Overall, I'm conflicted. I purchased some one-time certificates through Groupon a few months back, and have been using them up to get the feel for whether or not the SkyClub is worth it. Overall, I much prefer the clubs to sitting at the gate, but am not sure the $$ are worth it for my level of travel.
Annual membership costs looks like this:
| Membership Level | Individual | Joint Membership** |
| Membership | ||
| General Member | $450 or 70,000 miles | $650 or 100,000 miles |
| Silver Medallion | $400 or 60,000 miles | $600 or 90,000 miles |
| Gold Medallion | $350 or 50,000 miles | $550 or 80,000 miles |
| Platinum Medallion | $300 or 40,000 miles | $500 or 70,000 miles |
| Diamond Medallion* | $300 or 40,000 miles | $500 or 70,000 miles |
| Additional Fee for New Members1 | $50 or 10,000 miles | $50 or 10,000 miles |
I'll earn Gold this year, so my cost would be $350 (plus the $50 new member fee), but I suppose I might only get to really use it 6 times a year (due to shorter layovers), unless I intentionally book flights with longer layovers. Alternatively, I could spend the 50,000 + 10,000 in miles, but would really rather save those for international travel, where I feel like I'll get more for my miles.
I'm interested in thoughts from those who may have a perspective.
I'm looking for some perspective here. Your post here is first page on Google for this topic. Have you learned anything since posting this?
ReplyDeleteI still have not yet bought a membership of the Delta SkyClub. I did, however, purchase some 1-day passes via Groupon, and use them up. First, the SkyClubs at the Delta hubs are very often crowded - especially ATL. So, serenity from gate craziness is not quite as fulfilled there. It's better, yes, with free alcohol and snacks, but at peak times for business travelers (mid-day during the week) it can be craziness, and it can even be hard to find a seat. If you visit one of the non-hub locations, though, they are incredible. Usually pretty laid back, lots of room and nice attendants that can really make your time at the airport easier to cope with.
ReplyDeleteWhat really would make it or break it for me, though, would be the length of your connections. If you normally travel internationally, and you have hours and hours of connection time, the SkyClub membership would show value very quickly, in comparison to one-day passes. If you're flying more domestically, and your connections are a couple of hours or less most times, you would have to fly a lot to make it worth it. Probably Gold Medallion level of flights at least. Or, if you travel a lot to a particular airport a lot that has a SkyClub (non-hub), it could be very valuable there as well - especially if they don't run your normal flight on the hour...
And I would always say pay with $$, not miles. The miles are worth so much more when used for international or long-haul travel that I can't imagine using them for membership.
Hope that helps!