I’m often called a Delta apologist when commenters are extra kind. I’m called other words too. And to answer one question from comments last week, no, I am not on Delta’s payroll. If you have really read what I have said, the gist of it comes down to this – Delta Air Lines is an enterprise that is free to make business decisions it sees fit to make. Likewise, travelers are free to make their own business decisions which very well may include flying another airline or at least crediting the Delta flights you do take to a partner program.
I once asked if Alaska’s Mileage Plan was the silver widget everyone always wanted? Of course, that was before the advent of SkyMiles 2015 and a change in the way Mileage Plan rewards for Delta flights.
There are still instances when it might make sense for a Delta flier to move their loyalty focus to Mileage Plan. If you live on the west coast and like to take advantage of Alaska’s network up and down the coast, then I think you should move to Mileage Plan. You can also credit American Airlines flights to your Mileage Plan account so depending on where you live and what your travel patterns are, as I’ve said before, Mileage Plan could be a real sweet spot. If you’re a person who buys premium cabin seats, crediting your Delta flights to Mileage Plan can still net you up to 100% bonus miles. Something to think about.
No one knows how much longer the partnership with Delta and Alaska will last. I think it’s safe to assume that it won’t be around for the long term. Even still, it might make sense to take the miles you can get while you can. Relatively speaking I’d rather have a stash of Mileage Plan miles in my pocket than SkyMiles in many circumstances.
For those of us that live in Atlanta (and every other Delta hub and large market) the math is different, and varies based on your individual circumstances. A loyalty program is not my primary purchase motivator, it’s around number 3 or 4 on my list. It may be first on yours, and that’s OK. The decision is yours. October is less than 3 months away, and status matches with Alaska made from October on are good for 2016 too. Just sayin’. While I would wait until October to request a match, here’s what you need to do.
Send an email to elite.flyer@alaskaair.com, and include following information.
- A copy of the front and back of your elite membership card.
- A copy of your current e-statement indicating your status.
- A copy of your driver’s license.
And to reiterate, if you request the match now, it’s only good through 12/31/15. If you wait until October, it will be good through 2016.
That’s one way to deal with SkyMiles’ changes. Then again, can a 30 minute flight to Charlotte just be a cost of doing business? More on that later. And a bit about Southwest too.
-MJ, July 20, 2015
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LA based with a healthy amount of paid domestic F. AS has been an awesome place to park AA/DL flight miles. Status matched over last winter from UA. DL/AA cover the east coast with AS/SW covering the west. It’s great to still be able to pick up 225-325% RDM on DL and have access to their product.
Go Medill!
I wish I lived on the West Coast to participate in the Alaska ff program. Alaska beats the hell out of delta as an airline overall. Further Alaska Mileage Plan miles are way more valuable than skymiles as you said. I hope Alaska continues to add more flights in our neck of the woods. I’d much rather give my business to a company that has integrity not to mention value.
@John, I can’t deny that as I sat in the PDX Board Room a few weeks ago, I had similar thoughts about how I’d all over Mileage Plan if I lived there. Great people, great little airline.
Just making the point that the Article title was not addressed, if you want click thru traffic, I can understand that. I just think that common sense would dictate that an actual status match would be addressed with your article title.
In all sincerity, I did consider adding the quick bullets on that, but got caught in the idea that I didn’t really think it would be worth it to do so until October. On the other hand, there are people who can definitely fly enough in the 5 remaining months of the year to renew their status. I’m going to update the post.
Marshall, your title says “Status Match to Alaska Air”, but no details on how or when to do a Status Match…the problem with you, no common sense and a poor writing skill set. I do not expect you to be a Northwestern or Missouri journalism student, but even you can remember your article title, your column is more like pro Delta graffiti than prose. So your readers know, if they do a Status Match to Alaska after October 1st, it should be good until March 2017.
The internet brings out the best in all of us. My intent was to post again when I actually do the status match, and I will after October 1, to produce a nice tidy little post on the whole experience. While not perfect, I’m fairly sure I have common sense in spades to help makeup for my lack of a Northwestern education. I’ll try to be more thoughtful about titles matching content going forward.