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MINNEAPOLIS ST. PAUL AIRPORT, Minn. — Delta Airlines and United Airlines will both increase miles needed to redeem frequent-flier tickets for many routes beginning February 1, 2014.
Delta says adjusting SkyMiles is necessary as airline invests in more products and services. United says its’ MileagePlus program since 2008.
Delta’s SkyMiles program had already drawn criticism from some customers about the lack of availability to use miles as the program currently stands.
“It’s disappointing for a family of four to go anywhere you basically unless you get really lucky 150,000-200,000 (miles) to go domestically,” said Scott Leibold, a business traveler from Eden Prairie who frequently flies Delta.
Paul Skrbec, Delta Air Lines spokesperson issued an email statement, and pointed out while the costs of flights have changed, the awards program must fluctuate accordingly.
“We regularly evaluate Award pricing and adjust it periodically. Select redemption levels have changed for Award Tickets booked on or after November 8, 2013, for travel on or after February 1, 2014. Customers can continue to book Award Tickets for travel before February 1, 2014, at current Award redemption levels. Customers can go to delta.com/charts for more information.” said Skrbec.
“I don’t know why they don’t treat us better. A hometown airline, we shouldn’t have to go to other airlines to get a better deal,” said Susan Peterson, of Northfield, also a frequent Delta Airlines flier. “They gave me the opportunity to purchase more miles with this ticket, and I refused. I thought – why am I buying more miles when I have a hard enough time accessing them in the first place?”
United Airlines gave a specific example of the changes. Spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said the lowest cost first class ticket from the US to Europe costs 67,500 miles currently, but beginning in February, travelers will need 80,000 miles to redeem the same ticket. The airline says the changes are due to airplane upgrades, such as on-demand entertainment, touch screen technology and seats that recline into beds.
“We are increasing the number of miles required to redeem some Saver and Standard awards – the first time we’ve made such changes in several years – to offset the increased cost of providing award travel, particularly premium-cabin award travel and award travel on MileagePlus partner carriers,” said Johnson.
He added in some markets, United reduced the number of miles require for award travel.
“Customers who book MileagePlus awards, especially premium-cabin travel awards, will continue to get great value and options, with the most saver-award availability among U.S. global carriers and the greatest number of options for booking United and partner carriers online,” said Johnson.
An NBC news travel report by A. Pawlowski says, “You’ll especially feel the pain if you want to use United miles to book a ticket on United’s Star Alliance partners. Want to fly roundtrip in business class from the U.S. to Europe on Lufthansa? It’ll cost you 100,000 MileagePlus points now, but come February, you’ll need 140,000 miles for the same trip, a 40 percent increase.”
Minnesota travel expert Terry Trippler, who runs the travel website theplanerules.com – advises customers to redeem rewards while they can. He believes airlines are trying to streamline the “lower-rung” of travelers in awards programs that have grown too large for the airlines to manage.
“Cut up your card, and then you will start to really save money because you will travel strictly on price and value, other than who is going to give you the most miles,” said Trippler.
(Copyright 2013 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)