mnredfox

+1, go back to earning elite status the real way. Then again that went away when DL started giving out MQM's like candy 2-3 years ago with all the promos and now we have rollover.

I doubt and kind of hope DL doesn't match, elite inflation is out of hand if you ask me.

mcmitchell

UGH! I hope they don't follow suit. I'll be happy if they double up on the regular miles, but not EQM, or before you know it, DM will be the new PM.

jbcarioca

We all know how desperate US is. The question is whether anybody else has that level of desperation. DL certainly does not, IMHO. I doubt anybody follows, unless maybe UA, just to make the potential union even less likely to be successful.

brad9696

+1+1 -> miles in seats, at other than LUT Fares. That's where Delta's $$ comes from. Reward those making that contribution.

jackplum

If DL matches, it might be targeted to cities where DL is in competition with them.

A few years back they did this with status upgrades (nothing to FO or FO to GM) by taking one flight from any of about 14 eastern markets.

judolphin

I'm judolphin, and I disapprove this message.

judolphin

When Delta gave 50% MQM for LUT fares, I stopped flying them. Many others did as well, and that was bad for Delta, even if you liked less competition for F upgrades.

When they started giving 100% again, I flew them again. You can't make a living off the 3% of flyers willing to overpay by 300% for their seats, unless you truly provide a premium product that people are willing to pay a premium for.

Everyone knows this is simply not the case -- the airlines' products are much too similar.

A so-obvious-it's-cliche counter-example: WN has been profitable for 37 straight years, while UA, DL, US have gone Chapter 11, NW and America West have been swallowed up, and BA is on its last gasp.

You do the math on which market is more important: counting on people with money to burn, or giving incentive for normal people paying normal fares to fly your airline.

skchin

DL,

If you are reading this...
If you match the double MQM promotion, I promise to fly DL more! I will immediately book 3 tickets to Korea, 1 to Russia, and all my collegues will join the band wagon!

judolphin

Yip, I actually spent an extra $400 or so on an international flight to upgrade my L fare to a K to get double MQMs.

I'm telling you, DL knows for a fact that promo made them a lot of money.

paterwdb

I'd be fascinated to see if DL ticket sales go up significantly during a promo, especially in higher fares.

I know that during the promo, I bought almost all of my flights in higher fare buckets, often M or A. I don't do that when we're not in promo season, so I imagine the increased revenue helps them.

So I wonder if they sell many more tickets, or if they just sell higher priced tickets.

OHNOMRBILL

Originally Posted by bubbashow
"Make Elite ELITE....keep the posers with their fake status on T fares in the back of the bus where they belong."

+1 I agree with Judolphin --- the main reason most of us are here on FT is to maximize the benifits we can get. I typically only worry about myself and not the posers in the back , front or middle of the plane
FLY SAFE

ramblers63

Not to mention most non-posers "earn" their status generally through flights paid by their employers.

bubbashow

WOW, DELTA! Jump on it....4 more loss-leader T fares sold, for which you can give him unlimited F class upgrades on more loss leaders.

THIN the herd...there are too many "elites".

judolphin

No, DL's D/TEQM promos are K fare or higher. They'd be making at least another $1500-$2k on that example alone in exchange for bumping him up one elite tier.

And BTW, people who pay more for their seats are not a "more important" group of customers than those who pay less. There are a whole lot more of the latter than the former, and if you ignore them, you go out of business.

GrizShel

This year, I'm not at all interested unless there are DEQMs for ANY booking class.