Delta travel tips

Overall, Delta’s SkyMiles program has established itself as one of the industry’s least generous loyalty schemes. To play, you’ll pay. But with this limited-time award sale, you can at least pay less.

With the airport-security fiasco seemingly ever-present in the news, much has been made of the benefits to be had from enrolling in the TSA’s PreCheck trusted-traveler program. Even for occasional flyers, the savings in time and aggravation can be well worth the $85 fee for five years of relatively speedy security clearance.

Not to be outdone by American’s $4 million lifeline to the TSA, Delta has gone a step further and actually designed and implemented new security checkpoints at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.

The only thing worse than an increase in award prices: an award-price increase with no advance notice.

In the latest no-confidence vote on the TSA’s ability to effectively manage security at the country’s airports, Delta today announced “up to $4 million” in additional staffing at 32 airports to augment TSA checkpoint personnel. The Delta workers will assist with non-security tasks, like managing lines and screening bins, freeing up TSA staff to open more lanes and process more passengers.

Most elite members of Delta ‘s SkyMiles program probably didn’t pore over the airline’s recent Investor Day presentation. And of those that did, only a handful got as far as Slide 37 in the 56-slide deck. For their perseverance, they were rewarded with an ugly truth: First-class upgrades, already in scarce supply, are set to become scarcer still.

Fly between Los Angeles and selected other cities for as few as 5,000 Delta miles each way in coach, 9,500 miles each way in Comfort+.

“Lay back, relax and enjoy the flight in the comfort, privacy and exclusivity of your own suite. Delta Air Lines is redefining international business class travel with the introduction of the Delta One suite, the first business class cabin to feature a sliding door at each suite.”

With no published award-price charts to refer to, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program don’t know when award prices are higher or lower than normal. That’s because there is no baseline to use as a reference point. There is no normal. Or rather, normal is whatever Delta chooses to publish as the price for an award ticket on a particular flight.

“Delta Becomes Only U.S. Airline to Offer All In-Flight Entertainment For Free”

Fly roundtrip to or from select Asian destinations for as few as 50,000 Delta miles in coach.

Delta and United have announced plans to reduce flights to the U.K. this winter following the Brexit vote last month.

Airport lounge memberships are a luxury that most can afford but very few can actually justify. If you don’t fly at least semi-regularly, it just doesn’t make financial sense to spend almost $500 for an annual lounge pass. A $50 day pass, maybe. But even that’s a stretch.

With revenue-based earning and high-priced awards, it’s not easy to get good value from Delta’s SkyMiles program. Periodic award sales, like this one, offer a welcome opportunity to tilt the value equation back in favor of the consumer.

In yet another sign that the mainstream travel industry is slowly recognizing (if not wholeheartedly embracing) the sharing economy, Delta this week began awarding frequent-flyer miles for Airbnb stays.

Delta award discounts are becoming so frequent, if not exactly regular, that SkyMiles members may be left wondering which are the “normal” prices: the discounted rates, or the non-discounted rates. With the almost certain prospect of more award sales to come, it certainly makes ponying up the normal award price seem like an unnecessary extravagance.

Yesterday, Delta’s lowest-priced business-class award ticket for travel between the U.S. and India was 70,000 miles each way. Today, it’s 97,500 miles. That’s an increase of 39 percent. Talk about inflation! And, adding insult to injury, the price increase was made with no notice to SkyMiles members.

While the Thanksgiving travel period was mostly uneventful, thankfully, at least one plane-full of holiday flyers got more than their fair share of inflight drama.

Soon, your face could become your boarding pass.

Free meals in coach—that relic of a bygone, gilded era of aviation—might be making a comeback.

Delta is all in on Seattle.