From a post on Timeshareforums.com …

How worthless is the new Delta SkyMiles?…  Some on FlyerTalk call it SkyPiles, and for good reason…

I was once a DL SkyMiles Gold Medallion before Rob Borden gutted the program, when I bailed out to NW…

Now that DL has taken over NW, some of my NW Worldperks miles that I had not been able to burn have been involuntarily converted to SkyPiles, and the Jeff Robertson version of SkyPiles is much worse than the Borden version…

I recently checked several TATL (trans-Atlantic) itineraries on the DL and NW websites for award availbility. At NW and in the Borden and pre-Borden days at DL there was reasonable TATL availibility at normal miles, even if you were flexible a few weeks out in high season. Ten months out, almost everything was availible. That has all changed.

After checking US to Dublin for a relative and finding nothing at anything but high miles (and with their unique and disadvantageous 3-tier award system, high means sky high) over multiple months, I checked US to Bucharest over the entire upcoming ten months and found nothing but high miles seats the whole time, including low season. This really stinks.

And DL raised the minimum number of miles for TATL award tickets to 60K, although those seem to be extreme rarities these days. Usually, one has to part with far more miles than that on DL. On AA, in comparision, a low or shoulder season TATL award ticket is 40K miles and they are actually availible at that level. On BMI they are 45K miles all year and they are actually availible.

BMI has even got me one way award tickets KIV to VIE on their partner Austrian airlines’ Friday afternoon flights that are usually sold out and often oversold for a mere 6K miles on several occaisions a month or two before the flight.

FF programs are all about incentives. DL has certainly given me an incentive to avoid buying tickets on it or its partners like the plague. They have stolen my NW miles and they will not get any of my cash or my employers cash for my work related travel in the future.

DELTA = Driving Every Loyal Traveller Away

Carolinian – member

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We have found Delta charges more than other airlines. We used ours to fly to Hawaii last summer. It cost 52,000 miles per person, while my parents, daughter, son-in-law, son and daughter-in-law only used 40,000 flying United. We booked ours as soon as we could as did they. This year we used United. 40,000. At the same time Delta was 78,000. I just checked and Delta is now down to 62,000. We cancelled our American Express Sky Miles Card and are using our United card only. When we talked to American Express, they asked why we were cancelling. We told them two reasons, your fee went up $15 and it was not easy getting flights to where we wanted to go.

The three tier can be a joke. We tried high, medium and low, different days, they were the same amount. Maybe it was just when we tried, but it did not leave a good feeling. A high out and a medium back. No difference. Same with a high out and a low back. It was so crazy, we thought what the heck, try first class. It was marked LOW when economy was marked HIGH. The first class ticket was only 2000 miles more.

We talked to an agent, “We just can’t give our product away”. Had to remind her, that American Express pays for those miles, so the flights are not exactly free using the credit card miles.

d1950m -Member

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Delta indeed seems to have far fewer point saver award tickets for FF’s. If they weren’t cheaper than everyone else we probably wouldn’t fly them. Unfortunately, since all airlines are about at bad as the other, price wins the day, even if we have a tough time spending those miles

dougp26364 – Member

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“Almost every airline has a frequent flier program, and the credits, miles or points you earn when you fly add up to discounted or free flights, upgrades and other rewards.

Not all airline programs are the same, however, so here are 10 tips to make frequent flier programs take off for you.

Look for value.

If you have 25,000 miles and want to fly Delta Air Lines, consider how much the ticket is before you use the miles. Sales abound right now due to the weak economy. So consider saving your miles for a free transcontinental flight instead of a short flight that costs under $200.

Book early

Make sure you get that free ticket for only 25,000 miles. Don’t pay 50,000 miles that took you two years to accumulate for that cramped coach seat unless you absolutely have to.

The best way to maximize your miles is to book your reward ticket at least several months before you want to fly. That’s because the number of reward seats available at the lowest redemption level on many airlines are limited, particularly at peak hours of the day or peak days of the year.

“If someone tries to get an award on a high demand specific flight at a specific time of day and they’re not flexible, they may be disappointed,” American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said.

If you must travel at a specific time on a specific day and your plans don’t come together until close to the day you want to leave, you still can get a free ticket, but it may cost you more miles. For 60,000 miles, Delta guarantees a free seat on a domestic flight, excluding travel to Hawaii, as long as a coach seat is available.

Diversify

Sign up for several reward programs — it’s free. Rewards on AirTran Airways add up fast. You can get a free domestic coach ticket for 16 flight credits, which take just eight round-trip paid flights, regardless of distance, to accumulate.

But if you tend to take a lot of transcontinental flights, it may get you a faster free round-trip coach ticket on United Airlines or US Airways, which, like Delta, give reward miles based on the distance you travel. AirTran only flies in North America. But for 100 flight credits, AirTran will buy you a ticket anywhere in the world on another carrier.

Get the credit card

Some airline branded credit cards will give you 2 miles or points for every dollar spent on the partner airline and 1 mile or point for every dollar spent everywhere else. Some of those cards carry annual fees of up to $85 or more. AirTran and Delta, however, have partner credit cards that offer no-annual-fee options, but that comes with 1 point or mile for every dollar spent on the partner airline and one-half of 1 point or mile for every dollar spent everywhere else.

“For those people who charge very high dollar amounts annually to those cards but yet don’t carry a revolving balance, the mileage you generate is worthwhile. The annual fee is worthwhile,” said David Robertson, an expert on frequent flier credit card promotions and publisher of the Nilson Report, a credit card industry newsletter.

Watch for promotions

Some airlines offer frequent flier members the ability to get extra miles, points or credits if they rent a car with a partner company, fly to certain locations or buy a Netflix membership. For travel between now and May 14, United has lowered the miles required for travel to Europe from 55,000 to 40,000, spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. Look for deals on airline Web sites and sign up with the airlines for e-mail alerts about promotions.” (via seattletimes.nwsource.com ) by HARRY R. WEBER

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SkyMiles members will earn QUADRUPLE MILES (200 miles per rental day) when renting Compact car or larger vehicle for two days or longer at any of our Florida locations.

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SkyMiles® Rewards Program

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-Use the Pay with Miles benefit to pay for all or part of your flight with miles – and put the rest on your Card. -Start redeeming with just 10,000 miles for $100 dollars off any Delta flight with no blackout dates or seat restrictions.

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SkyMiles® Rewards Program

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