gatechange

Although i do not make a habit of this practice... Go figure ... DL can make such changes that help them BUT can't fix award calander that helps FF. Finding low mileage ticket in advance..... ya right.
DL Skymiles you suck! There I feel better
(btw I don't need a DL SM raving fan to try and make me feel better right now.. It won't work)

TechMarauder

Seriously... I haven't seen this many responses in 12 hours since $199 fares from the west coast to EU! (and even then, I don't think it was this many!)

BearX220

But... but... Michelle said "Let the conversation begin"! They promised a "conversation"!

Wait. You mean... someone at DL was... lying to their best customers?

My world doesn't make sense anymore.

Not.

avidflyer

As shocking as it sounds yes, according to the responses received from those individuals the deal is done and it is now posted on DL.com.

AKC6

Yes, got that. But it doesn't say, "The outbound can't be changed"; it says "The ticket can't be changed."

It's late and I'm reading this too closely. I hope.

I should have stopped with Michelle's "Let's start the conversation." Still waiting.

defiance96

^

Glad someone got that they were meant to laugh at this.

Orange County Commuter

So far I do not see the downside for Delta.....

At least some of the 52 votes for I am gone... are probably from the posters trumpeting the fact that they already have left.... No loss to Delta there. (And of course half of the "I am gone" outcry group will be back. Some of them have packed up and left so many times it's a revolving door )

I am not sure either way on this, but I expect that it is not going to have a huge effect either way based NOT on the posts on here but what I read on both DL.com and the email they sent me.

Spiff

You might want to count the votes. I really doubt that everyone has cast their ballot.

PepeBorja

Agree.

This change does not impact the most important benefits:

UPGRADES on all fares and AWARD tickets
SKYPRIORTY services
Free SC for DMs
Gifting of FO or GM status
Free Bags
Special phone lines
Prefered handling during IROPS
Companion UGs

Jumping to another carrier and leaving all of those benefits because now one can not cancel an award ticket on short notice makes no sense to me.

I am 67 UGs out of 68 legs and cruise through security, get free SC access, gifted GOLD to a friend and SILVER to my daughter, and got protected last week when my flight got cancelled. I would not trade that off for 40K Skymiles on a lost award ticket or because I need to pay a $150 fee to reschedule the award.

Is the change uncool? yes. Is the sky falling? Hell no!

FogCityTraveler

My hunch is that it has something to do with this:

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-mo...-flights/4756/

And the c-suite discussion went like this:

Anderson: Damnit Jeff, I don�t like bad press like this. What are you going to do about it?

Robertson: I know Richard. I had my people take a look at the problem first thing this morning.

Anderson: Well? What did they find out?

Robertson: Ya know, uh, it seems to be our customers that are causing the problems.

Anderson: Our customers who ranked us among the lowest IN THE WORLD are the root cause?

Robertson: I know it sounds crazy doesn�t it?

Anderson: Damnit Jeff. What�s the matter? Cat got your tongue. WHAT data do you have?

Robertson: Well, uh, Richard, it appears over 1,000,000 award seats are going unused at the 72 hour mark prior to departure. That is 3 days in which those seats could otherwise be sold or used for other SkyMiles members who truly intend to sit in the seat and travel.

Anderson: Damnit Jeff. Our customers have been complaining for years that they can�t find award seat because of our booking engine. Could it be that those 1,000,000 seats can�t be located by our customers because the award engine isn�t finding the availability for them?

Robertson: Definitely not. We added a bunch of pretty graphics, spiffed up the GUI, and created an iPhone app so we don�t believe it has anything to do with the booking engine.

Anderson: Good point. Similar to our livery changes over the years, what the customer sees actually looks fresh, but what the customer experiences is different. But by then we have their money and the amount we comp and refund is negligible. Airline passengers are price sensitive and stupid. This is very consistent with one of our strategies � reality absent marketing. Hotels could make a killing operating like this. Very similar perishable service models you know.

Robertson: You are so right Richard, I could hug you.

Anderson: So?

Robertson: So? Richard it wouldn�t be appropriate for me to hug you. We�re in the office!

Anderson: Damnit Jeff. I mean, why do we have 1,000,000 unused award seats at 72 hours out?

Robertson: Well we just can�t figure it out. Think about it. 4000 flights a day, including Delta Connection. 1,000,000 award seats. That means each flight would have 250 seats on it. That just doesn�t add up. Our heads were kinda hurtin�. So we figured it must be the customer. Ya know, they�re always the enemy in this business. Always trying to find a loop hole in our rules. Take advantage of us and all. Ya know.

Anderson: You know Jeff, you must be right. I am so sick and tired of this damn SkyMiles program let�s really show them. No changes after 72 prior to departure and to really show them if they make a change they forfeit their miles. That should do it.

Robertson: I agree. That was our specific recommendation to you.

Anderson: Excellent work by the team. Looks like you really got to root cause on this one. Go ahead and implement this Jeff. Let�s monitor it for a week. If we get a lot of noise we�ll give in a little � we�ll implement a fee to reinstate forfeited miles, $250 per transaction. We need another revenue stream.

Robertson: Excellent idea Richard. the Board of Directors will love it. I learn so much from working with you.

Anderson: Pleasure. I�m off to another strategy meeting this morning. We�re looking at not putting in the Sky Club in the new JFK T4 addition, instead putting more terminal seating in the space since we�re over capacity to begin with; hiring the Piggly Wiggly to replace Michelle Bernstein as our BE executive chef; and, this is super confidential, recos for the new livery!

Robertson: Sounds like a great strategy meeting. Building a better airline. Love it. Go get �em tiger! Oops, I know, we�re still in the office!

NorthFlyer

Thanks, Michelle, for the heads-up. I was previosly undecided about whether to take UA Economy Plus for my fall trip to Asia, or try out DL's Economy Plus, and secure SIlver Elite status for 2012.

You made my decision easy. I will take UA. (I used to be a NWA Plat, then Gold, before DL added all of the rules to Sky Miles, abandoned NWA's highly functional web-site, and took away the mid-day cheese from the Sky Clubs. I will finish this year with about 37,000 UA/CO Elite Qualifying miles, and 17,000 on DL. Even with roll-over, your frequent flyer plan has lost its value to me.)

mnredfox

That is the point. DL will do things now:

1. Be even stingier until T-72, blaming everyone who doesn't cancel until 72 hours (supposedly there will be 1m+ of these).

2. Make PM/DM's decide to cancel a med/high at 72hrs and take a chance or not fly altogether.

Either way, lose for PM/DM.

I agree the impact isn't huge, but the point is the way DL is implementing this for me (no customer input, changes no less than 1 month after 1 change). Further, to me this is not the only straw, but simply the one that broke the camel's back. I'm sick and tired of seeing one by one things get worse at DL, and I'm not going to stay here until the ship completely sinks.

What you list above was historically always part of a FFP, so saying DL still has them doesn't instill much confidence in me.

Vuelos

That's not going to do anything to help us get things changed....

Frozentech

I notice that it's mostly FO who aren't livid about this. Why should they be, since they were already resigned to flying DL for about 4 years to earn enough for the occasional 'low' BE to Europe ? Gosh it would take, what, 8 years of flying as an FO to earn enough to take a family of 4 to Europe on a low COACH fare. Not to rag on FO's, I used to be one, but seriously, DL is now slamming on the PM/DM crowd, it must be a "thin the herd" move.

mersk862

Posted this on another site, but back to one way awards:

The fact that a Delta one-way costs the same as a round-trip makes it a joke. I've even had agents on the Diamond line comment that the Delta one-way awards are a joke (and often, it's cheaper to buy it as a round trip. If you're going one-way outbound and only 40k seats are available, you pay 40k. You pair it up with a 25k award ticket on the way back, and that price magically drops to 32.5k round trip. Amazing how that works!).

Delta, if you're so worried about people not showing up, maybe (just maybe) the system you have in place is completely broken. If faced with the option of paying 40k for a one-way or 32.5k for a round-trip that includes the same outbound flight, guess which one I'm doing!