Originally Posted by
HBlurb
Ed does not say anything by accident. To Wall Street, he indicates that he provides a market leading elite experience exceeding other airlines. Today he told a different audience he is not providing an elite experience and reiterates a supposed comittment. Which he is not, he should try calling his customer service line and speaking to one of the 50% of those who answer who are in their first year or two of service. He will succeed in thinning the herd for sure and by walking back some of this he may keep those who buy the premium experience argument. I'll see what 2MM has bought me, apparently very little other than a free bag. There is not a chance I will keep my $695 Amex Platinum without lounge access and if I am not competing for Delta status, I have no reason to buy a DL international flight since they tossed non J passengers out of the lounges. If I do buy J, there are better options than DL. Next week on business travel I will not be on DL and will instead take the most convenient and lowest cost option.
I've been quite surprised at the casual and eased dismissal of what all of us lower tier flyers do to show our "loyalty" to Delta over these past years (3-23 years), by both Delta and commenters/naysayers here. Don't think for a minute that I wasn't bumping up my business flights to Delta instead of taking the absolute lowest cost option. Don't dismiss my spend on the cobrand AmEx card. Don't dismiss my influence to family members to join in flying for a marginally better (or even worse) travel experience.
But they all did. And trust me, I noticed. Mrs. DTWLarry and I are flying DTW-CDG in April, and decided AF Business outbound and PE inbound would be a better option. Why build loyalty to someone who won't reciprocate? Why extend the effort, in exchange for reduced benefits and perks?
So, we'll see what works best going forward, but a lot of rethinking and double checking whether Delta best fits my needs.
Sorry Ed, but devaluing my perks and making my spend my only metric clarifies what I must do going forward.