Hey Spiff:

I was actually thinking today that if DL had merely adopted the AA/UA system (Good AND Bad) this wouldn't be that bad. Granted DL Y is still a Billy Barty-sized house of horrors and PM is now even more of a joke compared to EXP or 1K - but it wouldn't be that bad if insULTing DL customers were still occasionally given the chance to upgrade.

The general line I am picking up around here is that with the .50 insULT mileage rule DL went just too far.

On an aside, my Spidey senses are telling me that DL knew the uproar over this was going to be even worse than the Tsunami over the K+ upgrade. The standby news today out of UA (AA should match by the end of the week) cannot make Uncle Leo feel good about their dice roll on AA/UA matching (they won't) .5 on 14/21 Day advance fares.

For what it is worth, me thinks DL's 'throw-away' in this deal is insULT .5. Unless there is a major shift out of the rest of the majors DL will come back in the next week or two and say all DL flights will give you at least one medallion mile "because of the concerns you expressed to us".

But I expect the higher fare bonuses to stick ala AA Q points. I also expect that DL will do away with segment qualification ala AA EXP for all elite levels.

IMHO what DL really wanted out of this deal was to shift to the AA/UA stingy upgrade system. Even under UA/AA those F seats are almost always full which means most of the time someone is paying steeply with miles or $$$ for those seats.

The most interesting thing I take away from the last 36 hours is that DL has officially admitted what we have debated so many hours about on this board - in the end insULT MSU rules were an abject failure...even the DL Ministry of Propoganda is admitting only 50% (!) of all upgrades issued (presumably only those to SM's and GM's) were being used.

Sounds like a lot of PAX were taking a pass on the K+ lottery.


[This message has been edited by CoMooter (edited 12-12-2002).]