I wouldn’t fly Delta, period.
The fees aren’t the issue...its the sh*tty way they treat people trying to use their miles.
If you have the Amex Delta Skymiles card, the best thing you could do is to cancel it.
You are right about that! Six weeks prior to my to my brother’s graduation at Notre Dame I tried book a flight from NY/LI with my Sky Miles. The only flights available had at least three connections and would have taken up to 12 hours traveling time. The operator told me condescendingly that I should have booked at least six months in advance if I wanted the direct flight option. Tens of thousands of miles available and they’re practically useless.
I just booked two Frequent Flyer tickets on Delta to Rome, Italy. It was not much trouble at all. Actually had to shuffle some miles from AMEX and from a daughter's FF account. Everything was pretty smooth. (Just my experience.)