Originally Posted by
Gargoyle
I view this differently than you, but I see a change and a redeposit as being very similar; they certainly have a similar effect on the overall system and award availability, and processing costs are similar. To me it's nit picking to separate them, but to people who do those changes a lot I'm sure they are entirely different animals.
I guess they did the math, and decided it's better to tick those few individuals who do lots of changes, and thereby lose a few thousand in business, rather than to lose a hundred million in revenue. They indicated that when they ran the numbers they were quite surprised at how large the amounts are.
They didn't do any math worth mentioning. They're locked in the Leo & Robbie frame of mind, namely that the customer loves them so much they'll just throw money at them to keep the good times rolling.
I view them the same as $150-300 change fees for revenue tickets. They're all money grabs, period. Anything else is a rationalization.
It was only 3-4 years ago that Delta got by just fine with change fees as low as $30. Problem was -- and still is -- they don't offer a product good enough that customers will cover its costs.
Meanwhile, over at Southwest
where there are no change fees they reported profits for how many consecutive years? This last quarter they reported minor operating loss which for all practical purposes is at the break even point. Southwest is announcing no layoff for during the current down economy & actively reallocating its resources, including new services this year at MSP, LGA, BOS & MKE.
Sorry, I just don't buy the lame explanations & excuses.