For the past several months I have seen the ability to upgrade to first/business class offered up steeply cut rates after buying a coach class ticket at Delta.com. Today I watched a travel with no status upgrade to the last remaining business class seat at the counter for $125. The agent told me Delta just started doing this several months ago.

This policy represents a massive erosion of benefits to Diamond Medallion customers. Delta's upgrade system always appeared to me as solely merit based and as such served as a pure incentive to seek and maintain status. The more you fly, the more you fly up front.

Selling business class seats for rock bottom prices to anyone willing to pay will fundamentally alter this merit based system and radically decrease my motivation to maintain status with Delta.

I sincerely hope Delta does the math and quickly realizes that my loyalty is worth way more than the last minute $125 they made today. Does anyone else out there feel this way or have had similar experiences?

David