Originally Posted by
bubbashow
People on here need to stop acting so emotionally about a business. On one thread, FT posters are bragging about the free SM they got from DL for a small problem, and on another they are complaining that low awards are near-impossible to find. It's simple economics. You can't have it both ways. Dishing out a ton of miles is going to make them worth less. Same with elite, making everyone elite makes nobody elite. Revenue based earning and redemption would solve a lot of problems that people experience with DL and MOST-IMPORTANTLY, it would make the system a lot tougher to game.
Some legitimate claims here. I for one found it incomprehensible that DL threw me
25,000 bonus miles in December as a result of a MX cancellation that forced a reroute and delayed my arrival by exactly
90 minutes. I completely get that this system is unsustainable from a purely business standpoint.
Here's the problem...these issues were Delta's creation! I literally said nothing during that delay, didn't even get a survey to fill out. Three days later, my account gets a bunch of additional miles. It's like the post up-thread a ways. Delta is waking up to a Mardi Grad-induced hangover and needs to get these miles off the books. The easiest (and most profitable) way to do this is by devaluing them. I know that there are people who truly squeeze the system dry by complaining about a hot towel in first class being lukewarm or other insignificant things, but these upcoming changes (should they be as bad as rumored) feel like a cold shower to those of us who did nothing but put our BIS over the last __ years. Delta offered a loyalty program to us with certain stipulations, and this program was designed to induce certain behavior. After realizing the benefits of that behavior (revenue), it appears that Delta is now reneging. It would be like a bank telling a customer, "Hey, if you finance your house through us, we will throw in a free trip to Hawaii!" only to tell the customer after doing so, "Sorry, but we got in too deep with our promises and we aren't going to be able to fulfill that one."
Call me a moron if you will, but I strongly believe that business goes beyond simple economics. Delta will of course make decisions that make financial sense, but they
should consider the broader impact that these changes will have on their customer base. There are definitely people on here sharing emotional reactions, sure, and you know what? DELTA SHOULD ABSOLUTELY CARE ABOUT THAT. Emotion is a powerful thing in a business relationship. One of the reasons I fly Delta and passionately defend Delta is because I feel a connection to the company. I admit to watching their "flash mob" YouTube video about a dozen times and sharing it with friends and family. Will this loyalty from "gamers" such as myself be enough to convince Delta to not gut the SkyMiles program? Maybe, maybe not...
No one is arguing that HVC's should be treated well, and I'll freely admit that you should have better benefits than me, a lowly DM who only spends $15k/year. There's room for both of us at the table.