What’s Going On with Delta SkyMiles?

I’ve been a Delta loyalist for a long time–ever since I broke up with Continental/United because we moved to Brooklyn and Newark was no longer convenient. When Clara was little and we didn’t travel as much, I had Silver status, and then later when I was logging miles at  Traveler,  I got to Platinum. Finally, with all the travel we’ve been doing these last couple of years, I reached the grail: Diamond. Like all Delta members, we were shocked at the recent announcement of their new rules, which mainly favor Delta credit card holders over frequent flyers. It’s weird that we could feel so slighted by a company, but I think the common feeling here, no matter what your status, is betrayal: we were loyal to you, and now you’re not being loyal to us. I literally just bought a ticket to San Francisco on Delta that was so much more expensive than Jet Blue, just so I could work towards keeping my status. Now I regret it. For years, we’ve chosen Delta over other carriers that offer better equipment on certain routes, just to keep our status. How many janky planes we’ve flown transatlantically, and how many better airplane meals we could have had if we’d flown different carriers, like Emirates to Athens. In the meantime, I matched my status with Jet Blue and United; even if it’s only good until the end of this year, I’ll get a chance to compare their programs. But even before this Delta news drop, I was starting to question if this whole membership thing was worth it. I met a crazy point-nerd type traveler on a flight in Greece who doesn’t subscribe to any of them, and only believes in having the correct credit cards and understanding how/when to use them. We’ll be digging into that in another post soon. For now, to help decode the Delta announcement and what it means for all members, our associate editor Carly Shea interviewed a few real experts for their take. -Y.E.