Originally Posted by
synzero
True, but I'm sure Amex doesn't have veto power on how Delta structures its FF program in their contract. So even if some Amex people objected, it's going to be Delta that makes the final call. Delta believed this would up Amex spend even though it seems obvious it won't, and whatever Amex thinks might have entered the conversation but they can't stop Delta from doing what it wants. Not that Amex necessarily foresaw how bad it was going to be, either, but I suspect SOME folks there were nervous.
Honestly I wouldn't be so sure about that. They prepurchase hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of skymiles and invest heavily in acquiring cardholders from the Skymiles ecosystem. It's functionally an investment in the Skymiles program itself, much like Skymiles' other creditors after its pandemic mortgages. If I'm a lawyer for a major bank looking to make that kind of investment, I want to ensure that the ongoing value of the collateral is protected, no different than forcing homeowners to buy insurance for mortgaged property.
If they don't have some sort of veto power over Skymiles changes, then I suspect at a minimum they've made Delta guarantee a baseline revenue figure for Amex, and if Delta screws the pooch to the point that Amex' revenue falls through that floor, it'll be Delta on the hook to make up the difference.