Originally Posted by
dcline414
If I were thinking about signing up for an AmEx now I would DEFINITELY wait until we know more about the upcoming changes. Perhaps closing your account or burning the card would be unwarranted, but purchasing travel with a different card seems to be a perfectly reasonable response in the face of ambiguity.
Really? The current promotion for a DL platinum Amex is 40k miles including 15k MQM, a $100 statement credit for a $150 annual fee. Using the PWM feature, that's essentially being given $350 for signing up and spending $1k on the card assuming the MQMs are worthless. It might not be worthwhile to keep the card beyond a year but it seems very worthwhile to sign up.
Originally Posted by
dcline414
Considering all of these factors, 20 $1k domestic flights are likely of equal value as 1 $20k TPAC to Delta. Both would add $20k of incremental (top line) revenue with at least 99% of the revenue translating to (bottom line) profit.
It really depends on the routes you fly. Ignore the incremental cost of fuel/wages on operations (fuel + wages makes up about 50% of Delta's operational costs). If Delta was operating at 100% load what you say would obviously be false since if you didn't fly there'd be someone else to take your place. But Delta has ~80% loads so it really depends on the routes you fly. If you consistently fly routes that have empty seats than you are right since 100% of your ticket price is marginal revenue. I'd guess for most people it'd be somewhere in between. I think it's clear that Delta wants higher loads so chasing away the guy with 20 $1k tickets on non-full flights would be a mistake. Plus, the guy buying 1 TPAC in J once per year si not loyal to Delta at all and will buy a ticket based on schedule and service and maybe price.