Originally Posted by
pbarnette
But they allow employees to spend more to buy a ticket from an airline with which they have status? If not, couldn't DL better chase business travelers by focusing on the things that corporate customers care about? Specifically, wouldn't DL be better off aggressively pursuing corporate contracts, seeking scheduling advantages in key business markets, and, where needed, lowering pricing? All of these are much better options for maximizing revenue than giving away your premium products.
My corporate travel policies permit me to be loyal to Delta:
a) I have some latitude in pricing (up to $150 I think) for fares,
b) I can choose different times.
c) Obviously, DL is often (even usually) the cheapest logical, or nearly so.
In most cases, all the airlines in my markets are all pretty close in price (NYC), so I could choose DL anytime or never. My company actually has a contract with *A so I actually go out of my way to choose DL.
But, my corporate travel policies make booking F unpleasant:
Once, I ended up with an F booking, because I "held" a reservation for a flight within the window with V inventory. I got the upgrade before ticketing, and so the ticket showed a confirmed F seat. This puts a big red flag on the expense report. I ended up having to go back and forth with 2 different "travel policy auditors" in my expense report, and then explain the situation to my boss.
That's the more annoying thing than $50 -- regardless of where the $50 comes from.
So, I agree with bubbashow: If after the fact I could go and pay $50 at DL.com out of my own pocket, I'd have less to complain about, though I'd then need to decide whether DL's FC service was really worth $50 to me.