Originally Posted by
gooselee
Nobody can predict the future, but clearly someone at DL with oodles of data crunched the numbers and was able to convince management that this move would a) decrease the number of lower-margin customers, b) increase the number of higher-margin customers, or c) both.
Balance that out with revenue gained/lost on the Amex side, and obviously DL thinks they will come out ahead in the end vs. status quo.
Somebody thought the same during the Leo Mullin era.
Somebody thought the same when jacking up mileage upgrades to 60k one-way from a Y fare.
Somebody thought the same when all the airlines tried to massively jack up pricing for multi-city tickets by prohibiting end-on-end travel.
Obviously Delta thinks they will come out ahead in the end for every single action they take, otherwise they would not take said action. After all, as others here never fail to point out, DL is running a business. Companies are perfectly capable of getting things wrong despite the best data, the best intentions, or both.