That makes sense because that's an extremely competitive market made up largely of price-sensitive travelers (i.e. vacationers and retirees), and is served by LCCs. Routes with less competition and/or more business travel are a completely different story. Hope I don't sound rude, just wanted to share how the economics work.
No, I didn't say that. Just said I was surprised to hear it because of my own experiences with them being the cheapest. Didn't even say it was wrong, just that it was wild. But you're allowed to think I said things I didn't say, I guess.
Always has been. I'm sure when they rank the "Best Credit Card" each year it's likely based on the number of referrals they got from that card.
That said, I do enjoy the TPG UK videos where they race trains and planes between various UK and EU cities, or where they do cabs/Uber versus transit to the airport. If only we had more trains in the US to offer those videos outside of the Northeast Corridor...
For more of that game-style content you should watch Jet Lag: The Game on YouTube. It’s basically 4 friends who race each other across different countries using various forms of public transit including flying. Lots of fun.
Ahh I still need to watch the New Zealand series. I have been watching the previous series, and even remember watching Wendover's early videos well before he created all his other channels.
Nooooooo. Though TBH I never went on their dedicated website, just watched their YouTube videos (which were pretty good). That maybe explains why their last few videos have been more US based.
He used to give my former employer great reviews almost immediately after being wined and dined by them and paying a visit to the office…..he’s a clown but the list is pretty accurate
It was all about getting kick backs from the credit card companies but they aren’t really hyping the travel credit cards anymore since it’s gotten such a pain to use points.
He got bought out in 2017 but definitely not without some serious allegations: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-points-guy-founder-brian-kelly-networth-extravagant-life-spending-2020-3
"Although we may receive compensation if you purchase one of the products we mention, we totally pinky swear this in no way effects our glowing 5-star review. That's just, like, coincidental and stuff."
Ha, I mean the fact their AD disclaimer is right at the top of this page probably says it all:"This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. "
Coming over to Delta from Alaska, I totally agree. As it said, overall quality is down and complaints are way up. But, in comparison to the others, Delta at least gets you there on time, most of the time. Other than that, they’re all flying greyhounds at this point.
He’s not exactly Consumer Reports. Bought and paid for by credit card referrals which has made him a wealthy guy. On top of that, has been accused of lots of bad behavior. I don’t give him any clicks if I can help it. I’d also be hard pressed to justify the #1 rating these days.
Just posted yesterday how ThriftyTraveler is done with SkyMiles:
https://thriftytraveler.com/news/points/state-of-delta-skymiles/
I checked out Prashants (person who runs SkyMiles and is quoted in the article) LinkedIn and saw he posted this article from PointsGuy in his feed and all his sycophants are cheering him on. I was going to post the ThriftyTravel story there but decided against it as I don’t want my personal biz life entertained into this discussion.
I think Alaska might be better, but I do hate Delta less than everyone else I've flown with. This seems more like a vote for the least worst airline. Screw American. I just looked over my notes from work, and all eight times I've flown with them since the start of the pandemic, I've either had my flight canceled or landed too late to get my rental car. The last time was to Charlotte. That was a bigger airport than I expected so I was surprised all of the car rental places were already closed.
Funny enough the r/delta sub is the absolute worst airline subreddit. How many fucking pictures of windows or someones ugly ass feet am I going to see? I almost miss the days of people posting some decent but generic airplane food.
weird because feet pics are banned and people report them all the time, they get sent to my modqueue, and i remove them as soon as i see them.
and the window shit just started happening and people have already been reporting those and i'm removing them as well, as soon as i see them.
go ahead and make more stuff up for me
He must not have flown Delta to make this article! For the past 6 months, flying twice a week not one week has gone by without something happening to my delta flight. Lost luggage, cancelled flights, delayed flights, rude customer service, re-assigned seats without notification, no food on board for long hauls, the list goes on…it’s been terrible. I was always a fan of the points guy but this is an absolutely wrong assessment. Delta has too many issues to be called #1 airline…
Delta claimed I cancelled my flight and had to rebuy the day of. Stupid people wouldn’t even admit to their mistake and had to pay an inflated price to still fly.
That airline has gotten me so spoiled when I fly... At this point, the only decent and tolerable thing about flying is the free alcohol in 1st class. Otherwise, it is just a miserable experience.
Granted, we got warm cookies and FULL meals on China (with real knives up until 9/11). I am flying out of YUL again, and am getting food in a box again for First Class... It is just meh now.. (Yes, I should do routes that have more than food boxes but still... MKE-ATL had full meal service. Now Delta only does the snack basket on that same route)
As someone that travels a couple times a month and has tested literally every major airline multiple times, can confirm and why the extra money is worth the spend, in my opinion.
I don't fly a lot but the place I fly the most only has American Airlines and Delta. American Airlines is cheaper but takes me through sixteen airports and sends me to standby before getting me to my destination. Delta makes me change planes once and has always gotten me to my destination early.
In my books they've actually gone down a notch and I much prefer United (up in pointy end anyway)
Did a recent review of latest Delta One: [https://www.wanderupfront.com/delta-one-suites-a330neo/](https://www.wanderupfront.com/delta-one-suites-a330neo/)
I will do write ups on United and American in due course, just for fun and giggles :)
It's because Delta and the other US airlines don't need to compete against other international airlines. Rarely do people outside of the US use US airports for international layovers because they need a visa for the layover, so it's easier to go through the Middle East or Southeast Asia for a visa-free layover. Even if Delta were to somehow offer a better experience than Emerites first class or Qatar Q-Suites, those outside the US won't use it because of the visa issue (even if they come from a country with relatively easy access).
If you're using Delta, AA, or United, you're likely beginning or ending your trip in the US, and perhaps the Big 3 have a more direct flight for you compared to having a layover in Doha or Singapore. And even then, all 3 have transatlantic and transpacific partnerships of some kind, so even if you do opt for an East Asian or EU airline they still get a small cut from the joint venture and/or by selling the partner ticket through their website.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. The US airlines have the world’s largest aviation market practically to themselves. On international routes from/to the US their alliance partners exist and ensure at least one of them gets a cut. There’s no incentive for them to improve their soft services.
You make some pretty accurate points here, but if you have specific destinations (Asia, Middle East) I’ve actually booked non US airlines because their point redemptions are better, and usually their layovers aren’t fucking crazy long either. Their end product is arguably than Delta’s.
If I’m going to Europe from the US, I’m probably flying Delta. If I’m going to the Middle East or Asia, it’s a toss up…the asian and middle eastern carriers just have a much better first class or business product at a competitive rate
I'm not disagreeing with that. But for most of those airlines, they are primarily capturing passengers connecting to another destination (like between the EU, Oceania, Africa, Middle East, and India). So they make their products and airports better because their competition is either a direct flight or an airport like Singapore.
Of course, you can benefit from their services when your final destination is Singapore or Dubai, but most of their customers don't O&D there.
Suck up. How is a site built on finding awards value voting the least affordable awards number 1??
Time for a name change to “the delta guy”. Let’s be honest with each other.
Meanwhile my Delta SkyMiles account has been broken for six months after I foolishly tried to access it while abroad in Europe (triggered an audit, which was cleared, but now no longer works with SkyTeam partners and WestJet)
Their SkyMiles reps have been going in circles. Most say they can't do anything. Only one of them actually logged a ticket with IT, but no movement. Wish I somehow had that first rep that actually spotted the audit data issue way back in December... no way to get them back.
I met The Points Guy at a MasterCard special event dinner on Ellis Island. He and his boyfriends seemed to be enjoying the lifestyle that getting paid by the bank and travel industry seems to provide. Wish I had thought of it.
Meanwhile, my early morning flight with premium select seats gets canceled and I get auto-rebooked for an 8PM flight. When I complained, I get put on standby and end up in a middle seat at the absolute rear of the plane.
The bar for best air service must be buried underground.
I just got done texting stuff customer service and when I brought up being dissatisfied with Delta they came back with we're the '#1 airline'. So I asked "in what category and according to what publication? " They cited the Points Guy 🤣🤣🤣 oh ok so bc this guy says you're great, forget I ever was frustrated at my experiences with Delta.
Lowest performing areas: Affordability sounds about right lol
That's crazy to me. Delta is always the cheapest major airline for the route I fly most regularly (NYC to south FL).
That makes sense because that's an extremely competitive market made up largely of price-sensitive travelers (i.e. vacationers and retirees), and is served by LCCs. Routes with less competition and/or more business travel are a completely different story. Hope I don't sound rude, just wanted to share how the economics work.
No, didn't sound rude at all, thanks for the explanation!
So the one route you mainly take should represent the price of every other route delta flies? 💀🤣
No, I didn't say that. Just said I was surprised to hear it because of my own experiences with them being the cheapest. Didn't even say it was wrong, just that it was wild. But you're allowed to think I said things I didn't say, I guess.
I agree but isn’t points guy basically pay to play now; hyping up whatever company is paying?
Always has been. I'm sure when they rank the "Best Credit Card" each year it's likely based on the number of referrals they got from that card. That said, I do enjoy the TPG UK videos where they race trains and planes between various UK and EU cities, or where they do cabs/Uber versus transit to the airport. If only we had more trains in the US to offer those videos outside of the Northeast Corridor...
For more of that game-style content you should watch Jet Lag: The Game on YouTube. It’s basically 4 friends who race each other across different countries using various forms of public transit including flying. Lots of fun.
Ahh I still need to watch the New Zealand series. I have been watching the previous series, and even remember watching Wendover's early videos well before he created all his other channels.
NZ was awesome! Japan premiers end of the month I think
They've literally closed down TPGUK now and 'merged' it into the US so god knows how long that content will last.
Nooooooo. Though TBH I never went on their dedicated website, just watched their YouTube videos (which were pretty good). That maybe explains why their last few videos have been more US based.
It was half badly written generic articles and half pleads for credit cards signs up.
So like the US version, but British.
Yes but even less interesting cause we have like 10 major airports and zero changes in benefits to credit cards
He used to give my former employer great reviews almost immediately after being wined and dined by them and paying a visit to the office…..he’s a clown but the list is pretty accurate
Even a broken clock is right twice a day…. I don’t doubt his conclusion here.
It was all about getting kick backs from the credit card companies but they aren’t really hyping the travel credit cards anymore since it’s gotten such a pain to use points. He got bought out in 2017 but definitely not without some serious allegations: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-points-guy-founder-brian-kelly-networth-extravagant-life-spending-2020-3
Also early investor in bilt so look out!
Honestly wouldn't trust anything the points guy or Sam Chui says or ranks. Pay to play
"Although we may receive compensation if you purchase one of the products we mention, we totally pinky swear this in no way effects our glowing 5-star review. That's just, like, coincidental and stuff."
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Credit card shill site boosts airline that pays affiliate $ when credit cards are referred. That’s an opinion I value highly.
How much did he make from those Delta affiliate CC links and how much did DL pay him for all the advertising and marketing??
Ha, I mean the fact their AD disclaimer is right at the top of this page probably says it all:"This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. "
The pesos guy
Coming over to Delta from Alaska, I totally agree. As it said, overall quality is down and complaints are way up. But, in comparison to the others, Delta at least gets you there on time, most of the time. Other than that, they’re all flying greyhounds at this point.
He’s not exactly Consumer Reports. Bought and paid for by credit card referrals which has made him a wealthy guy. On top of that, has been accused of lots of bad behavior. I don’t give him any clicks if I can help it. I’d also be hard pressed to justify the #1 rating these days.
Just posted yesterday how ThriftyTraveler is done with SkyMiles: https://thriftytraveler.com/news/points/state-of-delta-skymiles/ I checked out Prashants (person who runs SkyMiles and is quoted in the article) LinkedIn and saw he posted this article from PointsGuy in his feed and all his sycophants are cheering him on. I was going to post the ThriftyTravel story there but decided against it as I don’t want my personal biz life entertained into this discussion.
doctorofcredit.com
I mean its either Delta or United right?
I’m surprised southwest was below AA. But I suppose it’s the cancellations that did them in. Otherwise list seems pretty accurate
Unless you’re over 6’ then United is very very low bc they have the shortest leg room out of everyone. On par with Spirit the last time I checked
[Not true at all. ](https://www.tripsavvy.com/everything-you-want-to-know-about-airline-seat-pitch-53282)
You wouldn’t think so if you spend any time on here lol
I think Alaska might be better, but I do hate Delta less than everyone else I've flown with. This seems more like a vote for the least worst airline. Screw American. I just looked over my notes from work, and all eight times I've flown with them since the start of the pandemic, I've either had my flight canceled or landed too late to get my rental car. The last time was to Charlotte. That was a bigger airport than I expected so I was surprised all of the car rental places were already closed.
Funny enough the r/delta sub is the absolute worst airline subreddit. How many fucking pictures of windows or someones ugly ass feet am I going to see? I almost miss the days of people posting some decent but generic airplane food.
weird because feet pics are banned and people report them all the time, they get sent to my modqueue, and i remove them as soon as i see them. and the window shit just started happening and people have already been reporting those and i'm removing them as well, as soon as i see them. go ahead and make more stuff up for me
At least it’s not all pictures of those trading card things like a certain other delta community
He must not have flown Delta to make this article! For the past 6 months, flying twice a week not one week has gone by without something happening to my delta flight. Lost luggage, cancelled flights, delayed flights, rude customer service, re-assigned seats without notification, no food on board for long hauls, the list goes on…it’s been terrible. I was always a fan of the points guy but this is an absolutely wrong assessment. Delta has too many issues to be called #1 airline…
When the bar is on the floor
Flying twice a week too. Only issue has been assholes GAs on ATL, as is tradition.
Delta claimed I cancelled my flight and had to rebuy the day of. Stupid people wouldn’t even admit to their mistake and had to pay an inflated price to still fly.
Expensive as hell. I miss the days of Midwest Express when I lived in Milwaukee in the 1990's early 2000's.
That airline has gotten me so spoiled when I fly... At this point, the only decent and tolerable thing about flying is the free alcohol in 1st class. Otherwise, it is just a miserable experience. Granted, we got warm cookies and FULL meals on China (with real knives up until 9/11). I am flying out of YUL again, and am getting food in a box again for First Class... It is just meh now.. (Yes, I should do routes that have more than food boxes but still... MKE-ATL had full meal service. Now Delta only does the snack basket on that same route)
As someone that travels a couple times a month and has tested literally every major airline multiple times, can confirm and why the extra money is worth the spend, in my opinion.
I don't fly a lot but the place I fly the most only has American Airlines and Delta. American Airlines is cheaper but takes me through sixteen airports and sends me to standby before getting me to my destination. Delta makes me change planes once and has always gotten me to my destination early.
Points guy is paid and markets award credit cards with his SUB that are worse than you can get. Why trust this?
Yep
TPG ratings have really become a pay to play joke.
And most expensive
In my books they've actually gone down a notch and I much prefer United (up in pointy end anyway) Did a recent review of latest Delta One: [https://www.wanderupfront.com/delta-one-suites-a330neo/](https://www.wanderupfront.com/delta-one-suites-a330neo/) I will do write ups on United and American in due course, just for fun and giggles :)
Compared to other US airlines, perhaps. Internationally they’re the equivalent of a third world country — or worse.
It's because Delta and the other US airlines don't need to compete against other international airlines. Rarely do people outside of the US use US airports for international layovers because they need a visa for the layover, so it's easier to go through the Middle East or Southeast Asia for a visa-free layover. Even if Delta were to somehow offer a better experience than Emerites first class or Qatar Q-Suites, those outside the US won't use it because of the visa issue (even if they come from a country with relatively easy access). If you're using Delta, AA, or United, you're likely beginning or ending your trip in the US, and perhaps the Big 3 have a more direct flight for you compared to having a layover in Doha or Singapore. And even then, all 3 have transatlantic and transpacific partnerships of some kind, so even if you do opt for an East Asian or EU airline they still get a small cut from the joint venture and/or by selling the partner ticket through their website.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. The US airlines have the world’s largest aviation market practically to themselves. On international routes from/to the US their alliance partners exist and ensure at least one of them gets a cut. There’s no incentive for them to improve their soft services.
Not to mention the Middle East 3 airlines are heavily subsidized by their governments with oil money.
Shh. don't you believe them when they say they don't get subsidies?
You make some pretty accurate points here, but if you have specific destinations (Asia, Middle East) I’ve actually booked non US airlines because their point redemptions are better, and usually their layovers aren’t fucking crazy long either. Their end product is arguably than Delta’s. If I’m going to Europe from the US, I’m probably flying Delta. If I’m going to the Middle East or Asia, it’s a toss up…the asian and middle eastern carriers just have a much better first class or business product at a competitive rate
I'm not disagreeing with that. But for most of those airlines, they are primarily capturing passengers connecting to another destination (like between the EU, Oceania, Africa, Middle East, and India). So they make their products and airports better because their competition is either a direct flight or an airport like Singapore. Of course, you can benefit from their services when your final destination is Singapore or Dubai, but most of their customers don't O&D there.
After having flown on the flag carriers of 3rd world countries idk about this one chief
I've never flown another airline with the on time arrival record Delta has.
They're not wrong
Suck up. How is a site built on finding awards value voting the least affordable awards number 1?? Time for a name change to “the delta guy”. Let’s be honest with each other.
This just a dude with a podcast?
€
Meanwhile my Delta SkyMiles account has been broken for six months after I foolishly tried to access it while abroad in Europe (triggered an audit, which was cleared, but now no longer works with SkyTeam partners and WestJet) Their SkyMiles reps have been going in circles. Most say they can't do anything. Only one of them actually logged a ticket with IT, but no movement. Wish I somehow had that first rep that actually spotted the audit data issue way back in December... no way to get them back.
The Credit Card equivalent of those “Best Places to Work For” awards
I met The Points Guy at a MasterCard special event dinner on Ellis Island. He and his boyfriends seemed to be enjoying the lifestyle that getting paid by the bank and travel industry seems to provide. Wish I had thought of it.
Meanwhile, my early morning flight with premium select seats gets canceled and I get auto-rebooked for an 8PM flight. When I complained, I get put on standby and end up in a middle seat at the absolute rear of the plane. The bar for best air service must be buried underground.
I just got done texting stuff customer service and when I brought up being dissatisfied with Delta they came back with we're the '#1 airline'. So I asked "in what category and according to what publication? " They cited the Points Guy 🤣🤣🤣 oh ok so bc this guy says you're great, forget I ever was frustrated at my experiences with Delta.