Airline/Hotel Loyalty Programs

[Jeff Lebowski]

Ugh... OK, I think I will pass.

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[Jeff Lebowski]

$10 spending on AMEX = $1 MQD. Yikes.

Also:

Beginning Feb. 1, 2025, Delta will cap American Express Platinum Card and Delta Reserve American Express cardholders' Sky Club visits to six and 10 visits per year, respectively, according to Delta. Meanwhile, passengers flying in basic economy class will no longer be admitted to Delta's Sky Club lounges, beginning next year, regardless of whether or not they have a Platinum Card or any other premium credit card.

The new policy, however, does not apply to Centurion-branded airport lounges, which American Express owns and operates. Qualified American Express cardholders can also access the Sky Club lounges without restrictions if they make at least $75,000 worth of purchases per year on their credit cards, the Delta's website shows.

$75K of purchases on a Citi double-cash mastercard would earn you $1500 cash back. Seems like a better deal.

Also, you can no longer earn Million Miler status with AMEX purchases. Flight miles only.

[Omaha 680]

Ugh... OK, I think I will pass.

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That's what I'm talking about. The T4 sky club line at jfk is always like that. I refuse to wait in that line for very average snacks and fighting for a seat. The sky club used to be good for what is was: a quiet place to escape the madness of the airport, work a little in comfort and peace, and have use of clean restrooms. But it hasn't been any of those things for a while.

SLC is ok because it is one of the largest but it is still quite crowded.

[Omaha 680]

Also while I'm ranting about first world problems what TF use is Clear any more? When I first joined you could breeze through scanning your eyes. Now they always make you scan your boarding pass after your eyes. Last flight they made me scan my boarding pass twice ( once at the clear machine and once at the TSA agent) after scanning my eyes. Sometimes they make you scan and then show an ID after scanning your eyes. So it's turned into more steps than regular precheck. The only benefit i can see is about once or twice a year when I show up somewhere and the precheck line happens to be long; then it saves me about 20 minutes in line and is nice. But I don't think it's worth it at all overall.

[Omaha 680]

$10 spending on AMEX = $1 MQD. Yikes.

Also:



$75K of purchases on a Citi double-cash mastercard would earn you $1500 cash back. Seems like a better deal.

Also, you can no longer earn Million Miler status with AMEX purchases. Flight miles only.

Like I said overall a brutal devaluation of the overall skymiles program for most. It will free up benefits for the most elite of travelers which is probs what they are going for. Delta is so far and away better than any other domestic carrier they don't need a superior loyalty program to attract customers. People fly delta just to avoid united and American and they use sky miles just because.

[old_gregg]

Oh, great. One more platinum guy contributing to the traffic jam!

o_g I'm sure platinum card holders are a major driver of the lounge problem, but I'm convinced to glut of medallions is a partial contributor. The Centurion Lounges that can be accessed by platinum card are crowded, but nowhere near as insane as the Sky Clubs. Also the drastic reduction in upgrade frequency and how far down the list I usually am as a Diamond post-covid compared to a Platinum pre-covid is pretty crazy. This will certainly improve the upgrade and lounge issue for those medallions who make the cut.

i spend a not small amount of time in the slc sky club and sfo centurion lounge or sky club, and the centurion lounge is always much worse than both the slc and sfo sky clubs. unique demographics, admittedly. the problem in both is the authorized users: amex plat authorized users get lounge access (even traveling on their own), and in slc it's super common to see big families. they dont typically interfere with my "give the nice lady a $20 and see how many g&ts you can kill before stumbling on to a crj" game, but they do make it impossible to sit or eat.

[old_gregg]

Also while I'm ranting about first world problems what TF use is Clear any more? When I first joined you could breeze through scanning your eyes. Now they always make you scan your boarding pass after your eyes. Last flight they made me scan my boarding pass twice ( once at the clear machine and once at the TSA agent) after scanning my eyes. Sometimes they make you scan and then show an ID after scanning your eyes. So it's turned into more steps than regular precheck. The only benefit i can see is about once or twice a year when I show up somewhere and the precheck line happens to be long; then it saves me about 20 minutes in line and is nice. But I don't think it's worth it at all overall.

i haven't shown a boarding pass for a long time. clear + whatever crappy digital wallet app the utah dmv uses for the tsa agent.

[old_gregg]

$10 spending on AMEX = $1 MQD. Yikes.

Also:



$75K of purchases on a Citi double-cash mastercard would earn you $1500 cash back. Seems like a better deal.

Also, you can no longer earn Million Miler status with AMEX purchases. Flight miles only.

skymiles and amex are unsalvageable reward programs. total crap. i still think chase is the best for max value and flexibility if you'll use it for travel anyway, but cash back is easy to set and forget.

[old_gregg]

o680 and others, what is your bag setup? i'm on my third warranty claim for a briggs & riley garment bag and i am over it, but i dont feel like paying $800 for the same thing with a worse warranty from tumi.

[Omaha 680]

o680 and others, what is your bag setup? i'm on my third warranty claim for a briggs & riley garment bag and i am over it, but i dont feel like paying $800 for the same thing with a worse warranty from tumi.

Ha. I'm not a lawyer or a welder so I won't compete here. Samsonite roll on bag from Costco and company branded Swiss gear backpack.

[Jeff Lebowski]

i haven't shown a boarding pass for a long time. clear + whatever crappy digital wallet app the utah dmv uses for the tsa agent.

Hey, us schlubs who only have TSA pre-check can also breeze through showing only our driver licenses. Very nice.

[Jeff Lebowski]

o680 and others, what is your bag setup? i'm on my third warranty claim for a briggs & riley garment bag and i am over it, but i dont feel like paying $800 for the same thing with a worse warranty from tumi.

Travelpro Platinum Elite for me.

[BigFatMeanie]

The new Delta program will work better for guys like me. I fly a couple times a year overseas in Delta One on the company dime. Couple those pricey tickets with my AMEX spend and it means I can hit the MQDs fairly easily, but I have a tough time getting past Silver because of the MQMs and I've never even come close to hitting the MQS numbers.

[Omaha 680]

Delta CEO teasing a potential walkback of the revised skymiles requirements. I'm thinking this may have been the plan all along. They knew they had to cull the herd, but they deliberately introduced it with extremely draconian benefits cuts and earnings requirements increases. After the backlash they can appear reasonable by walking it back, but not all the way. They just walk back to where they predetermined they needed to be with the changes. Then the permanent changes are greeted with more satisfaction than anger.

[Bo Diddley]

skymiles and amex are unsalvageable reward programs. total crap. i still think chase is the best for max value and flexibility if you'll use it for travel anyway, but cash back is easy to set and forget.

I think this is the right answer. I just got a Wells Fargo cash back card for 2% cash back on everything. And bonus, since it's a visa, I won't have to carry around a second card for Costco.