Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
I do actually think once this nonsense settles down most DL fliers will still be DL fliers. UA and AA pulled this nonsense. No one moved.
I also question the cost of the loyalty. Are you loyal? Or getting something for nothing? Those Platinum's that were scraping by on discount fares and the credit card spend are not even close to profitable for DL. The gross profit last quarter was 27.38%. That means a 10k flier would generate about 2700 in margin for the year. For some here spending 6k and getting platinum they were half that - around 1300 a year. I am sorry, but loyalty doesn't make cheap customers good customers. When you factor in the cost of benefits for Platinum it is possible that DL is losing money on these people.
I don't disagree with your loyalty argument, but I do disagree the type of loyal customer they are chasing. As you point out, I am good example. I spend about 40k a year on airfare. Its not my money and honestly I am just lucky. But DL is forcing me to pick between UA and them. Maybe they win, maybe they don't. but if they do they are looking at 10k of margin comfortably (probably more due to the higher fare classes I buy on International J).
Most people here view status as getting something for nothing. I remember pre-MQD's days I could buy an $800 ticket to DEL and get a free first class ticket to CUN with the miles I earned. That was awesome for me! And stupid for DL. I was upset when they put the changes in place back then. That needed to be done though and honestly it made things better for a time.
DL has changed nothing other than what they are giving you for the business you currently give them. We can't get upgrades now nor can we get into the clubs. What else was there to status? Phone lines? Seriously? These changes make it so the people who spend money with DL get rewarded. That makes sense no matter what business you are in.
Again, if your loyalty is predicated on DL losing money on you then how loyal are you really? If they were a good airline prior to the changes, why do these changes make them a bad airline now?
You are not a loyal customer. You are not a "type" of loyal customer because you are not loyal at all (at least not yet - again I agree DL is trying to turn you into a loyal customer). The reason why companies need loyal customers is because at some point some other company is going to come in and try to use manipulations to steal your customers. If your customers aren't loyal, and they simply buy F fares, it's a lot easier for that other party to use manipulations to poach those customers. Loyal customers help you when you can no longer manipulate things (like decrease prices) in response to the activities of competitors. Companies still absolutely need HVCs, including those HVCs that will never be loyal to the company. I'm certainly not saying that DL should just try to get loyal customers and forget about non-loyal HVCs.
I have no idea if DL is losing money on me. I'm a DM that's flown 140k miles this year (excluding rollover) all on DL metal, all booked in economy. I've gotten upgraded to F on the vast majority of my domestic flights. I have a condo outside the US so I don't know what my MQDs would be - though my guess is I'd be right around the 20K required by year end. I have a reserve card and I put less than $1k/year on it. I complain to DL a lot (well, I don't complain a lot, but the things I complain about are important enough that I follow through with getting what I'm owed, which often means taking up a lot of time from a lot of agents).
If DL is losing money on me, with that profile, I'd think they'd be doing something wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that they make more from a HVC, but I think it's a stretch to say DL is "losing money" on anything but a small subset of DMs.
ETA: The changes don't make them a "bad airline". As I said, I plan to fly mostly DL domestically. And since I live in the center of the U.S. sitting in economy to most places in the U.S. isn't all that bad. I'll still be at least gold. What the changes do mean is that I won't go out of my way to pick DL when the prices don't make sense (for example, when a nonstop flight in F on UA is cheaper than a connecting flight in main on DL). That actually happened last week and I chose DL. Of course, I got upgraded to F anyway. But is it more profitable for DL to lose that economy fare that gets upgraded to F in exchange for that seat going empty? I honestly don't know, but it would be surprising to me. Of course - right now - seats aren't going empty. Which is again why - this matters when the economy dips, not right now.