American Drops Close-in Processing Fees for Elites

Effectively immediately, American Airlines is dropping close-in processing fees for Gold and Platinum elite AAdvantage members. Previously, award travel ticketed within 21 days of departure involved paying up to $100.00 - known in the industry as a close-in processing fee. Executive members are already exempt from the fee, while non-elite's will still need to pay up.

Delta Airlines Adds Min Stay Requirement on Some Award Travel

In yet another disappointment to the Delta Skymiles "useless miles" program comes a minimum stay requirement for certain award travel resumptions. Effective August 2010, customers who redeem award travel within 21 days of departure will now have a Friday or Saturday night minimum stay requirement. According to the Delta website certain elite members, Delta-branded credit card holders, and those willing to dish up extra miles for mid or high tier award travel are exempt from the fee.

A growing number of travel experts believe the Delta Airlines SkyMiles program has fast become the worst frequent flyer program in the U.S. due to mounting fees, strict policies, and lack of low-tier award travel availability.