Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Delta to raise award ticket fees, passengers to give up on award tickets
One of the most sensitive places that airlines have been pandering for extra money in has been in their frequent flyer programs. We're well past the "I thought award tickets were supposed to be be free" argument in the airline circles -- at this point, many travelers are just in hand-on-the-forehead mode, waiting to see how high fees will go.Award tickets have always incurred a few fees. Taxes, most obviously, are always tacked on top of "free tickets" because the airline has no control over their imposition. But recently, "fuel charges" have started to appear, ranging in prices from 25$ for domestic tickets well into the hundreds for international fares.
While booking fees for award tickets have been around on some airlines (not all of them) for a while now, Delta just decided to up the ante and take an extra gouge out of frequent flyer's pockets starting today:
- For Award Tickets issued 21 days or more before departure date, no fee is applied.
- For Award Tickets issued 8 to 20 days before departure date, a $75 fee is applied.
- For Award Tickets issued 4 to 7 days before departure date, a $100 fee is applied.
- For Award Tickets issued 3 days or less prior to departure date, a $150 fee is applied.
- The fee is waived for Award Tickets issued from a Platinum Medallion® members' account
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stijn Aug 15th 2008 2:57PM
Wouldn't it be $108 savings?
258-150=108?
Or am I reading this wrong?
Stijn
Grant Martin Aug 15th 2008 3:01PM
Oh no, you're right. Thanks stjn. So now the deal is worse!
argenteens Aug 16th 2008 11:03AM
I just got an email from American Airlines saying that starting Oct 1st, 2008 they would be upping the number of miles required for "award tickets" and that a fee (co-payment) of $50 to $350 would be incurred.
I wish i had used some of my 600 thousand miles before now :-(
Brenda SFO Aug 16th 2008 12:30PM
Airline frequent flyer miles have become almost worthless to the customer. As far as the points on a credit card, you're better off to apply them elsewhere, and get a card unaffliated witht the airlines.