We had another devaluation this week- the Chase Ultimate Reward program removed Korean airlines as an award partner, drama ensued, and then I think it came back. As of the time of writing this post I haven’t bothered checking, because I really don’t give a crap. In fact, when the news broke (I imagine before it hit the blogs) on the Forum my response was:
Well at least I didn’t spend any time figuring out that award program before they yanked it.
In the past I have written some posts about devaluations, I think I may have written about the American and United ones, these are my two main programs for international travel (even after devaluation). But going forward I doubt I will unless it specifically impacts a trip I am planning,and I share a workaround.
Most of my ‘travel’ news comes in from Twitter, and when a program devalues I see all these hashtags bashing Delta, United et al – are these people really upset, or are they just whiners, or are they faking it so as to keep the pressure on the airlines from totally gutting their programs? Of course, there are the bloggers who break the story, and therefore become the expert source, so you have a group of people following around a couple of eejits all crying about the news that an award that used to cost 50K now costs 57.5K (the bastards!)
I mean, honestly I LOVE United – and all of the airlines. I’ve flown on dozens of flights with them, and their partners and all I am spending is some points that cost next to nothing to acquire, and some taxes.
Who gets hurt by devaluations?
Actual loyal travelers. Those who spend thousands of their own money and insist on giving it one airline over another not based on market forces (price) but on what color plastic tag they get assigned. The work travelers are spending someone else s dime (and IMO should be going for the lowest cost fare) and leisure travelers shouldn’t be spending a single penny.
I still struggle to wrap my head around the notion that people who know how to travel hack will spend anything out of their own pocket to ‘buy’ status that then later devalues – I have heard all the arguments about ROI from Executive Platinum eVIP upgrades, but none of them standup against:
In the past 5 years I have not spent a dollar of real money on airline travel outside of award fees.
So the mileage runners get hurt – they embark upon a strategy to acquire miles and pay over the odds for them. When the program devalues they feel cheated, I don’t want to say I told you so but….
The people who don’t appreciate the value of a mile get hurt too. There are people who fly in Business and First on a whim, and pop off on.. trips? I add the question mark as many of these folk don’t actually go anywhere or do anything cool, they just fly from A>B and check into a local Hyatt (no more Hilton since they devalued!).
My weird strategy
I’ve avoided Delta for all these years of ‘travel hacking’ because people who know better call them SkyPesos. Guess what? I just started collecting them. I’m going to fly Delta, for ‘almost’ free and I am going to love it. And if they devalue again before I get enough Pesos collected i’ll fly a different airline until I get the new level. Trust me, I can earn faster than they can devalue.
Devaluations are to be expected, and there will be more to come. When they do I won’t be mad at all, my points are collected strategically, and at almost zero cost. Most importantly, I’m happy. I have seen enough of the world for free already, so should award travel go up in smoke, I’ll be glad that I loved and lost.
My advice to you – keep low balances, book tickets early so that you avoid being caught with miles that do devalue. But when you inevitably are, don’t get mad about it, the entire frequent flyer loyalty program is a massive charade, and you should be grateful for what you have received already. It’s not to late for you – please stop spending your money on travel, you should know already it can be done for basically free. And if you find yourself the victim of a brutal and heartless devaluation, just get over it, remember the next devaluation is going to be worse than the present one, and one day, you might not be able to travel with points at all.
matt- You fool it is spelled idjits. LOL Made popular from the show Supernatural on the WB. Yes , I am loser for knowing that or maybe that is the way a farang would spell it. I enjoy your blog.
I know of this Bobby Singer you speak of.
OK, I love this reference! Supernatural is my secret vice.
Matt,
Right on, well said and on point. Who cares about devaluation when the other side of the equation, CC sign up bonus and MS are in the golden age and appear to grow faster than devaluation. Devaluation is part of the hobby, it always been there, and % wise it has not kept up with actual growth of sign-up bonuses whatsoever. More devaluation in the future, that’s for sure — so we may as well accept it as a risk and move on.
To you point about not paying for flights for 5 years. I am in the same boat as you, I think 2007ish was the last time I paid for a flight, and our family flies A LOT.
Happy upcoming Thanksgiving!
Cheers,
PedroNY
Right on!
Great post Matt, I totally agree with everything you said. I haven’t been in the game as long as you have, but I occasionally buy cheap flights if the award space isn’t available. The devaluations definitely hurt the true loyal frequent flyer who earns all their miles flying. That is a losing proposition. People need to diversify their earning strategy and their loyalty.
Exactly – there is no loyalty, ever since airlines sold points to people like me 🙂
Finally – another Saverocity blogger on board with Delta – now I’m not the only one!
I’m excited to earn my first million points so I can join the club!
I’m on a Delta flight right now, and earning DL miles cheaper than any other ‘mileage currency’. As long as they cost nothing, it really doesn’t matter how little they are worth!
Matt,
Great post! You and I think alike and I would love to meet you in person once. I only feel sorry for those poor souls who just recently got into the game. They will come out ahead eventually too…
Most people only want to meet me once.
Matt, I think we will always disagree of the value of status, but devaluations are a fact of life. My issue with them is when they are not provided with notice. But just to decry devaluations for the sake of things would be the same as to pitch a fit about inflation. I know of many who are now looking at Delta more strongly. I would have been myself had my ST Debit been closed.
Nice post btw!
Why does everyone say that it is so easy to earn Delta points. I find it easier to earn many other program points than Delta. What am I missing?
Not missing, missed. There was a debit card offered that earns them at 1:1 ratio, no longer available unfortunately. One of those real ‘amazing deal alerts’.
Well said.
The only one that hurt me was when American pulled the round the world ticket. Turned out I wouldn’t have been able to do the trip anyhow, due to a job change, but I was going to book it the day it got pulled. So I guess they saved me the booking fee (if there was one, don’t remember).
I like to think of the current miles&points era as the Renaissance.
I think TheBOSman got one of the last of these, in fact he may have shut it down…