FlyerInCmh

What's wrong with discussing the promo?

I think people have been asking valid questions.

ma91pmh

I don't think anybody is doing anything wrong, but I agree it is tough for us who make it to Plat with a whole year of hard flying watching other people get it handed out for free. My wife will make Gold, which is good for us. She will have flown with Delta three round trips in all of 2011. For the guy who did maybe 20 round trips on regional jets and has to live as silver, I can understand why he'd be pissed. I would be too.

KyBrewer

I can understand some being upset at the promo, but if it will make you feel better, my wife and I were going to get silver with one more flight over Labor Day weekend anyway. In addition, we both just missed last year (20,000+ MQMs), so I appreciate the gesture on Delta's part. It is just FO status one trip early for us.

mooper

It's not being handed out free. You first have to have helped Delta's bottom line by not only engaging in highly profitable Amex partner activity, but earning and transferring a lot of points that indicate you're likely to continue being one down the road. Then you need to fly a few more flights. The status will go away for anyone who doesn't use it much (and remember, anyone who doesn't use it much is *not* diluting you pure-BIS members), and anyone who does dilute you is doing it only if they begin to fly a lot, in which case, their on their way to being just as "deserving". The bottom line is that it is a jump-start, not a lasting shortcut, and it is highly profitable for Delta, which helps all customers in the end.

ma91pmh

good grief mooper do you work for delta or what???

mooper

I do not, but I take your question as a sign that you'd prefer not to argue the merits of my argument.

I'm pro-business and pro-consumer, and I know they can go hand in hand. When Delta offers something that yields profits for them and also presents me with something that I can choose to take advantage of to lower most cost of travel (or improve its quality), I'm thrilled, not angry.

davisew

Free markets! What a concept!

For those who feel slighted by Delta's strategy, I recommend you take your dollars to another airline or figure out what you need to do differently so you can get in on the fun.

FlyerInCmh

As FOs, we were both upgraded twice yesterday. DCA-ATL was upgraded about 1 day before and ATL-CMH was upgraded at the gate. I'm not too familiar with the upgrade process yet, so we were surprised when we got the email considering the fact that we were FOs and we didn't spend much. Also, when we saw our names on the monitor, we were once again pleasantly suprised. Sitting in the front was especially good because our flights were severely delayed due to weather in ATL. We were diverted before finally landing in ATL.

We became Silver because of the Amex MR transfer and we had never paid for any Delta flight before. For this trip, it was only $200 round-trip (T fare). The upgrades were nice .

For those who are wondering, when checking our Skymiles accounts today (one day after the flights), we are now already Gold as a result of the Silver-to-Gold fast track promotion with just 2 round-trip flights.

Total money spent for 2 round trip flights was $450/per person and we went from nothing to Gold.

I can get used to this...

StayingHomeIsBetter

Another reason for 50-person-plus UG lists on flights, even at off-peak times.