Delta was the first airline to delete their award charts, back in 2015.
Since then, they have continued to devalue their miles. Miles required on Delta flights can be astronomical, while partner award flights could be somewhat reasonable.
But even in the middle of a pandemic and after mortgaging Skymiles while promising not to devalue miles too much, they have managed to do just that. Skypesos has never been a more accurate moniker.
Back when there were Delta award charts a saver award to London was 30K miles in coach or 62.5K miles in business class.
Last week rates on Virgin Atlantic for that route were 25K miles in coach or 75K-86K miles in business class.
Now the coach rates are 55K miles within 3 weeks of travel, 40K miles within 21-60 days of travel, or 35K miles when booked more than 2 months before travel.
The business rates are now 195K miles within 3 weeks of travel, 170K miles within 21-60 days of travel, and 95K miles when booked more than 2 months before travel.
Close-in travel used to be one of the best uses of miles. Not so much any longer:
Back when there were Delta award charts a saver award to South Korea was 35K miles in coach or 70K miles in business class.
Last week on Korean they were 32.5K miles in coach or 85K miles in business class.
Now the coach rates are 50K miles within 3 weeks of travel, 45K miles within 21-60 days of travel, or 40K miles when booked more than 2 months before travel.
The business rates are now 195K miles within 3 weeks of travel, 140K miles within 21-60 days of travel, and 102.5K miles when booked more than 2 months before travel.
Those are some hefty mileage increases!
And of course Delta does them without providing any notice.
Not everything went up though, you can still fly from JFK to Tel Aviv via London on Virgin Atlantic for 37.5K miles in coach or 85K miles each in business class, even close-in to the flight. That creates an interesting hidden-city opportunity!
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at massive devaluations when there are no award charts though. Thanks to Delta for reminding everyone why they should accumulate hybrid points and not bank airline miles like Skypesos where they can be devalued in the blink of an eye!
Leave a Reply
6 Comments On "Delta Continues To Stealthily Make Massive Devaluations To Their SkyPesos"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Was just approved for the 60k Business card yesterday. What a waste.
Delta; we will doing whatever we were doing in 2019
Consumers: noted
Try the United partner rates like the 2 hour flights from Istanbul to Cairo… remember when they were 8k miles?
Rather crafty and sly of them to do this right now while the whole world is thinking about other stuff. They’re no dummies. They may be dishonest, but they aren’t stupid.
Dan as hybird points are the way to go now these days anyway you can consider a new updated comparison post of the 3 main hybrid points(amex, chase and citi) and the different redemption options and rates for things like cash back, gift cards, transfer options the whole gamut!!
Thanks
another idea is an updated israel award chart options with the new covid rules cancellation and refund policies for international airlines like ANA and Turkish etc….