The customer buying Main Basic is not into it for loyalty. And Delta has no loyalty, particularly to bargain basement travelers.

It’s probably strange for a mod on a frequentl flyer forum to be saying this, but y’all are too worried about “loyalty.” I’m 110% certain Delta has the relationship it wishes to have with the majority of customers. We generally pay higher fares, use affiliated credit cards, are less price sensitive, and still do stupid stuff (like pay $3/mqd) to maintain status that is arguably not particularly valuable for Silver or Gold.