DiverDave

God bless you , your 350K miles a year , and your $100K spend :-:.

I cannot fathom why you would not have gone to United or American years ago, where you would easily be a GS or Exec Plat. Both programs are way better than anything Delta currently offers, or is likely to offer.

This thread has brought out the worst elitism that I have ever seen on FlyerTalk. It is rather disheartening to say the least.

In my continuing effort to reduce the level of my disheartenment, you may join the famed radio talk dude bubbashow on my ignore list.

Thank you,
David

DiverDave

G.W. - I apologized to S.H.I.B. some time ago, and out of fairness I should apologize to you. I would have never believed that Delta could treat its customers as badly as you have been saying for years, but here it is.

I was wrong and you are right ^. I apologize.

I can only imagine the upcoming horror of booking revenue based award tickets on partner airlines.

David

bubbashow

Look at a typical 738....144 seats in Y. If 90% of them are non-status, 50% of those are checking a bag, buying a drink, and doing other things that generate revenue, one flight can easily eclipse your $3000 in change fees.

bubbashow

Business sense is elitism?

Let's just offer everyone a BMW 7 series for 20K. That would be fair...why should the guy making more money be the only one that can buy the nice car?

What business are you in where your most-profitable source of revenue isn't treated the best?

Anyone who is HVC (IN REALITY, not just the tag on your luggage), would have NOTHING to worry about (IF THIS RUMOR ever came to fruition). Seems like those that are most-worried are those that aren't spending the dollars.

rylan

Because if nobody else is buying the 3 series, then your 7 series would either cost a LOT more, or they'd be out of business.

You know what, I spend the $$$ on Delta, and I'm extremely worried about this. Rev based award redemption? No thanks. I don't want to have to spend $250k to get enough points or whatever to fly on a J tpac or tatl award ticket... or find out that my usual vacations that cost 60-80k for me to get a J tickets to the carribbean for people now costs 150k because its winter.

DL2SXM

Every other post on UA is negative in nature. When NW was finally folded into DL, the DL forum wasn't nearly as lit up with negative threads as UA is right now. However, thats UA's mess. So who really cares? Not me.

For all the DL folks saying they will leave the mother ship, the same amount (maybe more actually) on UA are saying the same thing.

To me its rather simple. If Delta does anything like what people on this thread are saying they might do, then the 10 grand I spend to on Delta on an annual basis, which gets me DM status, will simply start going to the carrier with the best price. That might mean a flight on DL, AA, UA, SW, Emirates, British Airways...

I can and will make personal adjustments to the way i fly. I can and will get over not being called Mr. Nypdlieu when I call delta, I can and will get over not seeing my name being held on a piece of cardboard when I arrive at JFK from an international flight, I can and will get over not having to choose from choice benefits, and so on.....And, since I never check any baggage, I don't have to worry about baggage fees....

FlytheTail

True, but UA's mess is a temporary one. If this rumor is true, then DL's FF program "mess" will be a permanent one.

skchin

We just need to swap some people between airlines.

mtkeller

Redemption is the big concern in my book as well. Revenue-based programs work for carriers that only fly short-haul, because their fares are rarely in the league that you see to fly, say, from the US to Australia even on a T fare. A revenue-based redemption model creates a situation where the number of miles that today would get you from the US to Australia and back in biz won't even get you there in coach. I'm wondering if there's not some sort of hybrid revenue-based redemption scheme afloat. For domestic/short-haul flights, it's like an expanded version of pay with miles, but for international, it's based on regions or distance travelled. Probably still a massive devaluation in the award chart to go along with it, but not fully revenue-based.

Crazyhotelguy

Based on some if the posts in this thread, can you imagine what the "New" Delta will be like? With all of us "fake" medallions gone and the high rollers in charge, it ought to be a real pi$$ing match over who paid more and who is worth more to DL.

It is already like that, but it could get a lot worse.

Deemus7

When was the last time you were on a flight during the week with 90% non-status flyers? And comparing change fees to ancillary revenue is like comparing apples to oranges: one has nothing to do with the other. People will pay the bag fees and buy drinks regardless of where I take my business. Those leisure flyers are not going to change their flying or spending habits.

The biggest question is this: is Delta willing to lose those elites (like me) who are fiercely loyal to them by severely gutting the program? I am fine with rewarding those paying more. Heck, I'd even get over them lowering mileage earning for LUT fares! My biggest fear is in the redemption. Will that J flight to Europe now be 1,000,000 SkyPesos?

No one is arguing this. The most profitable sources of revenue should be treated the best. If I was spending $100k a year with DL, I certainly wouldn't be happy with the perks of DM. So why gut the entire program? Why not reward those HVC's in a way that doesn't completely alienate the mass of loyal elite customers that are in no position to purchase fares that make them a HVC?

747UpperDeck

Why do so many get hung up on sLUT fare classes as the primary basis for awarding bennies? Out of DTW, for routes of comparable distance, competition, and equivalent advance purchase timing, I have purchased LUT fares that resembled K/H in price and K/H tickets that probably should have been coded LUT given their relatively low prices.

As an admittedly rudimentary example, which was very easy to construct based on personal travel patterns, I just searched a DTW-OKC trip for 4/10-4/11 (n/s flights DL 5008 and 4945). The price is $896.70 and coded T. For the same dates, DTW-MSY is $572.60 and coded Q (n/s flights DL 1059 and (oddly) 1059). Based on the seat maps, loads look fairly similar when taking into account aircraft differences. As such, I am assuming DL is asking profit maximizing fares for these routes.

On the basis on revenue generated per mile, the former provides a greater yield, yet is coded as a sLUT fare. Which ticket should earn more rewards given the one coded T is actually providing much more revenue per mile?

An additional point of comparison, for these dates, the DTW-SEA (n/s flights DL 2149 and 822) is being offered as a M fare for $1,111.60. The DTW-SEA rout is nearly twice as long (vs OKC), yet yields only an additional $214.90 in revenue. Again, the T fare is generating the most revenue per mile, yet would presumably be awarded with the least benefits under a revenue based FF system. Of course, this is already somewhat true given the M fare would provide a nice bonus for a relatively marginal revenue premium.

If DL were to move to a revenue based system, which is neither here nor there for the purpose of my post, it seems step one would be to standardize fare buckets based to a consistent metric (e.g., $/mile for routes within certain thresholds). While we can never expect fares to be equalized between similar routes, a major overhaul in the loyalty program would have to be accompanied by fare class transparency/consistence. I am sure they's get to that once the award calendar is fixed. Otherwise, don't be surprised if all non-refundable fares end up as sLUT fares, as DL could easily eliminate K/Q/H/B and M to limit award earnings.

rylan

I'm sure there is plenty afloat... and most of it is brown and stinks.

Lets see, a hybrid redemption model for domestic and intl... I'm sure DL would do a great job making that even more confusing so you have to read through a booklet of info to understand how many points things cost.

hnewman

That makes too much sense and does not require lots of people to make changes to increase your staff size.

skyvanman

Dumbest. Idea. Ever.