RealDLInsider - Questions and Answers ...
Jun 23, 2008, 3:01 pm
#1
Company Representative - Delta Air Lines
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 34
RealDLInsider - Questions and Answers ...
In the latest round of postings, I’m finding you all have given me considerable feedback around being more specific in questions and answering those that are most popular. I’ve reviewed postings over the last three weeks and received a posting from members that show the popular questions where I pulled these from. There were many, but here were some of the common questions:
Q: Why is the PMU so complex, have many restrictions and generally difficult to use?
A: The PMU is one of my least favorite program benefits because of all the many issues you all have raised. It’s complicated because it’s in paper, it’s not always collected (which we have generally fixed), it only allows upgrades off of YBM fares, and doesn’t allow upgrades on the day of departure EVEN IF the customer was waitlisted for weeks or months before departure. This last piece is the one that actually is the most unfriendly. All of that is ugly and in short will get fixed. Originally, we were planning on automating the PMU process and making the upgrade easier to use, however this work has been put on hold with the pending NW merger. We have discussed the issues associated with the PMUs in detail with our leadership team, including our CEO, and it will get fixed. As part of the new NW/DL integrated FFP, I would expect that you’ll see a better PMU for the highest tiered customers.
Q: Why is there no published tier higher than Platinum Medallion?
A: As part of the domestic alliance we currently have with Continental and Northwest, we lowered the Platinum Medallion threshold several years ago to make our program more competitive and on-par with the other alliance airlines. To offset this lower threshold, we continue to offer unpublished one-to-one programs which are generally emailed or direct mailed to customers who are close to hitting Platinum. In fact, this year’s threshold program will be announced in the next two weeks. Those under-the-radar programs are generally targeted in nature, and offer customers a choice of options and benefits should they reach 125K or 150K MQMs – including rollover MQMs, bonus miles or lounge membership. As part of the NW/DL merger, particularly given the size of the combined airline, I would imagine that you’ll see a higher published tier that fits the larger airline. Although much is yet to be defined around the merger when/if it happens, a higher published threshold feels likely.
Q: Why are there so many technical limitations on the website around award availability?
A: We are very aware of the error messages, technical limitations and continued issues around the award calendar technology. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a lot better than it used to be 2 years ago. We are working quickly to fix all the issues out there in priority order. Today, almost 2/3 of all our award bookings go over the website, with the remaining 1/3 still being booked through RES staff. Most of these bookings that go through RES remain very complicated bookings or are with partners who are not yet online. Our goal is to drive the online bookings to 80%, and as such, we will continue to develop the online booking tool to meet that goal.
Q: Why hasn’t DL matched the NW program feature of one-way miles and one-way dollars?
A: As part of our integration planning and consolidating two frequent flyer programs into one, program benefits within each airline will be reviewed. The NW one-way combinable revenue and award fares will be examined, as will the DL three-tiered award structure versus NW two tiers, the DL Pay with Miles program, and the many hundreds of features between the two programs that are either similar or different. In the end, if the merger happens, we will be planning to announce a best-in-class loyalty program that meets the needs of the new DL/NW customers.
Q: Why is Pay with Miles not earning miles for the paid portion of the ticket?
A: When we launched the Pay with Miles program, we defined the redemptions as award bookings and as such, assumed they would not earn mileage credit. Our systems were set up to either give miles or give no miles on these types of tickets. They weren’t set up to be sophisticated enough to calculate the amount of revenue fare versus mileage fare, and allocate miles as such. Since launch, we have examined the current redemption behaviors, and are finding that about 1/3 of all of these redemptions are full-redemptions, while the remaining 2/3 of all these PwM redemptions are partial-redemptions. In some recent research that we conducted, the PwM program received very positive reviews, and in the top three concerns, was the area of not earning FF miles. Based on the sizable success in the program to date, that award redemptions are actually twice what we expected, we don’t have any immediate intent to change the mileage accrual component of the PwM redemption. However, we will continue to monitor customer feedback and will adjust if it becomes the appropriate thing to do. At this point, it would come at a significant cost to DL (the cost of giving away the miles), with an unclear upside. More data and learnings will help define whether the upside is worth the program change.
Q: What is the Delta Reserve upgrade priority?
A: Delta Reserve customers receive priority upgrade status within tier and fare class. In essence, this means that if two customers who are Platinum both booked an L fare, the Platinum with the Delta Reserve card bumps the Platinum who doesn’t have the card.
Q: Why not allow SkyMiles transfers into the Hilton HHonors Program?
A: Many years ago, we allowed point transfers into select hotel programs and the feedback was mixed. Most of our heavy Medallion flyers did not use the transfer programs and banked all their miles with their preferred airlines. Instead, users were mainly the very infrequent leisure flyers who were basically trying to get rid of their miles before they either expired or thought that they had to fly too much to earn enough for a free ticket. The result was that many miles that would have expired were actually converted to hotel points, and at a cost to Delta for what was very little loyalty or upside. In fact, the most profitable customers weren’t using the benefit, and the least profitable were. Although we have looked at reinstating this and I realize that some airlines have this program in place, most of them have conversion formulas so unfavorable to the airline customer, that instituting a program that has a bad conversion is basically like having no conversion at all. I wouldn’t say this one is out of the question, particularly given our relationship with some of our hotel partners, but it’s probably somewhat unlikely in the very short-term.
Q: With all these fees and charges – what is Delta’s plan?
A: I can’t technically respond fully on what are plans are around fee changes because much of this would be considered signaling. What I can share however, is that Delta has a plan to offset rising fuel prices, and we have and will continue to deliver on that plan. It is a Delta plan, and not any effort on our part to match or not match the competition. The reality is that we are all living in a higher fuel pricing world, and as a result, we will need to do something to offset these fuel prices that customers won’t be happy with. However, what we implement will be a Delta plan, and not another airline’s plan.
Q: Why don’t you post more?
A: As unfortunate as it is, particularly because I actually enjoy posting, I just don’t always have the time. In many cases I write these postings on the weekends or on my own time, particularly with all the existing work and the NW/DL integration work now going on. When I’m in the office, I’m very often in back to back meetings (at Delta – collaboration means back to back meetings) or I’m on the road traveling a lot. Okay – I know this sounds like I’m whining because we know that so many of us are busy, but I’ll always commit to do a couple things – post as often as I can, and always be up front and honest in my answers. I don’t have an agency writing these answers, as you all can probably very well tell, but I commit to always do my best to tell you everything I can.
I think I hit most of the major questions that were out there, and I hope some of this helps in sharing what’s in the works. Your feedback continues to be valuable, and I’m happy to see that so many of those things you all are passionate about are the same items on our list of priorities.
Til later,
Jeff
Q: Why is the PMU so complex, have many restrictions and generally difficult to use?
A: The PMU is one of my least favorite program benefits because of all the many issues you all have raised. It’s complicated because it’s in paper, it’s not always collected (which we have generally fixed), it only allows upgrades off of YBM fares, and doesn’t allow upgrades on the day of departure EVEN IF the customer was waitlisted for weeks or months before departure. This last piece is the one that actually is the most unfriendly. All of that is ugly and in short will get fixed. Originally, we were planning on automating the PMU process and making the upgrade easier to use, however this work has been put on hold with the pending NW merger. We have discussed the issues associated with the PMUs in detail with our leadership team, including our CEO, and it will get fixed. As part of the new NW/DL integrated FFP, I would expect that you’ll see a better PMU for the highest tiered customers.
Q: Why is there no published tier higher than Platinum Medallion?
A: As part of the domestic alliance we currently have with Continental and Northwest, we lowered the Platinum Medallion threshold several years ago to make our program more competitive and on-par with the other alliance airlines. To offset this lower threshold, we continue to offer unpublished one-to-one programs which are generally emailed or direct mailed to customers who are close to hitting Platinum. In fact, this year’s threshold program will be announced in the next two weeks. Those under-the-radar programs are generally targeted in nature, and offer customers a choice of options and benefits should they reach 125K or 150K MQMs – including rollover MQMs, bonus miles or lounge membership. As part of the NW/DL merger, particularly given the size of the combined airline, I would imagine that you’ll see a higher published tier that fits the larger airline. Although much is yet to be defined around the merger when/if it happens, a higher published threshold feels likely.
Q: Why are there so many technical limitations on the website around award availability?
A: We are very aware of the error messages, technical limitations and continued issues around the award calendar technology. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a lot better than it used to be 2 years ago. We are working quickly to fix all the issues out there in priority order. Today, almost 2/3 of all our award bookings go over the website, with the remaining 1/3 still being booked through RES staff. Most of these bookings that go through RES remain very complicated bookings or are with partners who are not yet online. Our goal is to drive the online bookings to 80%, and as such, we will continue to develop the online booking tool to meet that goal.
Q: Why hasn’t DL matched the NW program feature of one-way miles and one-way dollars?
A: As part of our integration planning and consolidating two frequent flyer programs into one, program benefits within each airline will be reviewed. The NW one-way combinable revenue and award fares will be examined, as will the DL three-tiered award structure versus NW two tiers, the DL Pay with Miles program, and the many hundreds of features between the two programs that are either similar or different. In the end, if the merger happens, we will be planning to announce a best-in-class loyalty program that meets the needs of the new DL/NW customers.
Q: Why is Pay with Miles not earning miles for the paid portion of the ticket?
A: When we launched the Pay with Miles program, we defined the redemptions as award bookings and as such, assumed they would not earn mileage credit. Our systems were set up to either give miles or give no miles on these types of tickets. They weren’t set up to be sophisticated enough to calculate the amount of revenue fare versus mileage fare, and allocate miles as such. Since launch, we have examined the current redemption behaviors, and are finding that about 1/3 of all of these redemptions are full-redemptions, while the remaining 2/3 of all these PwM redemptions are partial-redemptions. In some recent research that we conducted, the PwM program received very positive reviews, and in the top three concerns, was the area of not earning FF miles. Based on the sizable success in the program to date, that award redemptions are actually twice what we expected, we don’t have any immediate intent to change the mileage accrual component of the PwM redemption. However, we will continue to monitor customer feedback and will adjust if it becomes the appropriate thing to do. At this point, it would come at a significant cost to DL (the cost of giving away the miles), with an unclear upside. More data and learnings will help define whether the upside is worth the program change.
Q: What is the Delta Reserve upgrade priority?
A: Delta Reserve customers receive priority upgrade status within tier and fare class. In essence, this means that if two customers who are Platinum both booked an L fare, the Platinum with the Delta Reserve card bumps the Platinum who doesn’t have the card.
Q: Why not allow SkyMiles transfers into the Hilton HHonors Program?
A: Many years ago, we allowed point transfers into select hotel programs and the feedback was mixed. Most of our heavy Medallion flyers did not use the transfer programs and banked all their miles with their preferred airlines. Instead, users were mainly the very infrequent leisure flyers who were basically trying to get rid of their miles before they either expired or thought that they had to fly too much to earn enough for a free ticket. The result was that many miles that would have expired were actually converted to hotel points, and at a cost to Delta for what was very little loyalty or upside. In fact, the most profitable customers weren’t using the benefit, and the least profitable were. Although we have looked at reinstating this and I realize that some airlines have this program in place, most of them have conversion formulas so unfavorable to the airline customer, that instituting a program that has a bad conversion is basically like having no conversion at all. I wouldn’t say this one is out of the question, particularly given our relationship with some of our hotel partners, but it’s probably somewhat unlikely in the very short-term.
Q: With all these fees and charges – what is Delta’s plan?
A: I can’t technically respond fully on what are plans are around fee changes because much of this would be considered signaling. What I can share however, is that Delta has a plan to offset rising fuel prices, and we have and will continue to deliver on that plan. It is a Delta plan, and not any effort on our part to match or not match the competition. The reality is that we are all living in a higher fuel pricing world, and as a result, we will need to do something to offset these fuel prices that customers won’t be happy with. However, what we implement will be a Delta plan, and not another airline’s plan.
Q: Why don’t you post more?
A: As unfortunate as it is, particularly because I actually enjoy posting, I just don’t always have the time. In many cases I write these postings on the weekends or on my own time, particularly with all the existing work and the NW/DL integration work now going on. When I’m in the office, I’m very often in back to back meetings (at Delta – collaboration means back to back meetings) or I’m on the road traveling a lot. Okay – I know this sounds like I’m whining because we know that so many of us are busy, but I’ll always commit to do a couple things – post as often as I can, and always be up front and honest in my answers. I don’t have an agency writing these answers, as you all can probably very well tell, but I commit to always do my best to tell you everything I can.
I think I hit most of the major questions that were out there, and I hope some of this helps in sharing what’s in the works. Your feedback continues to be valuable, and I’m happy to see that so many of those things you all are passionate about are the same items on our list of priorities.
Til later,
Jeff
Jun 23, 2008, 3:05 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ATL
Programs: DL GM
Posts: 998
clap, clap, clap, clap
Finally he is at least reading what we write and responding...."why don't I post more?"....hehehehe
Finally he is at least reading what we write and responding...."why don't I post more?"....hehehehe
Last edited by lls138; Jun 23, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Jun 23, 2008, 3:06 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Jupiter, FL
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Silver
Posts: 29,849
Thank you for your candid responses. You made a whole lot of people happy today.
I really appreciate the effort.
I really appreciate the effort.
Jun 23, 2008, 3:07 pm
#4
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SLC
Programs: DL GM, UA, CO, HH, PP
Posts: 548
Thanks Jeff!!!
Jun 23, 2008, 3:08 pm
#5
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: ATL, CVG, DAY, DCA
Programs: Delta PM, SPG Gold
Posts: 244
Thank you Jeff. I know you take a lot of abuse on this board, but there are many of us who really appreciate your posts, especially when you answer our questions.
Jun 23, 2008, 3:14 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: SLC
Programs: DL DM MM, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, National Exec Elite, Hertz 5*
Posts: 155
Thanks for the update!! I appreciate that you are reading and taking the time to repsond. I certainly hope you will continue to do so and share as often as occasion permits!
Jun 23, 2008, 3:17 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Charlotte, NC
Programs: DL DM, Hilton, Marriott & SPG Platinum & a whole lot of other programs...
Posts: 745
Thank you very much for the feedback and listening to peoples questions.
I am hopeful for a more useful / less restricted PMU as you mention. I am probabally in the minority who would use Pay with miles a lit more if I earned MQM's (I don't care about actual miles) on the trip...
I am hopeful for a more useful / less restricted PMU as you mention. I am probabally in the minority who would use Pay with miles a lit more if I earned MQM's (I don't care about actual miles) on the trip...
Jun 23, 2008, 3:25 pm
#8
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL DM 1MM, Marriott Platinum,Avis First
Posts: 185
Thanks
Jeff,
Thanks for taking the time to answer or questions with this post. I am among the many who look forward to a better PMU redemption process as mine are sittign collectiong dust.
Thanks for taking the time to answer or questions with this post. I am among the many who look forward to a better PMU redemption process as mine are sittign collectiong dust.
Jun 23, 2008, 3:26 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2007
Location: DEN
Programs: DL PM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,816
Good work Jeff!! I am looking foward to the PMU fix!!!
Jun 23, 2008, 3:28 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Tallahassee, FL USA
Programs: DL Prisoner #347921
Posts: 185
Jun 23, 2008, 3:30 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Programs: DL PM, HH Diamond, Fairmont Prem, SPG Gold, Priority Club Plat/IC Amb, AmEx Plat
Posts: 10,839
Clarification with the Delta Reserve please.
Does Delta Reserve now trump time of upgrade request?
Does Delta Reserve now trump time of upgrade request?
Jun 23, 2008, 3:31 pm
#12
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: SPG GL, AA GL
Posts: 2,591
It would be great if PMU can be automated, and used on <YBM fare. Maybe limit YBM to those who booked with 21 number of days....
Jun 23, 2008, 3:32 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: SLC/DCA
Programs: DL DM (and NRSA), UA NA, HH Dia, National Exec Elite
Posts: 1,764
Thanks Jeff!
Hopefully some of those people who piled on your back will be a little more friendly from here on out
Hopefully some of those people who piled on your back will be a little more friendly from here on out
Jun 23, 2008, 3:43 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2003
Location: surprise, AZ
Posts: 200
Thanks Jeff! Your insight is much appreciated.
Kim
Kim
Jun 23, 2008, 3:45 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: DL AA UA
Posts: 2,359
Jeff, thanks for the update. As one who used a partial Pay with Miles, I will never do so again. Now, if I can fully Pay with Miles, then it is on par with a regular redemption. However, if is is just a partial, I lose the portion of miles I would have gotten from the paid portion. Yes, we certainly want DL to make good business decisions regarding SM, however, going forward it also has to be good for your regular customers (us). I know one person's experience is anecdotal at best, but I'd guess the majority who have partially redeemed are a)infrequent travellers who don't care, or b) people like me who just made a mistake but will not do so again at the cost of not receiveing SM. Just MHO, YMMV. 