I earned fewer miles on my first business trip with SkyMiles 2015 than I would have under the old system, but I’m still not upset. Why? Because I’m taking a holistic view of the situation. One trip doesn’t make a year, and I still expect to earn the same or slightly more miles in total this year than last. That said, I can’t ignore the math on this trip. Let’s take a look at this Atlanta – Seattle flight.

SkyMiles 2014

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It’s not 100 percent obvious from this, but I earned 4,362 miles from this trip. The actual mileage is 2,181 and I earned double miles as a Delta Platinum Medallion. Let’s look at my latest results.

SkyMiles 2015

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In this case, I earned 3,195 miles for a flight that cost more than the one in July. While it’s regrettable that $710 roundtrip plus tax is not enough to earn the same amount of miles on this specific flight, it is what it is. Notably, I could have earned an extra 2 miles per dollar if I’d charged this to the Delta Amex card, and of course, if I were Diamond Medallion, the multiplier would have been higher.

Overall, the majority of my Delta flights are shorter in distance, and cost more per mile. In the end, I expect I will earn more Delta SkyMiles under the 2015 revenue based system vs. the mileage based system. However, this is a stark reminder that things are definitely changing at SkyMiles. It will be interesting to watch things unfold this year as fliers watch their mileage balances and miles earned from their various flights.

-MJ, January 15, 2015