Originally Posted by
mersk862
That's the issue that many on FlyerTalk have. Granted, there is an extremely high concentration of Platinums on this bulletin board. And that's where a lot of the problems lie - it seems to many of us that DL/NW is catering heavily to those Silvers/Golds (and giving those passengers a superior elite experience compared to AA/UA), especially if you're a North America traveler (as Star Gold/OW Sapphire/ST Elite Plus doesn't come into play).
I have to admit I'm not 100% up on all the promos as they don't apply to me, but aren't there a whole bunch of offers geared to US residents such as Amex cards etc. that earn extra EQM? If so, I'd question how many Plats actually fly more and spend more with the airline itself than BIS earned "no promo" Golds?
Frankly, without those unlimited EUA's and superior elite experience compared to AC/UA, I'd be off to Star in a hearbeat. If WestJet ends up in OneWorld, Skyteam will only get the Canadian market by offering a strong programme for Silver/Gold.
Again, this is from the perspective of someone in Canada whom doesn't have as many NW/DL options as those in the US - but personally without the good SE/GE programme NW/DL wouldn't see me again and I think that's the case for most of us north of the border.
I 100% agree with your analogy though about the pie and the distribution of benefits to the tiers. Perhaps that's where the 'new Delta' could go above and beyond AA/UA and their pie, offering both the superior 25k/50k experience AND the comparable/superior to UA/AA 75k+ experience? Starting with SWU's
