The view is even better when you are earning valuable miles AND using elite perks! Photo by: Evan Berman

Many people (including myself) have Delta Status but have been disillusioned by the decreasing value year over year– from the devaluation of miles to the reduction in perks for the supposedly “elite valued members.” I wanted to discuss my experience in using the elite perks from being a Delta Medallion Elite, then crediting the flight to a different airline. While I have not tried this myself, I assume the process would be similar for those with a different airline status wishing to credit elsewhere. Marriott Bonvoy Titanium and Ambassadors, pay attention: if you don’t value United miles, this can be helpful for you as well!

Elite benefits:

Let’s review the benefits of elite status. I won’t deal with the specifics here as it differs based on airline. Broadly, you receive the following:

• Access to “preferred” seats– exit row seats or those closer to the front of the plane
• The ability to receive upgrades– first/business class and extra legroom are the most common
• Free checked baggage (1 per passenger on the reservation for entry-level status and 2-3 for the higher tier members)
• Priority boarding and baggage

Timing Is of the Essence:

Did you notice anything all of the above benefits have in common? You generally receive them before boarding. Yes, an upgrade might only be available 30 minutes prior to departure but that is a rarity in and of itself. So, once you are through security and have a boarding pass in hand, you have generally received your elite benefits. Priority boarding is based on your boarding pass, not by showing elite status. This is why if you book a flight when you have status and it lapses before you fly, it is likely (though not guaranteed) that you will still have elite benefits when you fly.

Once you are through security, it is time to go! I tried calling the Delta Medallion Line twice and neither agent was able to switch my frequent flier number. Both said the same exact thing: there is a limitation on the ability to do this the day of the flight. This is probably to keep this practice from becoming common.

Why Should You Switch Your Frequent Flier Info?

Why is it worth all this hassle, you might wonder. And rightly so. After all, nobody wants to wait in line and cause the gate agent any more annoyance that is necessary. So, what’s the upside? Well, let’s compare Delta SkyMiles and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points.

On a Delta flight from LAX to KOA in First Class that cost you $459.50 ($433.87 of which is the fare), you would earn 2,169 SkyMiles as a basic member or more if you have elite status. This is the same as if you were flying a short hop such as BOS-LGA (Boston to New York-LaGuardia), a 184 mile flight or if you found an incredible deal on the ATL-ICN (Atlanta to Seoul, Korea’s Incheon Airport) flight, a whopping 7,152 mile flight.

If you were instead to credit this flight to Virgin Atlantic, you can expect to earn 5,008 points on the LAX-KOA flight. What a difference, right? Now, let’s look at the other side.

Do you want to fly from the US to Paris in Business Class? That would cost you some 200,000-400,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way! Alternatively, you could fly Delta One for 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points each way if you can find availability or roughly 48,500 points to fly Air France (or 58,500 points in peak season) and only $100-$300 in fees depending on the direction.

In short, you can earn many more miles and need far fewer to redeem for a flight. That seems like a no-brainer to me!

My Experience:

I flew JFK-PHX (New York’s John F Kennedy International to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport) in March. I made sure to arrive at JFK roughly 2 hours early so I could check out the Virgin Atlantic Lounge (which still offers access to those with Capital One Venture X Cards and 2 guests). The food was made-to-order and tasty, and the service was solid. I’ll review this lounge in a future article.

When I arrived at JFK Terminal 4, I headed to the Sky Priority Delta Check-In side and made use of the free 70lb bag policy as my suitcase weighed a whopping 56lbs! (To be fair, I had just returned from a 2 week trip to Europe and would not be heading home for another week!) After that, it was easy to visit the Priority Security line and then head to the new Delta SkyClub Express (access via AmEx Platinum and a same-day Delta flight). I had assumed the agent would be able to help me switch the frequent flier number there, but she said it could only be done in the full-service lounge.

As usual, the main Terminal 4 SkyClub was packed, and I didn’t want to wait in the line outside, so I went to the Virgin Clubhouse and called the Medallion line while I waited for my food to arrive. As mentioned above, I called twice and was unable to get this completed over the phone. The second agent was very friendly and helpful and told me I should visit the gate agent and mention our conversation and she should be able to take care of it for me.

When I got to the gate, boarding was underway, so I let everyone else board before asking the gate agent for help, explaining that I wanted to wait until the end to not cause any delays. She didn’t seem to care and just asked for my boarding pass and confirmed that I wanted to credit the flight to Korean Air SkyPass. After typing for 30 seconds or so, she handed my phone back and said I would now be earning with Korean Air, not Delta. I thanked her and boarded. When I sat down at my seat, I refreshed the Delta app and sure enough the flight was no longer showing in “upcoming trips.” A couple of days later, the miles appeared in my SkyPass account.

Marriott and United:

If you achieve Marriott Bonvoy Titanium (75 nights) or Ambassador (100 nights and $23,000 spend in a year), you are eligible for complimentary United Silver Status. United MileagePlus recently had a major devaluation and it’s now wise to focus on other programs in the Star Alliance. So, if you earn United Silver status and are flying with them, you may want to replicate the described process, inserting Avianca LifeMiles or Air Canada Aeroplan for Virgin Atlantic. As always, I suggest you use Where to Credit to research the best way to credit miles. Check out this article for more on how to determine where you should credit.

Summary:

This topic of this is not exactly something that airlines advertise. However, it’s helpful to understand the perks of having elite status and how certain miles are more valuable than others. If you can combine the two, why not? Have you ever tried this before? Let me know in the comments below!

Evan