ADLFO

First, thanks for posting the link to DL's official response to the DTW flight incident earlier.

Can you give us another SMI update in regards to the SkyMiles program? There have been major changes to other FFer programs and I am hoping that DL is considering taking similar measures. If, as has been stated, FT posts are valued and monitored by DL, then it would be valuable to some here to let us know DLs thoughts on issues discussed here. I realize that some things cannot be shared in an open forum, however, could you at least fill us in on those things that you are free to discuss or at least try to get permission to discuss more? Thanks so much.

AndyTLe

Agreed. At a minimum, address the rumors or questions that are vigorously discussed. Such as today's discussion of earning miles on voucher tickets. A quick response by SMI would have helped (obviously SMI was/is on FT today and saw that discussion).

thezipper

well... SMI was suppose to be on vacation this weekend, that is until all he'll broke loose with this incident. Give SMI a little time to come up for air and I think you question will be answered.

StayingHomeIsBetter

What gives you a basis for such confidence? ...the dozens of other unanswered questions directed to SMI in this forum?

So far, all he has done is fail to satisfy the heightened expectations that came out of all the fluff posted here by those returning from the RWT DO.

After removing all of the self-serving PR spin, the amount of real, useful information that he has posted here would not fill a metaphorical thimble.

But, we are supposed to get by on that since some of you found him to be "personable."

ONTRandy

When changes were announced to the UA program, a UA insider posted on FT. When changes happen to the CO program, an insider posts. Starwood, same. etc.

Here....Not so much.

I'm sure there are a few other programs with no insider presence, but I suspect those are in the minority.

At DL we have an insider that posts PR, then leaves. We seem to be left to answer the age old question: is it better to have a girlfriend that only pretends to love you, or no girlfriend at all?

waltinsocal

No girlfriend at all; especially if you know she is only pretending.

mersk862

Much as thezipper mentions, I'm willing to give SMI some time on this issue that we're concerned about...he's been on vacation for the past week (and hopefully hasn't been on FT during said time!) and when he's been on the past couple of weeks, it appears there's been a lot of media requests coming his way (and keep in mind his primary job is not posting on FT...)

DLCorpTeam

Thanks mersk862 - I appreciate the stepping in on this one. Vacation or no, I still monitor FT daily and forward items of interest where I am able to as I see them or have them called to my attention by the moderators. As I have mentioned several times before, I monitor very frequently. That said, I admit that posting has lapsed a bit due to the needs of my primary responsibilities lately, but please don't assume that I'm not here just because you don't see postings.

With respect to some of the more specific items and questions: as much as I would like to respond to everything, it simply isn't physically possible. With the new year, my hope is that you see more posting from SMI but understand that it is largely a function of the number of hours in the day.


SkyMilesInsider

Gargoyle

With the new year, Delta will be transitioning you to a new office on board WiFi equipped 767s, flying westbound. You will continually circle the globe, crossing time zone borders every couple of hours, and, factoring in flight connections (and consequent ground time) you will have between 30 and 32 hours in every day. That should help you in Delta's plan to answer all questions posted on FT.

mnredfox

SMI, thanks for your response. We'll do our best to be patient and trust that you read and monitor things here frequently, but when there are a lot of negative changes happening to the FFP without any announcements, us FT-ers are left to fill in the blanks.

We look forward to more posts in 2010.

waltinsocal

Thanks for your response, and we all appreciate your presence. Our frustration is certainly not with you, but with the lack of meaningful communication from someone with Delta over many issues raised in this forum. I think this thread is a prime example of that. We are now 5 pages into a matter that could have been resolved many pages ago if someone from DL had taken a look at it and responded. Having said that, I do understand that it is the holiday season; however, many of us feel that even if it were not the holiday season, DL still would have ignored this thread. Thanks again for being here, and we all hope the new year turns over a new leaf when it comes to meaningful and responsive communication by DL on this Board.

scotty00

I thought I would bump this thread since it's nearly three WEEKS old with no additional comments/answers.

SkymilesInsider, here's a question that you should be able to answer immediately. Is Delta planning a change so that passengers that book tickets using DBC and/or plain old ecredits will not earn redeemable miles and/or MQMs on those flights??

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...n-mileage.html

Please answer as soon as possible. It should be just a yes or no answer.
Thank you.

fti

Someone on FT on that thread wrote to DL days ago about it and received no answer yet. Do you really think DL wants to commit themselves to a "yes" or "no" at this point" I don't. They have been purposely silent.

ADLFO

My fear is that they may see this glitch as an opportunity. Similarly, I don't believe they intended to have a broken award calendar, but since it happened, and has served to limit some awards, I do believe they were opportunistic and decided (I would assert wrongly so) that it may be in their best interests to drag their feet on fixing it.

redtailshark

You may well be right... it could have been an "accidental" discovery at first.

However, the dysfunctionality has been exacerbated by recent "enhancements" that are much more likely to be deliberative; e.g. 225k for J from NRT to SIN as you well know. This is so outrageous it's literally incredible; all other competing airlines, all, offer much better redemptions than this. More than seven times better. As did NW when it existed.

It's quite clear to me from my reading of the DL board that several years ago, it wasn't anything like this bad. I doubt DL.COM was ever as good as NWA.COM for award bookings, but the gap wasn't what we've seen recently - which is the gap between the Earth and the moon.

And it now results in the situation we see here. Where DL's award booking system can only ironically and with loud laughter be called :-: best in class :-:

The fact that they very clearly know this tells you it is now viewed as a liability minimization philosophy. Mint as many SM as possible and sell them to AmEx to bail the ship as they go along.

They're laughing at their DM and PM pax trying to use the award tool to book. But only as long as they continue to believe in the COI...

The most effective strategy, by far, for dealing with this is not to talk with DL at all. It is to:

Switch all CC spend away from AMEX. Hopefully, a large amount.
Close AMEX account.
Write AMEX and make it crystal clear that the driving reason for doing so is the irredeemability of SkyMiles compared with the competition and the attraction of the UA MP Visa, the COPPMC, the BA EC Visa, whatever it may be.