by Randy Petersen – Executive Travel – 09/01/05
Dear Randy,
I have long been a Northwest WorldPerks traveler and found
the program to be solid for travel across the Americas.
However, I recently started flying the globe, and I know
that both Delta and United will give international upgrade
tickets to their premium flyers. I was wondering what you
thought is the best for the worldwide traveler, both from
an international upgrade perspective and an overall
program.
From my perspective, United is the better of the two
choices for the worldwide traveler, solely based on my
belief that the Star Alliance is a better global alliance
than is SkyTeam. Frankly, they can both cover the globe
with ease, but there's something about the quality of the
partners in Star that eclipses those of SkyTeam. Delta, in
particular, relies much too heavily on Air France for the
SkyTeam partnership, and while Air France is a huge
airline, its uncanny ability to be disrupted by striking
employees leaves much to be desired.
However, that said, my personal advice is to look closely
at Delta because of the alliances they have formed with
Northwest, Continental and Alaska Airlines. You may find
that you can still leverage the solid travel of Northwest
here in the Americas with the addition of Delta and other
SkyTeam partners, including Continental, internationally.
If you'll be heading to major cities, then you can remain
on these airlines and never be disappointed. However, if
you are heading into Eastern Europe or the provinces of
China, you will likely be disappointed with the service of
SkyTeam partners.
As far as benefits, Delta is actually hard to beat. They
provide free lounge membership for their Platinum Medallion
members, and that's not something to ignore. Also, they are
competitive with international upgrades versus United. If
you fly business class internationally, you won't be
disappointed by partner Continental's BusinessFirst (better
than Delta's BusinessElite), and you probably already know
something of the business-class product of Northwest.
Dear Randy,
I am getting ready to make a major purchase (approx. $15K)
and would like to use a credit card to take advantage of
rewards credit. Do you know a credit card reward program
that would give me the most "bang for my buck" in this
situation? I currently use a Hilton HHonors American
Express for my purchases.
If you are purchasing something from a home improvement
store, such as The Home Depot or Lowe's, there's really
every reason to use an American Express credit card from
Delta SkyMiles, because you earn double miles for these
types of purchases.
But let's say your purchase is more utilitarian; which card
then? It depends on your additional purchasing power.
Almost all the cards will give you a signup bonus (much
like the Hilton American Express card you have) and it
doesn't matter if your first purchase is $15K or $1.50.
Fifteen thousand will get you a free weekend night with
most hotel programs, if you are looking for that type of
reward for a single purchase.
But if miles are your game, you might consider getting the
Starwood American Express card, which is free for your
first year, and take advantage of the $15K purchase. Then,
with their various signup bonuses, you'll be at the magic
20,000-point level (one point per dollar spent) from which
you can convert your 20,000 points spent into 25,000
frequent flyer miles—a free ticket with most
programs, with just that single $15K purchase. This will
work with Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns program as well,
since its domestic award is only 15,000 miles.