Originally Posted by
bubbashow
Two different thoughts and examples, separated by the ",and". This isn't some breaking news on here.....dozens, if not hundreds of posts of folks SDC to better their upgrade chances. Dozens, if not hundreds of posts of folks SDC to a far-more circuitous routing. Dozens, if not hundreds of posts of folks SDC to a flight for which they were originally unwilling to pay.
DL saw this...DL saw more revenue....DL closed the gates and shut out gamers in the process.
How is SDC'ing GAMING the system?!?!?!
Yeah - so what, somebody SDC's to a flight they originally wanted, but didnt want to pay the extra $100 because the L fare was sold out. If there's an empty seat on that flight, then Delta's Rev Mgt group clearly didn't price out the flight right if there are empty seats, and now that somebody is taking that flight (assuming it's an earlier flight than their original flight), Delta now has a second chance at regaining that revenue for that empty seat on a later flight, rather than just letting it fly empty. Delta wins, the passenger gets what they want, and everybody's happy. There's no gaming going on. In fact, Delta is the one who gets the bigger benefit than the supposed "gamer" as you so inaccurately call him. You're biggest assumption is that this "gamer" would buy the more expensive flight if SDC'ing wasnt an option. More than likely, that probably wouldn't happen.
And so what if some people SDC to get a better upgrade chance?! Again, this costs Delta NOTHING (and may even benefit them as it did in the above example), and makes their Diamond/Plat customer happy. Hardly "gaming" the system or putting Delta at a loss or disadvantage.
If you really believe that Delta stopped this because people were "gaming" the system, you may need to re-evaluate your logic. Delta is trying to gain more revenue from the "gamers" - as they know they wont be able to squeeze out any more out of them. Chances are most of them were business flyers that had to stay within a specific range, or were on personal travel, therefore price sensitive. They're hoping to squeeze out more revenue out of the people with deep pockets - and unfortunately I think Delta will find that those people don't exist en mass like they believe, and instead will only lose more revenue by losing some of their more devoted flyers.