book Delta now for 2007 - safe bet?
 

Hi all,
Gearing up to book my fall 2007 trip using (hopefully) Delta miles. So, do you think its a safe bet? If Delta folds will I lose those seats and the Business Class upgrade I plan to purchase? This is all new territory for me so any guidance is great appreciated.
Thanks, LisaS

I'm sorry, but what in the world makes you think Delta is going to fold up shop in the next year? I think that's extremely unlikely to happen in the near future, though airline mergers are always a possibility. However, if you are actually ticketed, you should be able to fly regardless of whether the airline merges with another or not.

Your reply sounds a little hostile, Doug. I realize that Fodors has a vested interest in combatting "scare-ism", when it comes to travel...

...and even though I agree with your conclusions, I think you could have provided some factual information that would be comforting and reassuring.

Best wishes,

Rex

And I just posted on a different thread that people should "be more nurturing and helpful". :-)

I'm sorry for my tone.

In general, frequent flier miles are usually safe unless an airline actually goes out of business. Even when an airline enters bankruptcy, it has a business reason not to upset its frequent fliers (the assumption being that it's going to exit bankruptcy at some point and wants those people to remain customers).

But I would throw in a word of caution. If an airline were to suddenly go out of business (again, quite unlikely with one of the big airlines), non-reveunue tickets would be the most at-risk. Though in truth, if you haven't paid money for the upgrade and a large airline did go completely out of business, then the miles might be worthless anyway, so you haven't actually lost anything of real value. If you are going to PAY for an upgrade and you still have concerns, I'd recommend waiting to do that until later. You might even get enough miles this year to cover the upgrade so you don't have to pay for it.

Sorry, Rex, but I see more hostility in your comments than in Doug's!
I don't always agree with Doug's comment, but I see nothing wrong with this one!

Seriously, Rex. You are hardly in a position to comment on someone's tone. For years we have put up with your judgemental, know-it-all, verbose, condescending and ubiquitous responses. Lighten up.

Since I would be swapping over 200 hard earned American Express miles to Delta that I would not be able to get back, Yes I was a bit concerned. Glad to see everyone was able to vent their frustrations at my expense. Thanks.

aha! now we're really at the crux: it's American Express points, not Delta. That gives a bit of a different edge to it - IF Delta went under totally, any Delta points would be worthless anyway, the point of previous posters. You're worried more about the industry trend, I'd say.

I fly frequently, and use Delta for much of that - and would have no qualms going ahead and booking with them. Frankly, it's been a changing industry for some years now, and they're all dealing with it, and most (I believe) will be survivors. One example: as with other airlines, Delta's eliminated so many flights that capacity is up (therefore, profitability per flight), so the flight experience is changing for many of us business & pleasure travelers. I think above posters are correct: if Delta's the best carrier to use, just book with enthusiasm and plan a great trip!
I would say that I'd check around on all the carriers (not knowing where you're leaving from nor going to). We're headed to London/Cotswolds/Paris next summer, and I ended up NOT using Delta - I found that the only way to go from D.C. area and open-jaw the tickets was really cumbersome, and involved an extra really awkward leg on the return. So, I'm using British Airways, leaving in the a.m. from Dulles and arriving Heathrow about dinner time, then returning CDG-Heathrow-Dulles 17 days later (my longest vacation in decades!!!) Got 3 of the 4 tickets using credit card points that work like frequent flyer miles, since I didn't have anything that could go onto BA.(we're also flying in their premium economy section - I'm normally Business Class oriented, too, but since we're flying all daylight flights I'm hoping it will be fine. according to SeatGuru.com, the extra space looks adequate) Had to actually purchase the final ticket, but when you average it, still got 4 World Traveler Plus at less than $400/ticket, in July. I'll be using my Delta miles domestically in the fall of next year -destination still a bit up in the air, but setting plans now!

I'd just suggest that you look at all possible airlines, find the best set of flights, then jump on them!
Jo Ann

Lisa, I,without hesitation, will be turning over AMEX miles for 2 business class tickets on Delta. I will do this 330 days in advance in order to get the flights I want.

It has never occured to me that an airline of this size would completely close down. Now that you mention it, it still does not occur to me. When planning a trip, travelling, or living my life, my motto is :Don't Borrow Trouble"

Kind regards,
Lynnie

Doug-I can't believe you find it surprising that someone would be worried about the stability of a big airline-remember Pan Am,World,so many others?Delta has been in and out of bankruptcy court,so it's not an unreasonable question at all.

Don;t forget that if you don't get your seats booking 330 days out,FF seats open up all the time so try again at 275 days or 200. I 've booked BC tickets 90 days out when they hadn't been available earlier.

I mostly fly with Delta and have tons of SkyMiles. I echo the reply saying that award seats open up all the time. For instance, I flew Business Elite with Delta to Stuttgart in late June. I bought my ticket with miles two weeks before the flight. In November I go to Athens, and I bought the ticket about 3 weeks ago. So, don't think you always have to book 11 months in advance.

Another hint: if you are flexible by a couple days or airports, then you can often get what you want. On the Stuttgart trip, I really wanted to fly to Munich, but Munich award seats in Business were not available. But by flying one day earlier than I wanted and going to Stuttgart, it worked. Then it was just a 2-hour train ride to Munich from Stuttgart.

<< Doug-I can't believe you find it surprising that someone would be worried about the stability of a big airline-remember Pan Am,World,so many others? >>

World was never in the same class as Delta, were they? Over half charter, I was thinking - - and besides, there weren't all these "alliances" back then.

I don't remember the shutdown of Pan Am - - seems like they were down to a shadow of their former (big) footprint by 1989? 1991? when they closed the doors - - but did any paid customers fail to get accommodated on another carrier? I suppose they had a FF program since those mostly began in the early 80's - - did anyone lose any miles? or did they get "born again" in someone else's program?

Both TWA and Eastern have gone out of business in my flying history, and I didn't lose any FF miles with either (carried onward today in my AAdvantage lifetime miles, and in my OnePass account).

I think that's Doug's point - - for an airline as big as Delta to go under, one or more airlines will step forward into their void (especially a SkyTeam partner, i.e., NW or CO). Too many passengers on too many routes for all that business not to be "vultured up".

"If Delta folds will I lose those seats and the Business Class upgrade I plan to purchase?"

This sounds like maybe you are buying the upgradable ticket and using your miles to upgrade? (You can't do the reverse on Delta, use miles to get the ticket then pay for the upgrade in $)

If I'm reading you correctly, you will not be a non-rev. You will have a revenue ticket which will have somewhat better ranking should the ugly thing happen and another airline picks up Delta's tickted passengers.

There's a whole long thread on that issue in the Delta forum of www.flyertalk.com that will tell you exactly what to expect if that happens. Personally, I have over a million miles banked with Delta and I'm not worried about losing them.

I don't mean to add fuel to the fire, or start a chain of speculative rumors.
But, Delta is still pulling out of the bankruptcy mire and the pilots union, while quiet at the moment, is hardly placated.

I have talked with some of them and they are not fully trustful of the intent of the current management of Delta.

I share Lisa's concerns about the future of the airline.

Even though Delta is working hard to restructure, and change its business model, pilots' salaries are still quite high, and the expense burden from the recent past is still heavy.

Despite its changes, Delta is hardly operating along the lines of the EasyJet model which has led to profitability and successs.

I agree that the situation is far from stable. However, I do feel that even if they don't pull this one out there are other carriers that will want to take over their routes and gate allotments. In turn, they will aquire Delta's ticketed passengers and FF accounts.