Carrier creates three award levels

Delta Air Lines will introduce a new award structure for its SkyMiles frequent flyer program, effective next month. The new award structure replaces the current two-level redemptions with a three-level system, offering award travel with increasingly greater availability, but at a greater cost in miles. The new structure once again gives members the ability to book the last unreserved seat on any given flight – a feature that was eliminated last year -- but at the highest mileage cost. A free domestic coach ticket currently costs as little as 25,000 miles roundtrip with restricted availability; under the new structure, the same ticket could cost 25,000, 40,000 or 60,000 miles; the 60,000-mile award guarantees last-seat availability. For premium-cabin travel, the same domestic roundtrip ticket could cost 45,000, 80,000 or 100,000 miles. The new award structure also slips in some mileage price increases in certain markets. For example, the least expensive roundtrip coach ticket to Hawaii, currently 35,000 miles, rises to 40,000; to the Caribbean, the most restricted roundtrip coach award ticket rises from 30,000 to 35,000 miles; and a restricted roundtrip coach award ticket to Europe goes up from the current 50,000 miles to 60,000. Delta recently announced that starting August 15, it will impose fuel surcharges to award ticket redemption -- $25 for travel within the U.S. or to Canada, $50 for international trips. Delta is also adding a $25 fee per award ticket if at least one segment is on a partner airline. And starting January 1, it will change its mileage expiration policy for SkyMiles members: Miles currently expire at the end of the second calendar year after a member’s most recent program activity. Now miles will expire two years after the last month showing any activity. For instance, if the last activity is February 1, 2009, miles will expire February 28, 2011; previously they would have expired December 31, 2011.