Delta miles have long been nicknamed "Skypeso" in the miles-and-points world, and most people don’t think very highly of them. (To be fair, they can still be quite useful sometimes, and OneMoreDay will write more in the future about the pros and cons of SkyMiles.) Delta’s loyalty program has also been known for its “innovation”: for example, it was the first major North American airline to award miles based on ticket price rather than distance flown (later followed by UA and AA), the first to introduce a “minimum spending” requirement in its frequent flyer program (later followed by UA), and it eliminated stopovers on award tickets (though AA actually moved first on that one). Then Delta went a step further and removed its award chart entirely. Back when the chart disappeared, OneMoreDay worried Delta would quietly change pricing behind the scenes. Now that worry has come true: without any announcement, Delta has increased the number of miles required for business class award tickets on certain routes, including the U.S.–China routes we care about most. For U.S.–China flights departing on or after October 1, one-way business class has gone from 70,000 to 80,000 miles, while economy remains unchanged.
Note that this October 1 date refers to the departure date, not the ticketing date. So those redeeming business class awards for Thanksgiving or winter-break travel between the U.S. and China will have to pay 10,000 more DL miles than before.
If you search for award tickets between the U.S. and China on Delta’s website, here are the results around September 30 for Los Angeles–Pudong:
Here is the mileage required for one-way business class on September 30. You can see that both Delta and China Eastern require 70,000 miles:
Here are the China Eastern nonstop on October 1 and the Delta nonstop on October 2. You can see that the required mileage has already gone up to 80,000:
In addition to the U.S.–China routes, the following routes have also been devalued, among others, all for one-way business class:
- North America to Southern South America: from 62,500 to 75,000;
- North America to Southern Africa: from 80,000 to 95,000;
- North America to Central Africa: from 70,000 to 80,000;
- North America to Australia/New Zealand: from 80,000 to 95,000;
- North Asia to Southeast Asia: from 40,000 to 50,000;
- North Asia to Hawaii: from 50,000 to 60,000.
Some routes have also become cheaper, including the following one-way economy awards:
- North America to the Middle East: from 40,000 down to 35,000;
- North America to Southern Africa: from 50,000 down to 40,000;
- North America to Central Africa: from 40,000 down to 35,000;
- North America to Australia/New Zealand: from 50,000 down to 45,000.
Delta SkyMiles is a transfer partner of AMEX MR and SPG points. For more on MR and SPG points, see:
Points Program Basics (3): The Three Major U.S. Credit Card Points Programs
Membership Rewards (MR) Guide
Guide to SPG Points (Starpoints)