continued to offer after finally seeing the light with complimentary adult beverages in their clubs last year. Admittedly, these premium offerings are something you could expect for free in the lounges of most major international airlines. But let’s face it, that model simply doesn’t match the lounge model of the domestic US airlines, so I will take what I can get.

I’ll admit that I’m one who typically goes for the “premium” offerings in lounges that make that an option. I think this is good news, and something that I look forward to trying during my next Sky Club visit. Kudos to Delta for expanding its Sky Club menu. They are not forcing you to purchase, and complimentary bar options will remain available.

It should be noted that these options are not currently available at all Sky Clubs, but more locations are coming. Right now, you can partake from the Luxury Bar at Newark, New York (JFK and LGA), West Palm, Seattle, and Washington, DC (DCA). You can review the menus for the new options here:

Wine Menu

Cocktail Menu

Spirits Menu

I’m comfortably ensconced into seat 2A aboard Delta flight 5285 from DTW to EVV. The flight is operated with an ASA CRJ-700, and much to my surprise, as I boarded I saw the “Wi-Fi On Board” decal. Hot damn! Now, this flight isn’t really long enough to accomplish much of anything, but the $4.95 price point was certainly workable for me just for the sake of saying I’d surfed the net from an RJ. So here I am. Blogging from an RJ. Who woulda thunk?

Delta announced the first install of Wi-Fi a little over a month ago. It’s good to see it in action.

Hello from the B/C terminal Delta Sky Club. It’s early on Saturday morning, and I’m taking a quick break for electricity, coffee, and blogging while I wait for my connecting flight to Evansville. Yes, I said Evansville, as in Indiana. Headed there for a wedding this afternoon. The over $400 dollar airfare that was available when I finally decided to buy was just a little too much of a bite out of my October travel budget considering I will be spending 2 weeks at sea on the world’s largest cruise ship later this month. So, I did something I don’t usually do, I spent miles (32,500 to be exact) for a roundtrip ticket from DCA to EVV. Before you ask, no, I don’t regret using miles in this case because I just don’t have the same amount of love for SkyMiles that I do for other, more user friendly mileage currencies. That said, it’s worked out OK for me.

My Medallion upgrades cleared at the window for both of my outbound flights. The return tomorrow is via Atlanta, and the first leg is on a 50 seat CRJ. The flight from Atlanta to DCA is on a 757, but I’m not holding out much hope. Lots and lots of heavy metals fly to DCA on Sunday afternoon, so I’ll probably be cooling my heals in coach. I have quite a lengthy layover in ATL, so I’m hoping to same day confirm onto something a little earlier anyway.

All in all, I’m glad I used miles for this trip even if I wouldn’t normally recommend doing so for a domestic flight. What is your opinion on using miles for domestic flights?

Yes, you read that headline correctly. It’s true. There are times when I really do love Delta Air Lines, and Hurricane Irene has led me to blog about just one of those. You’ve heard me mention Delta’s out front social media team from time to time and their really forward thinking (for a big old legacy airline) approach to emerging media. There is no better testament to that than the @DeltaAssist Twitter feed. DeltaAssist is one whole helluva lot more than another marketing mouthpiece that may or may not be outsourced, it’s direct access to customer service agents that know how to actually fix things.

Things like getting you rebooked off canceled flights, rerouted through alternative airports, or in my most recent case, canceling your trip and processing your refund when a hurricane interrupts your flights. As it became clear that flying from DC to North Carolina was a no-win proposition during a hurricane affecting both places over the course of a weekend, I turned to @DeltaAssist to help me out. Delta had posted their storm policy allowing for penalty free changes or refunds (in the case of cancellations or significant delays). It was obvious I wasn’t getting to where I needed to go and back on the same calendar days as planned. There are times when that’s actually OK, but when faced with business flights on Monday after the weekend personal trip, I just could tolerate the delay.

Mere mortals might call Delta’s 800 number during a hurricane and wait 3 hours to speak to someone. Travelers in the know will reach out to Delta’s wonderful @DeltaAssist folks who helped me fix things in minutes, processed my refund, and even apologized for the flight problems that neither of us could do anything about. @DeltaAssist rocks! Frankly, I’m a little surprised that other airlines haven’t found the wherewithal to peruse something similar. But then again, other “legacy” airlines are way behind Delta in this regard. Here’s to hoping they catch up.

Delta announced the grand opening of their newest Atlanta Sky Club on the D Concourse Monday via their great blog. This new club follows some real improvements in their Atlanta Club offerings (A-17, B-10 (Did I ever mention how much I disliked the old B-10 club?)) as well as other new and renovated clubs across the system. I love the open feel and modern decor of their latest Clubs, and I think other customers will too.

Aside from a modern feel, I’ve noted a focus on the little things business travelers value, slightly improved snack offerings, some reasonably comfortable furniture, and most importantly for me….lots of power outlets. Delta’s new cyber bar concept is a big winner for me. I tend to fly Delta on business trips, and I appreciate having a place to camp out that’s clean with room for my laptop, iPhone, BlackBerry, and access to a power outlet that I don’t need a crowbar and a jar of vaseline to access. The DCA Sky Club’s cyber bar is depicted below.

DCA Sky Club Cyber Bar

From my perspective, Delta’s new Sky Clubs are a cut above the rest in the domestic US market. I’ve been doing a little complaining here lately about Sky Miles, but Sky Clubs are one of several things Delta is doing right. I’ll check out those new Sky Club digs in Atlanta this weekend as long as Irene doesn’t cancel my flight, and share my experience with you.

As I was making my way home yesterday afternoon, it really hadn’t occurred to me that my flight would be an event worth blogging about. I’ve already posted about my difficulties getting to Atlanta which was supposed to be my first MD-90 ride. Somehow the upgrade made it OK that I had to fly down on a 757. But at some point yesterday, I looked at the seatmap for my flight home and caught on to the fact that I’d get the opportunity to ride in an MD-90 afterall….my flight home was on an MD-90!

OK, life’s little joyful moments. My upgrade into seat 3C had cleared at the Gold Medallion window, and I was all set for a nice flight. We were a little late due to the storms in the DC area Friday night, but not terribly late. I caught a glimpse of the aircraft out the window at gate A-5, and sure enough, the big engines and the slightly taller tail meant I’d get my first ride on an MD-90. Call me a geek if you want, but I actually keep up with the aircraft types I’ve flown on, and this is one that’s been missing for whatever reason.

Soon enough, we boarded, and I turned right to find seat 3C. For obvious reasons, the aircraft feels a lot like an MD-80, but I found the pitch on the MD-90′s first class seats to at least feel a little more generous. The seat was of a slightly different design than the MD-80 seats I was accustomed to as well. I think I like the Delta MD-90′s first class cabin a little better than that of their MD-88s. The customary bottle of Dasani was waiting at my seat as was a pack of peanuts. They must’ve known I’d skipped lunch.

After a few fits and starts, we blasted off for DCA. It was in the takeoff that I think the ex-aviator in me could feel the difference in power of the MD-90 vs the MD-88. The MD-90 definitely had more “wheaties” in the takeoff roll. Other than that…everything felt about the same as an MD-88. Inflight service was gracious as I’ve come to expect on Delta, and the GoGo wi-fi was working mostly well…though I think the Diet Coke promo may have been having a slight impact on speed. All in all, a good flight, and the geek in me finally got to cross the MD-90 off my list!

I want to say at the outset that this is NOT a rant against Delta Air Lines and my experience on Monday, August 15, 2011, attempting to fly from DCA to ATL. Things worked out, and I’m typing this from the first class cabin of the Delta flight I ultimately wound up on heading south to the A-T-L. Quite the contrary, Delta got a lot of things right today….and a few things they could have done better. Any “negative” things should be seen as constructive criticism if anything.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about my trip to Atlanta. I left my house at 7:30am this morning for my 10am departure. That left me plenty of time to walk to Metro, and get to DCA. I wound up in a cab as I learned walking out the door that the Yellow and Blue lines were experiencing issues, but that’s neither here nor there. Long story short, I got to DCA way ahead of my scheduled departure time. I did the usual dance with TSA and then headed up to the Sky Club where I bided my time with coffee, those mini-muffin things they serve, and my laptop. Life was good. I was # 1 of 13 on the list for an upgrade with 3 seats available, and I ultimately cleared into first class upon arriving at the gate. The flight was late inbound so my 10am departure became a 10:40am, but the airplane was at the gate, and announcements were made that preboarding would begin shortly.

We crept closer and closer to departure time, which became 10:50am, then 11:15am. I thought to myself that it must be taking a long time to clean the airplane. Then the gate agent started calling standbys up to the gate. It took me a minute to catch on, but I finally did when what appeared to be a non-revving pilot collected his belongings and made his way over to the regular 11am departure. The ex-airline guy in me knew that this was a sign of something, especially since there were plenty of empty seats on the plane. Finally, an 11:45am departure time posted, and only then did the agents bother to tell us there was a problem. You guessed it, maintenance was on board, and even though an 11:45am departure was posted, the agent said they really had no idea when we might depart and recommended that all those with connections line up at the service desk for rebooking. I took one look at the gate for the 11am, and decided against even trying based on the zoo that it was.

I marched up to the Sky Club, and the very nice lady at the front desk took care of business. While she had shockingly little information about the status of my confirmed flight, she did protect me on the 12 noon flight after I asked about it. I had a few minutes to enjoy a soda, and camped out in the Sky Club yet again before heading back down to my gate. I’m not positive what time I went back down…perhaps 11:20am or so, but I arrived to find a few confused looking people and 2 agents. There was a little line but soon enough I was able to speak with the agent. Lucky me, I picked the one with the broken computer. I discussed the status of my flight, and she said they recommended that everyone rebook to other flights as they really didn’t know what time my original flight would leave, though it now had a 3pm departure posted. The agent said I could go over to the kiosk to reprint my boarding pass, and off I went.

Of course, the kiosk couldn’t find my flight. A quick look at Delta’s excellent iPhone app showed that my booking for the noon flight had disappeared. I know it was there, because I’d looked earlier. Turns out that when I did not check myself in for that flight within 30 minutes prior to departure, my booking was cancelled. Yay me! But all wasn’t lost, as the iPhone app offered me some options for rebooking. The 2pm was available as was the 3pm. I’d remembered earlier that the 3pm was showing some upgrade availability when I checked earlier, so I figured what the heck?! I chose it, checked myself in, and immediately cleared into first class. Rather than head back to the office, I could just camp out in the Sky Club, fire up the laptop, and work rather than waste time taking transit there….and having really no time before I needed to turn around and head back to the airport. That’s exactly what I did, and it worked out just fine. Now, I’m winging my way southward towards Atlanta, and truth be told, I probably got more work done today than I would have if I actually managed to make it into the office.

There is a wrinkle (or 2) to this story, and that’s where my constructive criticism comes in. My Delta.com profile is fully completed and I’m registered for flight notifications. To my knowledge, I’ve never received one except for when upgrades clear in advance. This isn’t the first time that I’ve been at the airport in time for an earlier flight, and had the opportunity to take it pass me by because Delta doesn’t seem to have a reliable system of notifying you of flight changes on the day of departure. I only discovered that my original outbound was late when I signed into Delta.com to check my status on the upgrade list. In that case, the fact that I was delayed was displayed in big red letters. I’d appreciate an email (or a push notification to my iPhone) the minute a delayed departure gets posted. The other wrinkle you ask? Since I was rebooked off of my original flight and onto the one I am now, I became non-existant on my original flight. And oh yeah, you guessed again….it wound up departing at 1pm!

In summary, I’m not mad at Delta, and I’m only a little mad at myself for not paying attention to my flight options. That said, just a few things could’ve happened to make this better. On the good side, rebooking a Delta flight on their excellent iPhone app was a snap. Seriously, I think it’s the best of the bunch. All’s well that ends well. I’m seated in first class, and surfing the internet. And that cabernet I talked about making in the title…well, you can guess what my inflight beverage of choice is.

OK, two words. It sucks. How’s that? As you may have heard, Delta recently made a change to its SkyMiles award ticket policies that leaves me shaking my head. In summary, as of August 15, 2011, Delta is disallowing any changes to tickets paid for with SkyMiles within 72 hours of departure. Plans change 2 days before it’s time to go? Lose your miles, period. According to Delta’s post on Milepoint, they are doing this because fliers are booking gargantuan numbers of seats with SkyMiles that they never fly and that this will actually free up award space for those of us who have miles to spend and solid travel plans. I’ll believe that when I see it. If I’m wrong and Delta turns out to be right…well, I’ll admit it here first.

Now, Delta’s post on Milepoint goes on to say that they “understand that extenuating circumstances do happen” and their agents are equipped to make some case-by-case exceptions. I assume something drastic like family emergency might make the grade, but who knows for sure? One thing I know for certain is that I do NOT like this policy even though I can count on one hand (make that 2 fingers) the number of times I might actually have been dinged by a similar policy in 20 plus years of earning and burning miles.

You won’t hear anything else resembling a rant from me, or any threats about never flying Delta again. Not sure they’d miss me all that much anyway, and as you know, I really do like to fly Delta. That said, there are things you can do to protect yourself. Of course, you can status match to another airline that works for you and be done with it, but what if that’s not an option? I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it until everyone listens…… three words this time…. Alaska Mileage Plan.