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, twice. 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.
In September 2020, rates on Virgin Atlantic for that route were 25K miles in coach or 75K-86K miles in business class.
In October 2020, the coach rates went up to 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 went up to 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.
And now the business rates have gone up to an eye-watering 120K 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.
In September 2020 on Korean they were 32.5K miles in coach or 85K miles in business class.
In October 2020, the coach rates went up to 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 went up to 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.
And now the business rates have gone up to an eye-watering 120K 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.
Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, which recently improved and devalued their miles at the same time, before partially rolling it back. Those changes were done without notice as well.
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!
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5 Comments On "Delta Devalues Partner Award Travel Yet Again, But Tel Aviv Flights Remain Unchanged"
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You say that they don’t have awards chart but yet still say there award prices in details. How is that not contradicting?
They have prices. They just don’t publish what they are, so we have to figure them out and track them ourselves.
While their redemptions to Europe may be sky high, their Caribbean redemptions are dirt cheap. Wide open NYC to Montego Bay at 5,500 miles ea. way. Just came back.
St. Thomas was also 5,500 miles until last week, raised to 9,000 – still less than other airlines
Dan, can you use delta miles to book with a partner airline?
I’m sorry this is not exactly relevant to the post, but wanted to ask my question on a recent post (more likely to be seen and answered)
I’d greatly appreciate if someone could compare (or direct me to a previous post that compares) the business class cabins of the current nonstop flights from NYC-TLV
UA-777-300ER and UA 787-10
DL A330-900NEO and DL 330-300
AA 777-200
Is AA comparable to UA? From what I understand the new business class on DL is a different league.
Thank you so much for your time!