Originally Posted by
Gargoyle
Here's what the new program accomplishes- there are a lot of 150k to 175k fliers who were putting 75k a year on DL to reach PM, and then booking everything else on a competing airline. Now a good number of those people will book 125k a year on DL (or 100k if they are smart and pingpong the system, as I described above), and book the rest of their revenue travel on competing airlines.
So, the program helps DL, but they're still leaving a huge amount of money on the table. They could have done much better for themselves.
I typically fly 120k (last 3 years), and nothing in the DM program encourages me to fly the 5k more to reach DM. In fact the rollover encourages me to stay under 125k for easy PM requalification the following year.
If I was a 150-175k flier I would probably reach PM on DL and PM/Exp on AA (or similarly on UA).
With the weak DM benefits and the disappointed PMs (perceived reduced benefits), I don't think that the changes help DL!
IMHO I think they help AA and UA!