Originally Posted by Randy Petersen
1. If you'll look at the fine print of almost every single major frequent flyer programs you'll see this "... subject to change without notice." If you think that this is the first time that any program has ever changed it's rules without notice.... then you have not been active in enough programs. Now, you might have considered this a tough question and wonder why we didn't ask them. It's simple, we read it in their rules, we understood their rules and they did nothing wrong outside their rules. While it may not be like you and I would do it, it certainly was using the very same procedure that many other programs have used.
This one one of those times,
Randy, that we disagree. Programs do make changes without notice, this is consistent with their T&C, and
they need to be called to account for it every time they do it.
It's one of the lowest, dirtiest, rottest things that can happen in a program.
And if public shaming won't do any good, at least a program's members will see what's going on and decide whether or not to trust the program going forward. I sure don't trust Amtrak Guest Rewards, will the no-notice changes they've imposed.
InsideFlyer did great work shaming DL for changing its elite status rules, though doing so was certainly consistent with its T&C. Not everything that can be done within a program's rules is ok.
I still found the Guy Booth interview an interesting read, btw. ^