Big Devaluation for Delta SkyMiles Program
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw United Airlines make several devaluations to its MileagePlus program by increasing redemptions for partner awards. Now Delta Air lines is next in line with a big devaluation of its SkyMiles program.
Delta has increased award rates for bookings on partner airlines like Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic and others. These are big increases across the board, and include all ticket classes. With no award chart, these devaluations are now done quietly, so you can only see them when you are ready to start redeeming your SkyMiles.
The news was reported by Thrifty Traveler. here are some examples of the new pricing for partner awards:
- 35,0000 SkyMiles one-way for Economy awards between U.S. and Europe on Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. That’s a 40% increase from the previous rate of 25,000 SkyMiles.
- 95,000 SkyMiles one-way for Business awards between U.S. and Europe on Air France and KLM. That’s a 27% increase from the previous rate of 75,000 SkyMiles.
- 102,500 SkyMiles one-way for Business awards between US and North Asia on Korean Air and China Airlines. That’s a 20% increase from the previous rate of 85,000 SkyMiles.
Conclusion
Partner awards have been so far a good option for using Delta SkyMiles, unlike the dynamic pricing for Delta flights. But these new devaluation is a big blow for SkyMiles members that were planning on redeeming their miles on partner flights. In some cases it gets even worse than the examples I listed above. If you are booking awards on Virgin Atlantic for travel from JFK to London for example, you could end up paying 170,000 miles if booking 21-60 days prior to departure and a whopping 195,000 miles when booking within 21 days.
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Delta has been notorious for devaluing their miles , one of the worst airlines for doing that since I have been flying, for over 25 years, we all have to rethink applying for their cards ,only to have them steal from you after earning the miles.
Not thrilled about Delta’s partners except possibly KLM (based on previous not so great experiences with them). Actually do my best to avoid them when booking international flights.