Delta Skymiles Awards Being Blocked 72 Hours Out In Asia/Africa

Intro

If there isn't another reason to dislike Delta Skymiles, well, here it is... No, I mean honestly, how is it that Delta has gone ahead and done this, and while this is nothing new, I thought it was a technical glitch until I tried to do the same thing earlier today.

The Details

Delta has long been one of my least favorite mileage programs. With business class tickets costing routinely over 500K one-way to Asia and down under, combined with the fact that the US3 offer much better redemption rates, there was only one sweet spot left in the program: Asia.

Let's keep it frank, there was still some value left in the program throughout Asia. You could fly from Seoul to Denpasar in Business for 40K SkyRubles, and even Seoul-Jakarta-Sydney in business for 70K SkyRubles. But there is just one issue...

Delta has now gone ahead and blocked these awards if they are originating within 72 hours of departure. Why? I have absolutely no clue, and no one has really written about it, but it came up today as I was looking to use my SkyPesos to fly from Singapore to Denpasar.

As you can clearly see, FlyingBlue is showing plenty of space on the GA flight

However, when we head over to Delta, it shows up as sold out in both economy and business. Originally, I believed that this was just phantom space, until it actually ticketed on FlyingBlue, which leads me to believe that this is now the norm, instead of the exception...

It seems to be some sort of technical glitch in the system with this message, but it's not

Additionally, as another data point, I attempted to utilize my SkyRubles to fly business from Denpasar to Jakarta earlier this year, and was met with the same issue. But why is this happening? Let me explain...

What's Going On?

Believe it or not, there is actually a reason behind why Delta is doing this, but I'm not quite sure what to think. This 72-hour blocking came to fruition a few years ago for most of the world, but since then, Delta has decided to implement this new rule for only select countries, such as Indonesia, all countries in Africa, as well as a few others, such as Singapore.

Yes, this does protect from fraudulent transactions as those looking to steal miles will have a better shot to fly on the ticket when booking the day before versus a year in advance, but I still believe this to be a cheap move from Delta. The airline now remains to be have of the few mileage programs that implements this rule, and one has to wonder whether there is more to this story...

But as of now, that is all we know...

Rest in peace to the last-minute sweet spots

Final Thoughts

Delta has pulled a quick one over us and has been blocking award space within 72 hours of departure when flying within parts of Asia and all of Africa. While this has looked like a "technical glitch" on paper, Delta has it posted on their website that this is an attempt to prevent fraudulent bookings with stolen miles. However, in my opinion, they are just being cheap and they know that...

But I am curious to readers out there, what do you think the real reason behind this is? I understand the neccesary fraud prevention, and many reward programs have implemented strategies, but I feel like there is a better way forward.