avflyer

I just shot an email to Amex figuring that they may have even more at stake here than perhaps Delta. Amex is in fact directly linked to this because when I now book award travel, I have to do so with the knowledge that my miles could very well be at risk, many of which started off as MR points.

In fact, I use nearly all of my MR points on travel with Delta. Therefore, my family and my business run as much possible spend through Amex. I think it's a lot of money. I hope Amex does too.

For me and others that use both products (DL and AMEX), a switch to another airline will include a change in credit card providers. That can't be good for Amex and I intend to let them hear it.

cottonpatch

^

With the new policy, not only have my spending habits changed with regards to SkyMiles but my acquisition of the SkyMiles has changed as well. I DO think that AMEX will be very interested in hearing about this.

avflyer

My take is that the biggest single loser in all this will be Amex.

Delta3MM

I think one day, AMEX will realize that the value to the end customer of Skymiles is much less than what they are paying for them.

Once they realize this, well, the conversation with Delta will be interesting.

I canceled my card about a year ago. Just don't want any skymiles!

Billy

AKC6

^

And a really interesting conversation will happen when the first AmEx exec tries a T-72 change. Wonder whether their quota is once in a lifetime?

obnoxoid

Interestingly enough, AMEX sent me an e-mail a few days ago with the subject line "American Express needs your feedback". It was a survey about my satisfaction with the Delta AMEX.

I definitely made sure to mention this. Have a look and see if maybe your spam filter caught that e-mail. I know I can't be the only one who's gotten a survey.

avidflyer

I agree. I am free of the AMEX monkey so I can't but they need to know how important this is.

Paddlenpedal

I like the T-72 rule, if it means it will free up more flights, rather than some schlub booking 4 different flights for his family of 8 and deciding at the last minute to cancel the 3 he decides he doesn't want day of/before departure. Kinda hoping this will end some of that rediculousness, and make using the miles a little easier in the long run.

javabytes

See the math in the main thread. On average, it works out to about 0.36 seats per flight. One seat out of every three flights has a no-show. However, airlines oversell flights precisely because people no-show, cancel, misconnect, etc. In order words, Delta already can and does plan around no-shows and sells tickets accordingly. The idea that this opens up extra inventory is hogwash. Even if you partially buy DL's arguments, the only time this ever has an impact on flights that are completely full and DL can't sell an extra seat (which - don't kid yourself - would be available at High award redemption levels anyway). Delta's load factors are in the 80%'s. So in most cases, there is still availability on those flights and DL wasn't prohibited from selling anything. No matter how you squint at it, the big numbers are there for show and they are being disingenuous about the real reason.

Paddlenpedal

I get what you're saying, but I meant open up more reward seats for everyone else-As in, if a flight has 6 reward seats available on it, and some guy has 4 of them booked and held for 3 months, that leaves 2.....under this new policy, the guy maybe doesn't book but the 1 he really WILL fly on, leaving the rest available for someone who actually intends on going somewhere. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but was kinda hoping this would make using miles a little more possible.

However, I'm new and just somewhere south of Kettle status, so I may have no idea what I'm talking about! I'll stay out of it I think.

javabytes

Even under the new policy, that guy can still book 4 tickets months in advance and wait until T-73 and still cancel.

avflyer

You presume a great deal here. For starters that Delta will in fact redeposit forfeited awards back into the system because that is what they said when announcing this change. Frankly, if I were in revenue management, if a flight is looking full and a couple of BE seats were made available, I somehow doubt they would get dumped back into the award bucket but I could be wrong here

As for Delta believing that most of the 1,000,000 changes inside T-72 are gamers, give me a break. Perhaps a few, but not many. For starters, you would need an above average number of points to have multiple bookings for your family 8. Also, considering that miles come from specific accounts, Delta could easily police those tying up overlapping awards at the 72 hour window. This rule is akin to using a scalpel to pluck an eyebrow.

Finally, I don't see the 1,000,000 changes/cancellations as that dramatic a number. That's about 2740 a day or about 114 hour or less than 10 every five minutes across the ENTIRE DL system. And while that may seem like a lot of changes remember sometimes a call involves 1 ticket, but often several tickets.

avflyer

I happened to be on a call to Amex and upon concluding my business with service rep, asked to be transferred to the Membership Rewards desk. Got a lovely representative who was yet unaware of Delta's new regulation.

She had no problem understanding (if left in place) how this might adversely alter my spend with Amex (personal and business). I asked to speak to a supervisor and after a few minutes, she returned and asked for my number stating that a supervisor would be informed of the reason for the call and get back to me.

My point is that anyone who cares about this and is an Amex customer (raise your hand if your not, should try and contact a supervisor in the MR department. Perhaps this is where a few well placed calls might get the attention of people who can apply pressure to the situation.

I will report once I get a return call.

StayingHomeIsBetter

Does the lack of a report indicate that you received no return call?

StayingHomeIsBetter

I received an e-mail from AMEX today asking me to complete a survey addressing my satisfaction with my DL-branded AMEX card.

Dear SHIB,

At American Express, we recognize that listening to the opinions of our customers is one of the most important things we can do. We invite you to participate in a survey as part of our continuous effort to understand customers' needs and improve the quality of our products and services and your experiences with them.


Have others received these in the past? ... common AMEX practice?

Or, has the recent tumult put AMEX on edge?

Or, is this just a "we want to show you how much we care" exercise?

(The last two questions are rhetorical)

Let's just say that I made filling out the survey a cathartic exercise.