Ask Randy

Randy Petersen answers reader questions about how to maximize travel-related loyalty programs.

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.

Ask Randy.

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RANDY PETERSEN is publisher of Inside Flyer magazine and is president of Frequent Flyer Services. Email Randy at editor@executivetravelmag.com.