starwood: complimentary unlimited domestic upgrades on delta, aeroplan bonus

two things that i found floating around yesterday, both of which regarding the starwood brand.

starwood's crossover rewards: now with unlimited domestic upgrades on delta
according to the starwood lurker on flyertalk, starting yesterday, platinum elite members of the starwood preferred guest program will now get complimentary unlimited domestic upgrades on delta's domestic flights. as your spg number is linked with your delta skymiles number, these upgrades should be automatic, should you get one.

SPG Platinum members are eligible for day of departure upgrades on most published economy fares on Delta and certain Delta-designated codeshare flights in North America within or between the United States (excluding Hawaii) and Bermuda, Canada, Central and South America, The Caribbean, and Mexico. Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades are subject to availability, may not be available on all flights or in all markets, and are not valid for travel to/from Hawaii, Transatlantic and Transpacific destinations. Complimentary Upgrades are not available on flights to/from South American cities that are serviced with our BusinessElite® product (i.e., Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Caracas, Venezuela).

this is an amazing step forward in the relationship, considering that recently top tier marriott rewards members would receive full premier silver status on united airlines. as a premier silver, technically, you get unlimited domestic upgrades. right behind all the last minute upgrades, the global service folks, the premier 1k, platinums, and golds. really, there aren't that many business class seats on board those planes.

and so likewise, with the starwood offer, platinums will get upgrades, although their priority level will be very low:

For eligible flights, you will be given priority behind Medallions, Medallion Companion, and KLM, Air France, and Alaska elite upgrades.

so almost not at all. but, there is always a chance, and that should be something worthy of mention.

aeroplan's fall promotion with starwood
SPG is offering 5,000 aeroplan points for 5 nights. for every two nights after that, you get an additional 2,000 points, for a total of 9,000 points for 9 nights (or 1,000 points a night). this is similar to the starwood promo where you get double points, and after every 5th stay, you get a bonus 2,500 points.

an important difference between the promo is that unlike the starwood main promo, i could not find a list of non-participating properties. so i feel like i can safely assume that all starwood properties qualify. this is important as my two go-to properties in seattle are both excluded from the main starwood promo.

also, if you're spending roughly $100 a night, you will get more points with the aeroplan version than the starwood version. if you get 2,500 spg points per every 5 nights, that works out to be roughly 500 points if you stay in multiples of 5 nights. so per night, your bonus is double points (in this case, $100 x 2 = 200 points) plus 500 points = 700 points. remember that 1 spg point = 1.25 aeroplan points (as you can convert 20,000 spg points into 25,000 aeroplan points. so per night, the spg promo will get you 875 points aeroplan points.


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