Travel hacks and advice

[Foggy_Goggles]

I don't know what I'll be up to this winter. I might make it to Europe and if I did I'd be in La Grave with the homies for at least some of the time. I got a pretty wicked paragliding addiction these days and I'm pretty sure I'll be in Columbia for some of February.

[El Chupacabra]

Real maggots would just wear their red boots on the plane. Faster that way.

[Supermoon]

Especially tele boots!

[riser4]

Nobody cares that Danno teles.

[bodywhomper]

Acid in the eye dropper.

[Danno]

Nobody cares that Danno teles.

My friends might tell you that Danno doesn't tele.

[liv2ski]

I’ve rented cars in a lot of countries and never had or needed one. I don’t think the IDL is much of a thing anymore

It is for Italy

[jackattack]

DON’T RENT WITH BUDGET AT LAX (maybe anywhere)

[zion zig zag]

Holy shit, Delta gutted the qualifications for the medallion program. After being Plat medallion for the last three years, and gold before that, I likely won’t even make Silver for 2025. It’d be easy enough for me to just say fuck it and fly whoever was cheapest, but living in SLC I don’t have many options for non-stops out of here.

I guess I’ll dump my co-branded AMEX and start looking at other cards.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Holy shit, Delta gutted the qualifications for the medallion program. After being Plat medallion for the last three years, and gold before that, I likely won’t even make Silver for 2025. It’d be easy enough for me to just say fuck it and fly whoever was cheapest, but living in SLC I don’t have many options for non-stops out of here.

I guess I’ll dump my co-branded AMEX and start looking at other cards.

Fucking shit, I saw that last night and still trying to digest the news. I doesn't look like the $695 yearly fee for the Skymiles reserve card pencils for us anymore, so what's the points card we should be looking at? Capital One venture?

[singlesline]

Re: skis getting lost/left behind
It can’t be cheap for an airline to have to have to deal with this - especially since then also covered $500 of emergency gear purchases that I’ve been reimbursed for.

TLDR: put an AirTag in your luggage - it won’t fix everything but it can’t hurt

This is why I don’t stress too much about lost luggage.

Once you know the rules, it is just an excuse to get new gear for free. They may not volunteer the information, but you are entitled to a lot if your bag doesn’t show up.

Won’t help for ski boots that are $$$ and need fitting and you’ll just rent skis/poles, but clothes and other random gear can be purchased.

One of my wife’s favorite pieces of clothing is from a lost bag in San Francisco where she had a formal event. Got a new dress, shirt, boots, etc. and since she wasn’t paying for it, I think she picked stuff she actually wanted rather than going with the cheaper option.

I’d love a chance to demo skis for free and upgrade some of my base layers and travel clothes on the airline’s dime!

And it is not like they usually lose your bar forever. Super rare for it to not be found eventually.

[zion zig zag]

Fucking shit, I saw that last night and still trying to digest the news. I doesn't look like the $695 yearly fee for the Skymiles reserve card pencils for us anymore, so what's the points card we should be looking at? Capital One venture?

The shock is wearing off and I've started to make a list of what I'll lose in 2025:
-No automatic C+ upgrades at booking.
-No upgrades to first class (which have been about 50% of the time for me since becoming platinum)
-No more 4 RUC's per year
-No lounge access
-No priority phone line with no hold time
-No priority boarding (fight for bin space)
-No priority check in lane
-No free baggage for everyone I'm traveling with
-No reimbursement for Global Entry
-No free same day changes with guaranteed availability

What am I missing?

I get it, I'm the exact person they want to cull from the program, leisure traveler that books the lowest fare and doesn't spend all that much. But in order to get any real medallion benefits now (gold level), you have to spend 12k a year with Delta. Seems like if you are spending that much, you'd be booking FC anyway, and status wouldn't really matter to you.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

$695 isn't worth the one domestic companion fare and 2 free companion lounge visits. We won't even make silver with our typical spending amount on the Amex card so no more free upgrades.

We were exclusive Delta flyers because it worked best out of BZN and the C+ seats are worth it to me at 6'3". But we'll transfer our balance to Chase or Capital One and freelance our flights from now on. Delta can get fucked.

[teleee]

The shock is wearing off and I've started to make a list of what I'll lose in 2025:
-No automatic C+ upgrades at booking.
-No upgrades to first class (which have been about 50% of the time for me since becoming platinum)
-No more 4 RUC's per year
-No lounge access
-No priority phone line with no hold time
-No priority boarding (fight for bin space)
-No priority check in lane
-No free baggage for everyone I'm traveling with
-No reimbursement for Global Entry
-No free same day changes with guaranteed availability

What am I missing?

I get it, I'm the exact person they want to cull from the program, leisure traveler that books the lowest fare and doesn't spend all that much. But in order to get any real medallion benefits now (gold level), you have to spend 12k a year with Delta. Seems like if you are spending that much, you'd be booking FC anyway, and status wouldn't really matter to you.

Shit!! Just saw this in my email. Yea I am out on the AMEX Delta card. A whole lot of the things that made me a loyal Delta traveler are now gone. Hello United and Southwest.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Supermoon]

The only thing that might keep me in Delta is that I really do have better flying experiences with them than other airlines on the whole. If that changes I'll leave in a heartbeat, but until then, who knows.

I was thinking about upgrading to the Reserve card, but now that won't happen for sure.

[BC.]

I dumped my Delta AMX about a year ago…..cuz they took away our favorite flight to SLC…..was thinking about joining back up because we always did prefer Delta over United….

Glad I read this thread…..I guess I’ll unfortunately have to keep our United card.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I really don't want to fly United, but they have the next closest hub in DEN. American only flys out a couple of times a day out of here and the closest hub is ORD and that airport can fuck right off.

[zion zig zag]

The only thing that might keep me in Delta is that I really do have better flying experiences with them than other airlines on the whole.

Delta has gotten demonstrably worse post COVID as far as in-flight service, IMO. I feel like the rest of my experience was pretty good, but mostly due to status perks.

[Meadow Skipper]

The only thing that might keep me in Delta is that I really do have better flying experiences with them than other airlines on the whole. If that changes I'll leave in a heartbeat, but until then, who knows.

This. I just use regular AMEX platinum and don’t worry too much about it.

[singlesline]

I suppose it was only a matter of time. United significantly raised qualification requirements last year. I think I am actually going to squeeze through a bump to Gold this year, but might not even qualify for Silver next year when I resume a more normal amount of travel.

Honestly might be a blessing in disguise as the status makes me gravitate towards United, but there are couple of destinations/flight times on Delta that work better. Delta has a nonstop to where my parents live, and they also have the latest evening flight into town (don't love landing at 12:30AM, but the timing enables later connections and can avoid an extra night away from home). United usually works better for me (ORD+DEN options), but that late Delta flight did me a solid last winter when I had to be at a work meeting all day but really wanted to ski the next morning...could catch a 7:30PM flight at Ohare and still make it back to Whitefish (last United flight of the day leaves Denver at 7:15PM)

I get it, I'm the exact person they want to cull from the program, leisure traveler that books the lowest fare and doesn't spend all that much. But in order to get any real medallion benefits now (gold level), you have to spend 12k a year with Delta. Seems like if you are spending that much, you'd be booking FC anyway, and status wouldn't really matter to you.

Yeah, you're right they want to get rid of you and favor the real target of these programs: travelers where someone else is footing the bill.

You qualify for status off your business travel, but you get to enjoy the benefits on your personal leisure travel. This incentivizes you to make sure you book all of your business flights on the same airline even if it is slightly more expensive or the itinerary isn't as good (most employers allow you some leeway in your flight choices...). Even if the business flights aren't FC, they are often higher fares by virtue of being last minute or refundable tickets.

Plus you get into the games they offer to get around corporate first class policies. E.g. company policy says no first/business below 5 hours, but you can buy a full fare economy ticket class that instant-upgrades on purchase to business (if you have status) without violating the policy.

Status matters to those travelers a lot. It is what gives them a first/business seat when the client won't pay for it. It gives them perks and chances to upgrade (including family members) on leisure travel. Those perks are devalued when a bunch of random schmoes like us are fighting for the same upgrades or economy plus seats.

[phatty]

Using only MQD is rough. Even hitting $6k is going to be tough going forward and I even travel international a few times a year for work. Brutal.

[Supermoon]

Are these Delta changes tied to the Amex or is this all new. Have not seen any email. I'm on track for Gold, but need to spend ~2.5k to get there. I use Alaska for most domestic but prefer Delta when needing to go international. I travel about 90% business/10% personal. Have been gold for all but 1 year of the past 10.

I looked it up after seeing this thread, but then got the email just a little bit ago. I think it's for ALL people, not just CC customers, the way I'm reading it.

[singlesline]

Using only MQD is rough. Even hitting $6k is going to be tough going forward and I even travel international a few times a year for work. Brutal.

Guess it depends the kind of flying you do. On United I'm currently sitting on almost enough dollars for Gold but barely enough flight segments for Silver. I think I will squeeze in enough flight segments with with holiday travel, but I might hit the "dollars only" requirement before I get enough flights for the "dollars plus flights" lower requirement.

Looking at last year (but thinking about the new higher requirements), I would have just barely made Silver on dollars alone, but would have been 1 flight segment short of making it on dollars+flights.

Where I am, flights are on the expensive side, but my most common destinations have been hub cities so I don't rack up a bunch of extra segments with connecting flights (and my total mileage stays low...no big coast to coast flights or anything).

[alpinevibes]

Holy shit, Delta gutted the qualifications for the medallion program. After being Plat medallion for the last three years, and gold before that, I likely won’t even make Silver for 2025. It’d be easy enough for me to just say fuck it and fly whoever was cheapest, but living in SLC I don’t have many options for non-stops out of here.

I guess I’ll dump my co-branded AMEX and start looking at other cards.

Yeah, Delta's valuations have tanked and unless you're accruing a ton of MR points through spend or bonus churning, it's hard to get a decent international mileage itinerary for under 200-300k.

I'd go the United+Chase UR route and double down your cards with having 1) an United Explorer or Business Explorer (better) and a Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve if it pencils out to be worth it for you) or an Ink Preferred (better). The two business cards will get you 200,000pts after spending $20,000 total.

[phatty]

Guess it depends the kind of flying you do. On United I'm currently sitting on almost enough dollars for Gold but barely enough flight segments for Silver. I think I will squeeze in enough flight segments with with holiday travel, but I might hit the "dollars only" requirement before I get enough flights for the "dollars plus flights" lower requirement.

Looking at last year (but thinking about the new higher requirements), I would have just barely made Silver on dollars alone, but would have been 1 flight segment short of making it on dollars+flights.

Where I am, flights are on the expensive side, but my most common destinations have been hub cities so I don't rack up a bunch of extra segments with connecting flights (and my total mileage stays low...no big coast to coast flights or anything).

Yeah, delta was miles or segments + MQD. I never made segments, but usually enough miles because I do SEA - NYC a few times a year plus lots of SEA - SFO plus mix in 2-3 international flights. I'm going to push for Gold this year so I can do a status match with someone else before it expires next year.