Originally Posted by
misterbean
The turning point may very well be long before they are no longer profitable.
I doubt that if it comes to that, I will shift 100% of my travel elsewhere in one swift motion. Rather, I would probably try out some other airlines and eventually decide if I want to switch. By then, it might be too late to win me back.
I'm sure I am not alone in my decreased loyalty.
The other legacies, while not better, are not that much worse.
Does DL want loyalty out of the picture? I don't think so.
Why should DL or the other "two" big US legacy majors really care as much about customer "loyalty" as in prior years? Today's US commercial, scheduled passenger airline service landscape has fewer competitive players than it used to have; and now -- in rather unprecedented ways for this industry in the US -- DL and the other US legacy majors can afford to mess around with the value that customers get from the "loyalty" program and otherwise when dealing with the airline(s) and boost the firm's (and industry's) annual profits at the expense of consumers. DL's doing what it can because it can -- great for DL, maybe not so great for the customers of DL and/or of the other US legacy majors.
DL should make all the profits it can in a legal way -- and that would be all the better if it was done in an environment where it wasn't relying upon a variety of governmental "favors and waivers" to do so as it has.