E8 • S TA R T R I B U N E VA R I E T Y S U N DAY, JA N UA RY 30, 2022

TRAVEL

Is Basic Economy still worth it? It’s Econ 101

Delta’s Basic Economy
fares no longer earn
SkyMiles. Do we care?
By SIMON PETER GROEBNER
simon.groebner@startribune.com
Late last year, Delta Air
Lines dealt a blow to budget-
conscious passengers with
an announcement: Tickets
purchased in Basic Economy
would no longer earn Sky-
Miles.
The ruling carrier at Min-
neapolis-St. Paul twisted the
knife by making Basic Econ-
omy tickets changeable —
that is, for a $99 fee, or $199 for
travel beyond North America.
(All other Delta tickets can
now be changed without a fee,
which is wonderful.)
Ah, Basic Economy. Del-
ta’s low-frills “experience” is
arguably just a way to get us
to pay for the upsell (usually
$30 to $80) to the reasonable
service of Main Cabin. But no
airline had gone so far as to
strip frequent-flier miles from
the class.
Putting aside that most
people who buy the bare-
bones fares are not obses-
sively monitoring their Sky-
Miles balances, it raised the
question: Is Basic Economy
dead to us?
I say no. When it comes to
saving money vs. accumulat-
ing miles, I’d take the money
— almost every time.
Don’t get me wrong, I like
SkyMiles. I have 77,883 of
them, but I’ve amassed most
of them through spending on
my SkyMiles Platinum Ameri-
can Express — not by inces-
santly flying Delta.
Consider the round-trip
Delta flight from MSP to
Phoenix I found last week, for
$116 in Basic Economy or $166
in Main Cabin. If I spring for
that extra $50, I’ll earn about
635 SkyMiles (5 per dollar,
excluding taxes) on the $166
fare.
Popular travel websites
value SkyMiles from 1.2 to 1.46
cents per mile. So the miles
I’d earn for that Phoenix flight
are perhaps worth $9.27 — not
enough to justify Main Cabin
alone. In fact, you’d need at
least a $600 base fare to break
even with the miles earned.
Delta Basic Economy fli-
ers get the same seat type as
Main Cabin (maybe a little far-
ther back) and a carry-on bag.
There are, of course, a hand-
ful of other disadvantages, as
well as ways to compensate
for them, often involving the
SkyMiles credit card. It’s a
strategy known as “defeating
Basic Economy.”
Seat selection: This is a big
one for me. You don’t get to
choose when booking basic,
but 24 hours before your flight,
you can usually select one for
free. When flying basic, I set
an alert a day in advance.
Checked bags: The first bag
is $30 for anyone below first
class, but if you hold the Sky-
Miles Gold AmEx (with a $99
annual fee) or higher, you get a
free checked bag for everyone
on your reservation. That can
pay off quickly.
Boarding: Basic Economy
is dead last in Delta’s Byz-
antine eight-zone boarding
hierarchy. Again, just hav-
ing a SkyMiles AmEx bumps
you up three zones. Amid the
shake-ups of this pandemic,
I have yet to experience a
boarding process where it
mattered.
Ticket changes: Delta’s
got me on this one. I said that
saving beats SkyMiles almost
every time. So when you
decide to go basic, you need
to be reasonably sure you’re
going to take the flight, and be
willing to potentially forgo the
money — and the miles.

VIEWFINDERS PERU KNOW & GO

Viking ships forever

For hundreds of years, wooden
sailboats allowed the peoples
of Northern Europe to spread
trade, influence and some-
times war across seas and
continents. In December, the
U.N.’s culture agency added
Nordic “clinker boats” to its
list of traditions that represent
the Intangible Cultural Heri-
tage of Humanity. Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway and
Sweden jointly sought the
UNESCO designation. Sup-
porters hope it will safeguard
and preserve the boatbuild-
ing techniques that drove the
Viking era. If “you hadn’t had
any ships, you wouldn’t have
had any Viking Age,” said
Triona Sørensen, curator at
the Viking Ship Museum in
Roskilde, Denmark.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

JAMES BROOKS • Associated Press

An 11th-century Viking vessel
in a Denmark museum.

What’s your bleisure?

It’s an age-old question: “Busi-
ness or pleasure?” For air-
line passengers, the answer
increasingly is both. The
growth in so-called “bleisure”
trips blending personal get-
aways with remote work has
helped fill seats on planes dur-
ing the pandemic and marks
a shift in travel patterns.
The share of business trips
that include a weekend has
increased 23 percentage points
to 38% since 2019, according to

Llama has the best view at Machu Picchu TripActions Inc. “They may
travel to a beach or a mountain
destination, but they’re actu-
ally going to work remotely for
T H E T R AV E L E R : PAU L F L O W E R O F M A P L E G R OV E the week,” American Airlines
Continuing Viewfinders’ recent trend of “hooves and heights” (following November’s Alpine cattle), a President Robert Isom said.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
camelid perches high in the Andes Mountains near a famed 15th-century Incan citadel. “While at Machu
Picchu I photographed this llama that was seemingly posing for me with the spectacular mountain views Yellowstone record
A record number of visi-
as a background, early in the morning just as the clouds were lifting from the area,” Flower wrote of the tors flocked to Yellowstone
photo, which was taken on a trip with his wife, Jane, in late 2019. Shortly thereafter, the heavily visited National Park last year despite
fewer hotel rooms and camp-
world wonder took most of 2020 off from tourism. Peru is now open to tourists showing proof of vaccina- sites being available because
tion or recovery from COVID-19, plus a negative test taken within one day of travel. of the pandemic and construc-
tion. About 4.86 million visits
were tallied in 2021, breaking
S H A R E Y O U R P I C T U R E S : To submit your travel photo for consideration to Viewfinders, the prior record set in 2016.
share it on Instagram tagged with #STtravel, or email a jpeg to viewfinders@startribune.com. It’s a million more people than
visited in 2020. Other national
parks such as Zion in Utah also
set visitor records in 2021 as
tourism bounced back from
the shutdowns imposed dur-
ing the early days of the pan-
demic.

Expedia falls short in its role as travel agent

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fugitive cruise ship

T R AV E L T R O U B L E S H O O T E R C H R I S T O P H E R E L L I O T T
Q: I booked a hotel stay at the
Opus XVI in Bergen, Nor-
way, in 2020 through Expe-
dia. I had to cancel the trip
because of COVID-19. Expe-
dia refunded our airfare and
issued a $1,875 credit for Opus
XVI that would expire in
December 2021. Norway has
been closed to U.S. travelers,
so we have been unable to use
the credit.
I called and requested an
extension or refund from
Expedia. A representative
told me that they would con-
tact the hotel, but we needed
to deal directly with the hotel
for a resolution. Expedia said
it had already sent the $1,875
to the Opus XVI.
I e-mailed the hotel, and I
received an e-mail reply that
said it denied my request.
Instead, the hotel offered a
50% discount if we booked
a future stay directly. I have
e-mailed Expedia, shar-
ing the hotel’s denial of our
request, and asked for their
help in securing an exten-
sion. We have not received
any response.
I understand that this was
a nonrefundable reserva-
tion, yet since our stay was
canceled through no fault of
our own and we can’t visit
Norway, we believe our
credit should be extended.
It is unfair to pay for a stay
we are unable to take. Can
you help?
KENT YORK, St. Paul
A: The Opus XVI shouldn’t
pocket your money. Expedia
should have helped you get
either a refund or an exten-
sion. Your trip to Norway
was part of a tour package
that included airline tickets
and accommodations. Tech-
nically, that makes Expedia
your tour operator, and it
bears some responsibility in
making sure all the compo-
nents are in order and usable.
Expedia is also your travel
agent and, as such, should be
taking care of you — espe-
cially during a difficult time
like this. Telling you that you
had to deal directly with the
Opus XVI was simply wrong.
A good travel agent and tour
operator takes responsibility
for the products it sells. Expe-
dia fell short of that.
I understand that Expedia
had already paid the hotel,
but that’s not your problem.
And I also know that the rules
say you can’t get a refund. But
these are unusual circum-
stances, and companies like
Expedia and its hotel partners
have invoked that time and
again during the pandemic.
You can, too.
Companies should not be
able to pocket your money at a
time like this. You may want to
give your business to a travel
agent or a tour operator — as
opposed to an online agency
— that will fight for you dur-
ing an extraordinary circum-
stance.
I contacted Expedia on
your behalf. The company
agreed to extend your hotel
voucher by a year.
Christopher Elliott is
the founder of Elliott
Advocacy, a nonprofit
consumer organization. Contact him
at elliott.org/help or chris@elliott.org.
The Crystal Symphony left
Miami on Jan. 8 on a two-week
cruise. On the way back, things
took an unexpected turn.
Midtrip, a U.S. federal judge
ordered the cruise ship seized
over unpaid fuel bills. The ship
changed course for Bimini, in
the Bahamas, rather than sail
into the clutches of authori-
ties. Passengers were provided
with an extra night of accom-
modations and taken by ferry
to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Crys-
tal Cruises said in a statement.
The ferry ride, the company
added, was “uncomfortable
due to inclement weather.”
“This end to the cruise was not
the conclusion to our guests’
vacation we originally planned
for,” the company said.
NEW YORK TIMES