How about a nice 10,000 Skymiles bonus for a couple nights at the chic Public Hotel in Chicago? (Photo: Public Hotel)
BIG SKYMILES BONUSES FOR HOTEL BOOKINGS. Have you heard of RocketMiles? It’s a new hotel booking site (new since last November) that is offering unbelievably large mileage bonuses for bookings at a handful of high-end hotels in several major cities around the country. For example, it’s offering a whopping 9,500 SkyMiles bonus for a two night stay at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan in April; 10,000 SkyMiles for a two-night stay at Ian Schrager’s swanky new PUBLIC hotel in Chicago. How about 7,000 SkyMiles at the InterContinental San Francisco near Moscone Center? How do they do it? “Every property is selected and screened by our staff of experienced business travelers. Rocketmiles attracts the type of frequent travelers that our hotel providers are trying to reach, which is why they offer us rates with enough margin to bundle the rooms with incredible amounts of airline miles. It’s a win-win for everybody,” said Bjorn Larsen, one of RocketMiles’ founders contacted by The TICKET. We checked and found some of RocketMiles’s hotel rates mildly inflated compared to rates found on the hotel brand sites. For example, the RocketMiles rate at the InterConti San Francisco is $319 per night, but on IHG.com, it’s $284. So this might work best for “unmanaged” business travelers who simply have to submit a receipt to their client or company for reimbursement. Larsen contends that in a recent RocketMiles study, its rates were the same or lower than other online sites 85% of the time. Along with Delta SkyMiles, RocketMiles works with American AAdvantage, HawaiianMiles and United Mileage Plus. Check it out and let us know what you think. Note: RocketMiles has a “refer a friend” offer on the site, and we signed up for it (and you can, too). So if you make a booking from links posted here, we get 1000 miles. Come on and help us out!
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TAXES & FEES…AND SURCHARGES. Delta’s new SkyMiles rules state that you’ll earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) on fare only—you will not earn it on the taxes and fees included in the ticket price. When we first dug into that new wrinkle, it looked ugly. For example, on a $1,149 coach fare between Atlanta and London in May, nearly half that– $644– is comprised of “taxes/carrier-imposed fees,” which made it look like you’d only earn 505 MQDs for that round trip.
That seemed like a total rip off, so we asked Delta to confirm.
Thankfully, Delta told The TICKET that it’s only the government-imposed taxes and fees that don’t count as MQDs. Since “surcharges” are imposed by Delta, they do count toward MQDs. In the case of the $1,149 ticket to London, there’s a $458 “carrier imposed international surcharge.” So when you tack that on to the $505 base fare, you get $963—and 963 MQDs.
Not great, but not as bad as we thought.
This means that the math used in this widely circulated CNN/Fortune/Money article about Medallion Qualification Dollars– which was sent to us by many alarmed TICKET readers– is not correct.
SKYMILES IN YOUR WILL? Here’s another reason to burn up those banked SkyMiles as soon as you can. Last month Delta quietly (and without any warning) changed its rules when it comes to passing your SkyMiles along to heirs when/if you die. The new rules state that as of March 2013 “miles may not be transferred…upon death.” Old rules allowed an executor to transfer miles to the accounts of heirs. Delta joins several other carriers that do not allow mileage transfers upon death. How do you get around this? First, those who are terminally ill should transfer miles to heirs as soon as possible. At a minimum, everyone should leave their SkyMiles account number and login information with someone who can redeem miles or make transfers in the event of their demise. Have you done this??
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Wow, Phil, you said it. Why do I stick with Delta? Stupidity. As a 4 MM, Diamond, I have an abysmal upgrade record this year. I’m an idiot.
I agree with the statements made by the folks who posted them. I have 4,500,000 MQM miles and it doesn’t mean much to Delta. Being a Diamond/Million Miler in Atlanta means nothing. All that they care about is the cost of current Ticket. They talk a big game when it comes to “Rewarding their Frequent Travelers” but that is all it is- Talk. The only way I get upgraded is if I happen to book a high Fare Classification. Otherwise, I am in the back. Folks up front have got Higher Fare Classification. I don’t think that things will get better, and the way Delta is going, I doubt that I will be a Diamond in 2015. The added requirements to spend a certain amount, fly a certain number segments, etc, will see to that. My biggest question for Delta has been and remains “What Priority do Million Miler Flyers have with Delta?” From my perspective, not much.
Just when you thought Delta couldn’t sink any lower, they managed to do it. I can’t believe they have eliminated the ability to inherit miles when a loved dies. Obviously, Delta doesn’t believe the commercial they had to “Never let the rules, overrule common sense.” Or to “Upping up the ante, upping up their game or upping up, up.” Delta needs to abolish this ridiculous new rule.
Hi Dave: Those surcharges were first imposed by airlines when fuel prices skyrocketed a few years ago. Airlines keep these “surcharges” in place because their corporate discounts are based on fare only– not the surcharges.
Delta has been pretty good to me in the past. That is, I didn’t try to book a ticket to Hawaii or Paris in July. I have booked many international flights using miles but then again, I know when and how to do it. They also let me have my brothers miles as well as my dads when they died. That said, as an airline grows and merges, the miles become harder to get and use. Oh well.
Hi David: No, I’m not getting paid for referrals. I set up the referral link to see how readers would respond to this service. Like anyone else signing up for the service, I do get a bonus of 1000 miles if someone actually books a stay. You can, too. See “refer a friend” on the left side. — chris
Hi Brad: No, I’m not getting paid for referrals. I set up the referral link to see how readers would respond to this service. Like anyone else signing up for the service, I do get a bonus of 1000 miles if someone actually books a stay. You can, too. See “refer a friend” on the left side. — chris
Last year I spent 47k on flights to Asia, this year, not one cent. Vote with your feet people, Delta represents thievery at it’s very best.
So ARE you getting paid for referrals to RocketMiles?
What the heck is a carrier-imposed international surcharge? It’s almost as much as the cost of the ticket!
The links to rocketmiles appear to be referral URLs. Are you getting compensation with them via some sort of affiliate program? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, except that you should make clear that you have a financial interest in driving traffic to your partners’ sites.
I totally agree. I am trying to get to BKK on miles in June and a business class seat is 365,000 miles, minimum. Why does Delta have this ridiculously high number of miles? Cost is $8000 ++ or astronomic miles. This is what it used to cost for a First Class seat. What does “carrier-imposed surcharge” mean any way? Is this just their way of getting to charge us more?
I’m really starting to wonder why Delta even has a FF mileage program. Rewarding their frequent flyers seems to have become quite painful for them. It seems like every six weeks they dilute the value or perks of the program further. These days, to keep one’s status, there is a lot of hoop jumping involved. One must dig deep into the rule book and read the fine print. (Is there an app for this? LOL)
As for the MQDs, where is the transparency? Chris, it is sad that such a knowledgeable travel adviser such as yourself had to actually go to Delta to get clarification regarding MQDs. And with CNN/Fortune/Money getting it wrong, Delta has clearly not done a job getting the facts out. I have a feeling that when this finally rolls out there will be a lot off frequent flyers saying “WTH????”.
My guess is that Delta will continue to remain near the bottom of the list of the Top FF Mileage Programs. I’m becoming very weary of being Delta’s poodle.