monitor

I have Chase cards and have never received any 1099s. However, it has been documented here and in other places that Citibank did in fact send them out to those who picked up the AA bonus miles for taking out a card in 2011.

AA_EXP09

Why does it matter why a person is traveling?
They paid for the seat, no matter who occupies a seat on a T fare SFO-NYC, they are all posting the same price.
Because the miles will be worth less than they were before.
If AA implemented this, my miles would be spent on a RTW/upgrades on BA/M+C faster than you could say disadvantage.

DHalltheway

You are right on the increasing loads, but the true test of the economy is after this year's US election. Introducing a measure that has sacrifices long term gains for short term benefits is very much in line with banks most have come to hate. Throw in the fact that RA got a pay raise too.

Add in that Mileage Runners are welcomed on AA, and you have the means for AA to survive in the long run especially if many bolt that direction.

Btw, the points system has been done by other big airlines and they backed out after due to the back lash.

RealHJ

That is based on bus. class cost in $ vs. in mileage needed for it now at low, if 1 SlyMile becomes 1 cent worth. It is unlikely 1 SM will be more than 1c with the price-based award pricing, as it is now 1c at PWM.

But yes, it is pure speculation -- just like everything else here.

MikeMpls

It's been documented that Citibank sent out 1099 forms for AA bonus miles received for opening checking and savings accounts, not for getting credit cards.

USA Today: Those are the guidelines Citibank says it's following; the bank confirmed that its credit card customers aren't being required to report their miles or other rewards as income. The bank says the forms were sent only to customers who received miles as part of the promotion for opening an account.

starflyer

I guess you can believe his compliment, since he didn't state your pictures were "best in class".

kuhlguy

Thanks to those who took time to answer my question on the previous page.

Just wondering. Are there many people out there that are still holding onto their skymiles?

I've begun looking at doing a long weekend trip to Europe in J around Christmas, but I'd be pretty much going just go use my miles (not saying I wouldn't want to go to Europe ... just I'd prefer to save my miles and use them in a year or two for a much longer trip).

Just like to know if there are others of you who are holding onto 400-500K+ miles even with the speculation

DHalltheway

I am sure there are many, because they naysayers here are plentiful. Especially after no announcement was made after Q1 (original date of announcement for the change).

But when an announcement comes, you can bet more will try to spend their miles. Which by then will be in the medium to high tier redemption range, especially with lowered "O" class on AFKL recently, you will be fighting for it.

Tomphot

Or talk to Flying Colonials who were given lifetime CrownRoom OR NOT
Early MMs who were given lifetime status - now annual comped.
I had old miles rolled into new enhanced program - you can never count on things staying the same, even if it's for a lifetime.

BahstunDLPT

I have 493k with trips to Europe once and Japan 2 or 3 times at least slated for the rest of CY12. I'm at 194k MQMs for the year. My goal is to take the miles and get BE round trips to India for the two of us at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I'm still unclear on what or if Delta is planning....

BahstunDLPT

By the way, I am of the opinion that the only change Delta will make is to the qualification level for status, not the mileage accrual program explicitly. For example, mileage accrual will be similar, but achieving DM or PM will be heavily weighted on revenue and less on miles. There won't be any more Silver's who keep status on a yearly Singapore trip.

If Delta goes away from this mileage accrual in such a loyalty based business, AA comes out of bankruptcy and approaches profitibility soon after. I would leave on Day 1 if DL changed this mileage accrual program. I would be ok with a more heavily revenue based status qual program.

mooper

Airlines aren't in the friendship business *except* to the extent your friendship brings them profit. They should respect you, keep their word, and want your business only to the extent that it will make them more money - not for any other purpose. Airlines' only priority should indeed be to make money. They are businesses, not charities.

It is even more accurate, and ideal for the airline, to strive to reward their most *profitable* customers. That doesn't necessarily mean their highest spenders, nor does it mean their most profitable customers in the near-term. An airline should *seek* to jettison long-run unprofitable customers, even if they are expected to be loyal ones, and they should be trying to attract more long-run profitable customers, even if they aren't high-revenue ones. Therein lies the challenge of developing the perfect reward system... it isn't as simple as just rewarding revenue, but allowing people to be so clever that they don't generate profits isn't wise either.

MQMs earned via card spending are very profitable to Delta, so it's unlikely that any change would involve dumping them. However, if your $15K spending is on high-margin tickets, then yes, you should probably be welcoming any change (if one is actually on the way). Someone who earns 60K MQMs/year via card spending and also purchases $15K in high-margin fares is a very desirable customer to Delta... more so than someone who doesn't spend on Amex DL cards but spends $25K/year on extremely low-margin fares.

To date, the change from "lifetime" to "annual complementary" has been worthy of the quotes, as it hasn't resulted in any material change. Of course, it kept the door open for change, but until and unless one actually occurs, it's not a real devaluation.

itsaboutthejourney

Having met many people in the Delta organization, I'm pretty sure the majority are there to provide a great product/service knowing the outcome will be profit. They are dedicated and enjoy their jobs. I don't think there is this conspiracy to not respect customers. That said, there are a few executives who like to push the boundaries and may not have the priorities and perspective we as highly engaged customers do - but they do listen if presented a compelling story. It's just that many FT'ers have a reputation for playing the system and low revenue.

I'd also add that the loyalty people should be more open, humble, and don't overpromise in their communication, let alone communicate MORE with us here. The Michelle/72 hour rule fiasco will take a long time to get past, but sadly, loyalty doesn't see the full extent of that problem.

redtop43

One thing I wonder, is where the credit cards some in. I have no idea how much profit DL gets off them, and in terms of straight point accumulation, even a loyal DL flyer is probably better off with an Amex gold card than a Skymiles Amex card.

If they devalue skypesos to 1 cent in a PWM-like model, it seems like they kill the credit cards. 1 cent cashback cards are as pervasive as ants at a picnic.

It will likewise destroy international J redemptions. I will pay 167% or 200% of Y miles for J, but who would pay 300% or 400%? Not too many.

sbjnyc

Delta's biggest cost from the SM program is the mileage redemptions. If Delta is going to do anything, it will revolve around devaluing the redemption value of miles or reduce the mileage given. It doesn't cost DL much to give upgrades or Skyclub access based on status, so changing that makes little sense.