DELTA Air Lines DELTA's ripoff Skymiles policy Atlanta Georgia

I had 46,000 miles and I needed 50,000 for my husband and I to get awards seats for our vacation to Florida this past February. I paid for the extra miles, a nominal amount, but certainly less than one round trip ticket to Florida. I wouldn't buy a great deal of miles, but I know there is a restriction on how many you can purchase anyway.

I think that you, Bryan, just don't understand how the program works. That's ok. I still have the paperwork from when I joined the Skymiles program many, many years ago. I received updated paperwork about 10 years ago that they had changed the program and that the miles DID expire if you didn't have activity on the account. They described what activity was needed.

FYI - I haven't flown Delta since 2002. 5 years ago. But I must have done something correctly, because my miles were there, ready for my use in February (well, to be honest, I booked the flights last July, so the miles were over 4 years old.)

I don't really know what your beef is, but Delta has done extremely well in coming out of bankruptcy. If you choose not to fly them, that's your own choice, but you alone will not impact their success or failure.
Good luck to you too in your future travels.

Ok Adam. You can blow your money on buying sky miles. It might pay off, assuming that Delta releases enough non-revenue seats on your flight. I for one would rather spend my money on something that has a greater rate of return than 2 extra inches of hip room and a glass of cheap Champaign. With customers like you, how could Delta go under? Good Luck!

"what kind of an person would pay money for sky miles"

OK, so in addition to reading, you also have trouble with basic arithmetic. Got it.

You see if you actually had enough Skymiles for more than a cup of coffee, you might find at some point that you are just a few miles short of what you need to take a companion along, upgrade to first class, whatever.

Now, you go ahead and buy that ticket if you like. I, however, would buy the few Skymiles needed and then redeem them for that same ticket at a fraction of the cost.

And, for the record, we never shared a cabin in the first place, so that's a non-issue as well. I was in the Crown Room Club and in First Class while you were still trying to get your mileage balance into the four digit range.

"what kind of an person would pay money for sky miles"

OK, so in addition to reading, you also have trouble with basic arithmetic. Got it.

You see if you actually had enough Skymiles for more than a cup of coffee, you might find at some point that you are just a few miles short of what you need to take a companion along, upgrade to first class, whatever.

Now, you go ahead and buy that ticket if you like. I, however, would buy the few Skymiles needed and then redeem them for that same ticket at a fraction of the cost.

And, for the record, we never shared a cabin in the first place, so that's a non-issue as well. I was in the Crown Room Club and in First Class while you were still trying to get your mileage balance into the four digit range.

"what kind of an person would pay money for sky miles"

OK, so in addition to reading, you also have trouble with basic arithmetic. Got it.

You see if you actually had enough Skymiles for more than a cup of coffee, you might find at some point that you are just a few miles short of what you need to take a companion along, upgrade to first class, whatever.

Now, you go ahead and buy that ticket if you like. I, however, would buy the few Skymiles needed and then redeem them for that same ticket at a fraction of the cost.

And, for the record, we never shared a cabin in the first place, so that's a non-issue as well. I was in the Crown Room Club and in First Class while you were still trying to get your mileage balance into the four digit range.

Oh James, its people with expectations like yours that lower the bar for the rest of us. Listen to yourself. You're happy that Delta allowed you to remain their customer. Woware you just as happy when the MTA allows you to pay a $4.50 toll for the exclusive privilege of traversing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge?

And as for reading the rules of the program, well I can assure you that I have more reading comprehension in my sleep that you do on your best day. By the way, what kind of an idiot would pay money for sky miles? I think Delta deserves you as a customer. Unprincipled corporate dinosaur meets gullible lap dog. Well at least we won't be sharing cabin service anytime soon. Oh yeah, I forgotDelta has cut that back to bear bones as well! Say hello to Gerald Grinstein for me while you're at it.

"a blithe attitude toward frequent-flier customers,"

No, the attitude may be toward customers who have no reading comprehension skills. The rules seem pretty clear to me.

Currently, miles will not expire as long as you participate in one of the following activities at least once every two years:

* Earn miles for travel on a qualifying Delta, Delta Shuttle, SkyTeam, or other SkyMiles airline partner flights.
* Earn or redeem miles with one of the SkyMiles program partners including hotels, car rentals, Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, international credit card partners, SkyMiles Dining & Hotels by Rewards NetworkSM, MilePoint.com, mortgage lenders, CAP magazine subscriptions, real estate, or telecommunications partners.
* Buy Miles here at delta.com or by calling the number on the back of your SkyMiles card.
* Redeem miles on Delta, Delta Shuttle, a SkyTeam partner, or another SkyMiles airline partner.


Furthermore, Delta allowed me to retain my Platinum status this year, even though I failed to fly the required number of flights last year. This was done to show their appreciation for my past business. It was not something they had to do, it was simply a nice gesture.

As to bankruptcy, they are coming out of it and appear to have a solid plan in place. Finally, save the "you must be a Delta employee" retort that seems to be typical around here whenever anyone posts something in support of Delta. I'm just a satisfied customer with a little over 600k miles in my account.