Delta SkyMiles is one of the least valuable frequent flyer programs for mileage earning and redemption. It’s that way intentionally. But it has been even worse for Europeans, and for members who want to book one-way tickets back from Europe.
That’s because not only does Delta charge sky high mileage prices for its awards – even for saver awards, and even when partner programs charge a fraction of the miles for the same flight – but they’ve also added fuel surcharges to tickets that originate in Europe.
Fortunately, Delta has stopped adding these cash co-pays to redemption tickets for travel on Delta flights originating in Europe. So you can book one-ways back from Europe without these fees, and roundtrips originating in Europe without these fees, which you couldn’t do before. That may save you over $150 on a one-way award.
- Delta used to think, why offer more value to Europeans? Their home programs add surcharges so we should stick it to them, too!
- But Delta’s program has gotten so much worse. It offers far less value than partner Air France KLM Flying Blue, for instance (which has reduced its own surcharges).
- And one-ways aren’t just for Europeans, besides Delta’s situation is very different than Air France’s (credit card interchange is capped in Europe). Why make redemption a terrible experience for co-brand cardmembers and potential cardmembers, turning them off to Amex spend?
It is simply not accurate to say, as Ben Smithson suggests at The Points Guy, that fuel surcharges on awards were driven by the ‘high cost of fuel’ (when first introduced). In fact, British Airways got into some trouble making this marketing claim, because they were never in any way tied to the cost of fuel. They were a cash grab from a captive audience, already stuck with their loyalty currency.
The rebranding of these fees came as a result of legal cost to BA (many members benefited from a class action settlement which took over 5 years to reach and some of this site’s readers were involved in from the start).
Bear in mind that if you have already-ticketed awards from Europe and want your money back you’ll have to rebook tickets at currently-available pricing. You can’t just call and ask for the surcharges back.
While some members shrug their shoulders and will say that Delta awards are still useless, even without the surcharges, remember that you should consider throwaway ticketing – book a one-way award from Europe to Mexico, for instance, connecting in the United States. Then don’t take the flight to Mexico. Delta award pricing is much better if the origin and destination of your ticket do not involve the United States.
And while you’ll almost certainly pay fewer miles for most awards through competitor programs, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are still stuck collecting surcharges on British Airways award itineraries – even though BA now offers less award space to American and Alaska than they do to loyalty programs using Avios as a currency.
(HT: Dan’s Deals)
Good. Delta must see the writing on the wall that economic strife is coming and it’s real. They and we need to constantly adapt, or we’re going to get left behind. For real though, these fuel surcharges have always been a lie–just another way to cheat us consumers into paying more. These companies often break their promises to us and others, and I just hope more of us ‘wake up’ and realize that they constantly screw with actual contracts and the overall social contract with us all the time. We deserve better.
On Ben Smithson’s comments, totally agree with Gary on this. Please take lightly whatever those corporate shills over at TPG say–over the years, it’s sad to witness how they’ve become ‘bought and paid for’–like, they can’t even have a comment section anymore because enough folks called them out on their b.s. At least Gary can handle the heat, actually supports and encourages speech, even if it is a different opinion. For that reason, I respect what he’s doing with VFTW more than most if not all other sites related to these industries and related hobbies.
Any time these updates are shared and discussed, I’m thinking: “Gary! It’s happening! The so-called ‘deals’ are coming! The recession ‘deals’! You called it! Forgive us for ever doubting you, sir.”
It reminds me of the opener of the first episode of Rick & Morty. Gary is like drunk Rick waking up Morty in the middle of the night for ‘an adventure’ which happens to be Rick’s idea to destroy the world. Gary is like, (theses deals)… gonna ‘create a fresh start’… (he) wants us to have ‘a thing.’ Meanwhile, most of us know that a recession is not woth such ‘deals,’ so we are like Morty who eventually has to ‘take the wheel’ and prevent the (economic) calamity, well, I hope.
Yay for Delta. They finally noticed that they’ve been crapping continually on passengers, so they effectively gave us a single wet wipe and expect that rectifies the situation. #hardpass
@ Gary — Beware…Delta charges change and cancel fees for flights not originating in the 51 US states.
@Gene — I see what you did there. *wink* Official policy: “There are no change fees for travel originating within the 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” So literally, yes, 50 states, US territories, plus Canada. Bah!
@ 1990 — What about Greenland?
@Gene — Give it time, sir. According to OMAAT, ‘as of June 14, 2025, United Airlines plans to launch a seasonal, twice weekly flight between Newark (EWR) and Nuuk, Greenland (GOH).’ So, Delta hasn’t caught on yet, but if they do, perhaps, they’ll drop change fees on that route as well, though they’d probably go with JFK-GOH. Of course, personally, I am opposed to such absurd abuses of power in geopolitics, especially against our (former) allies and NATO partners, like Canada, Denmark, etc. Separate but related, how about Panama City (the country, not the city in Florida). Pretty sure DL flies ATL-PTY, nice 4.5 hour flight, daily. If we take back the Canal, will Delta waive change fees for there? It would seem appropriate as corporate policy for the airline, regardless the utter absurdity of the underling geopolitics, yet again. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. This is what retirement should be like, shooting the shit, banter, fun times.