itsaboutthejourney

From a friend who is interning at DAL as a translator for the non-English members of SkyTeam:

In a departure from the normally cordial, surprise-free nature of DAL board meetings, J.W. Robertson presented the final plans for announcement of the EOS (Evolution of SkyMiles) to the Board before announcing it to members and flipping the switch to activate the new loyalty program (May 1st).

Everything seemed to go smoothly, Bastian and Hankeinstein chimed in with approval and a little patting themselves on the back during the presentation.

At the end, Anderson thanked Robertson and the entire team for the months of effort that have gone into the program. Particularily Rev. Mgmt, Loyalty and IT.

Then he asked about how this has been tested in the Social Networking world. Silence.

Anderson then mentioned that his nephew visited him this past weekend and gave him an 'awakening' to the world of Social Networking, Goggles, and a website with shocking amount of information and feedback about Delta called FlyerTalking.com. Anderson said he learned of a feature of the Million Miler Program that he admitted he didn't know. He mentioned the group of customers who traveled to attend the LGA event. He was impressed with the passion of these people.

Anderson said he was a bit confused by the chatter, but clearly there were some strong opinions and threats to leave DL over EOS. Enough to give him pause.

Robertson replied that he has people who monitor that site as well as others, and while he acknowledged that many there had 'concerns' about the rumors of EOS he pointed out that these people are 'gamers' and mostly purchase LUT fares, hardy typical of Delta's average passenger. He said 26.5% of all customer care complaints come from FlyerTalkers and 31% of all compensation given to people their database cross references as members of that site. He guesses that the SPAM folder his 2nd assistant has is filled with emails coming from the FlyerTalk.com domain.

Anderson wondered aloud if based on the things he read online if EOS could turn into a Public Relations problem?

Hankenstein (Mr. Ham Sandwich) pounded his fist on the table, proclaiming that these people are cheats, gamers, who walk around with their Diamond cards but have only a couple of thousand in spend. "Look at their scores! Look at their spend!!" He said Delta needs to either up-sell these people or move them down in terms of how we reward them for their behavior.

Anderson, agreed that his been the goal of the project, but said that someone was even so against the plan that they registered under the name Staying At Home Is Better. He said freedom of travel is the foundation of Delta's business and if people are so upset that they say staying at home or the office is better Delta is loathe to successfully implement any new programs.

Anderson asked to table the plan while a consultant is hired to help sell this to the social networking community. (Randy Peterson was mentioned as someone to bring in ASAP.)

Bastian asked what to do in the meantime. Anderson replied that plan Z should be implemented in the meantime.

......

Does anyone know what plan z is????