I do believe that this medallion program has the potential to show up in business school texts and learned publications as an example of how a faulty rewards/loyalty program can backfire and actually drive your best cusomers to a competitor. However, I am not quite ready to throw Jeff under the bus for this mistake.
The reason I'm cutting him a little slack is because of a few, yet, IMHO, telling clues that have been given to us. First, at the DO, when the issue of NW Phantom Upgrades came up, Jeff explained, with a bit of a gleam in his eye, that Bob Soukup had to go to battle with NW Revenue Management to get that program going and then turned the question over to Bob to answer. To me, it seemed that Jeff really respected that Bob was able to enact a program that NW's Rev Mgmt was soundly against. I, and again, this is for the most part total conjecture, just got the feeling that Jeff wished he could win a battle that large against his (DLs) Rev Mgmt, but that he knew he could not. Why else would he brag on Bob and allow him to answer the question?
Second, is the existence and ridiculous actions of Delta's Revenue Protection Unit. One example can be seen here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...opes-ebay.html
While I don't know the exact relationship between RPU and Rev Mgmt, to me it seems that Rev Mgmt throws around a lot of weight, politically speaking, at DL Corporate. The culture at DL apparently is to be customer friendly unless and until Rev Mgmt complains, then at that point, do whatever Rev Mgmt wants to be done. Yes, I certainly agree that revenue management is needed in most any business, however, they should be a relevant part of the discussion and not necessarily the final decision makers.
Are these arguments weak and anecdotal? Perhaps. But I just can't see a smart man like Jeff issuing a new loyalty program with a super elite level that pales in comparison to the competition and has obvious holes unless he was under duress and/or was shut down on the relevant points that he desired to be in the new FFer program. In any event, the buck has to stop somewhere, and whether or not he was an active decision maker, Richard Anderson is the one who is ultimately responsible for letting this stinker find the light of day and is the one who by himself has the ability to fix it.