But didn't DL even admit most of them are not used? Some perk if it isn't used.

And yes, this still irks me that I have only two changes because "I" abused the free waivers. Apparently CO and other carrier PE's don't abuse it.

The good old days.

Well, we were told in ATL by JR himself that the abuse of award changes by PMs p***** him off. I got that, at least a little. He thought some high mileage pax were abusing DL. It is a shame that when DL abuses higher mileage pax by having a program that pales in comparison to OALs, he isn't equally p***** off.

I don't get it, why would PM abuse get JR mad? Is it because he can't book an award ticket at low? Tell him to fix the award calendar, maybe that's the issue.

Maybe he should hear what p***** us off. How about only 2 award waivers, how about PMU's that aren't usable by most folks, how about exorbitant partner and international fees for award travel, how about a broken award calendar....

He was so p***** off that it's returning as a DM benefit, the highest-mileage elites he claims were so prone to abusing it in the first place.

Pinnocchio was not p***** off. Pinnocchio was just hoping our memories were shorter.

FYI, it is Mike's opinion that Jeff lied. The DM pool will be a lot smaller than the PM pool ever was. Anyone can believe Jeff or not but Mike likes to make out that Jeff was caught red handed in a lie. Opinion NOT fact..

Doesn't change the fact that it's returning as a benefit for the highest-mileage elites, those most prone to "abusing" it in the first place. This was nothing but a money grab, pure and simple, backed up by a poorly thought-out rationalization that most of us saw right through.

Pinnocchio's greatest nose-lengthening excercise goes back a year or two pre-merger when Pinnocchio claimed that double-mileage awards were being restricted for a few high-profile events per year. In fact, as Flyertalkers quickly demonstrated, they had been tied to availability in a discounted fare bucket. Once confronted with the truth, he claimed there was a "give back" that he couldn't divulge. Eventually this great & wonderful "give back" turned out to be buy with miles (*ugh*).

Pinnocchio's track record has been pretty well established, although personally I no longer attribute anything malevolent to it. He's just a beancounter at heart who has trouble rationalizing his decisions publicly. However, the customer is left with the same impression regardless.

Now Delta is faced with a situation where the competition has carefully inventoried & assessed these weaknesses and laid a highly competitive response on the table. A year ago Delta was in the driver's seat and had an opportunity to lead the industry with a truly "best in class" FF program. They squandered that opportunity.

Keep in mind that this comes on the heels of the Flying Colonel debacle, the LUT debacles (SaveSkyMiles.com), Simply Good Business, and the demise of Old Miles. Their credibility keeps wearing thinner & thinner. Would you buy a used FF program from these guys?

+1

It's not only MikeMpls's opinion that JR has been very much less than truthful and straightforward with his FFs.

If not telling the whole truth = lying, then he has lied to us.

The solution to folks not flying awards, who then redeposit the miles, is to make the miles expire if the flight is not taken, not to penalize ALL PMs needing to make an award change except for 2/yr.

^ But this is too rational for JR and/or wasn't the real reason behind the 2/yr limit in free changes.

Also, +1 to MikeMpls's post above.

Continental makes the value of a ticket $0 or 0 miles if you have a ticketed reservation then don't take it. I think this is perfectly fair.

I too am a 100K+ Plat - that won't hit DM status.

I switched to CO in October.

My routes are 50% TATL, 50% domestic. For me - factors were cost and upgrades and Star Alliance.

My corporate travel dept (like many) is insisting on lower class fares (and BE is not paid for).

I can u/g on CO TATL by paying a fee and miles (depending on fare class).
Need YMB fare for Delta (which my company won't pay for 90% of the time).

I did this before the CO SWU announcement.
I figured CO didn't have SWUs - but DLs were useless as 90% of my TATL fares were not YMB...so a wash.

RE: Star Alliance - I do alot of travel on LH / SAS while in Europe - so now miles do accumulate in one place.

My domestic u/g frequency is about the same as with Delta. Although, twice now I have been in coach as the NEXT person on the u/g list:(