Also, regardless of my elite level, I respect a business that deals with me the same way I deal with my customers - in a straightforward, honest manner. For example, when assessing a fee to change awards, do not claim it's to prevent inventory abuse when the solution doesn't accomplish your goal. When you decide to stop serving hot breakfast, don't send out an email saying it's because customers told you they appreciate healthy options. And when you make and announce changes, don't bury them in the middle of emails you know most of your customers don't read.

Further, I feel better about doing business with someone when they exhibit a certain level of competence. Communicate effectively! I'm actually DEFENDING DL over in the NW forum from a bunch of NW elites irked that the carry-over EQM option in the elite extraperks program was eliminated as a result of the introduction of rollover miles, when that's actually an IMPROVEMENT. DL just did a horrible job of communicating the change, first claiming it was a technical issue that the option went away and it would be back, then fessing up later that they were just canning the option entirely. If it's not coming back, don't tell people it's coming back! Negative reaction to the lie, along with a failure to show how the change was an improvement, blinded most to the fact that instead of having to choose carryover EQM instead of something else, now they get the carryover EQM ANYWAY (and more of it) and STILL get to choose something else!


I will say that the vast majority of my issues fall into the areas of FF program (some on value, some on treatment of customers/communication) and SkyClub product degradation. There are lots of other things that are not as good as they used to be, but that's just the nature of the airline industry, and DL gets people from point A to point B just as well as any other carrier.

But, when all carriers are pretty much equally good about getting you from one place to the other safely, that means if you don't want people just flying the cheapest ticket they can find, you need to offer something that distinguishes yourself from the other guy.

Honest, effective communication with your customers is one of the things that can distinguish you from the other guy, and one of the best things about it is it's FREE! But for some reason DL insists on continuing to shoot themselves in the foot at nearly every opportunity. We get it, changes are necessary, but you can help yourself a lot by just telling it like it is the first time.