Delta has once again changed award ticket prices, this time providing customers with a nine month warning before the business class award devaluation goes into effect on October 1, 2016. The only problem is, for travel booked after October 1, 2016, the new award levels will be assessed, meaning it is already too late to save on future travel! Furthermore, as Delta does not publish award charts, the only way to know of this devaluation is by searching for award tickets and stumbling upon it, As Delta did not announce these changes! Delta continues to snub frequent flyers and remind us that they DO NOT want your busiess, a company with an extremely unfriendly business centric policy.
The only good news, in some regions economy class redemptions are being reduced.
Delta Airline Increases Award Costs 10/1
Delta is increasing the cost of Business Class award tickets in several regions. Expect to see higher redemption requirements to Asia, the Southwest Pacific, South America and all of Africa.
| Region | Before 10/1 Business | 10/1 & Beyond Business |
| Europe | 62,500 | 62,500 |
| Middle East | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Africa | 70,000 | 80,000 |
| South Africa | 80,000 | 90,000 |
| North Asia | 70,000 | 80,000 |
| Southeast Asia | 70,000 | 80,00 |
| Southwest Pacific | 80,000 | 95,000 |
| Northern South America | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Southern South America | 62,500 | 75,000 |
New award price to Asia in Business Class Award starting 10/1 (Above) Vs Old Price for travel pre-10/1 (Below)
Although Delta does not publish an Award chart, the do categorizes their wards by fare classes. Search for “O” class awards to see the prices differences pre and post October 1, 2016.
Delta Airline Economy Class Award Cost Decreases 10/1
As I had mentioned before, the silver lining in the business class award increase is Delta is actually reducing the costs of economy class awards to several regions where they increased the number of miles needed to fly business. If you ok with sitting upright for 6-12 hours, you may be happy to see the cheaper award tickets to several regions. The new economy class award chart is more similar to what American and United charges for award tickets
| Region | Before 10/1 Economy | 10/1 & Beyond Economy |
| Europe | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| Middle East | 40,000 | 35,000 |
| Africa | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| South Africa | 50,000 | 45,000 |
| North Asia | 35,000 | 35,000 |
| Southeast Asia | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Southwest Pacific | 50,000 | 45,000 |
| Northern South America | 22,500 | 22,500 |
| Southern South America | 30,000 | 30,000 |
New economy class award price above for travel after 10/1 vs pre 10/1 rates below
There are several other changes to the Delta Skymile Award chart when departing from regions outside the United States, most of them bad. Delta is rewarding loyalty by further making comfortable travel nearly unattainable. If you are still flying Delta and collecting SkyMiles, your frequent flyer currency has been devalued yet again, and is more on par with Russian Ruble. My recommendation, spend your miles and find a new airline!
