brkandjfk

Probably ought to repost this every two or so posts because new folks to the thread will miss it. (a bit tongue in cheek, but with a bit of truth also...)

Some of you are correct... there is always evidence of a conspiracy if you look for it. (Note, I'm not taking a stand on the actual 'good or bad' of this, just saying that whatever your bias when looking to explain things, it's yours. It's just human nature...)

HongKonger

Oh it's fathomable baby

MSPeconomist

Yeah, and this also seems to redefine the fare bands, which in the past always seemed to be Y / B M/// H Q K /// L U T ////////E.

bsagator

I was able to log in, but my first try said they were unable to.

Deemus7

I know this won't apply to most of you, but I was fortunate enough to be targeted for the 1000 bonus mile per segment promo through November 30th. If this true for flights booked after 9/1, that has to be one of the quickest and nastiest bait-and-switches in the history of airline loyalty programs. I understand the need to incentivize the most profitable flyers to fly Delta, but how can they explain implementing a promo like that only to then stealthily pull the rug out from under our feet?

Has anyone booked AND flown a flight since 9/1?

dcline414

At least us segment qualifiers apparently won't have our medallion level affected since a flight on a T fare, while only worth 31 MQMs, is still worth 1 MQS!

MSPeconomist

We'd welcome your participation even if the answer had been neither.

mbwmbw

Picture please.

krpjr

You just saved some business. Although 5 of my next 8 flights are booked with AA and I can not stand AA. I can not deal with the miscommunication from such a large company. That's the problem, too large, and when you are too large you could care less to communicate important program changes. I only expect a modicum of customer service on the forefront of program changes, but that has not been the case.

MIA,OMA,ORD,LAS,and PHX are all booked on AA, oh and TLV...so 6 flights. Not that you care but I need to go to YVR and AUS as well, not sure if I want to book on Delta and all of my tickets as of late have been high fare buckets.

hazelrah

^

mbwmbw

+1

GatorBlues

Profit margins are deceptive because Delta's costs are much higher than NK's and there is little left that Delta can do to bring its costs down. The fixed costs are part of why I think low level elites (who don't actually get much in the way of perks in the grand scheme of things) are good for Delta. Delta is paying for Richard Anderson (although apparently they didn't have to buy him a new desk, so they saved a little cash there), the rest of its corporate overhead, the pilots, the FAs, the ground crew, the gate, the fuel, and the other costs of getting a plane off the ground regardless of whether the plane goes out full or half empty. Delta wants first and foremost to sell as many seats at high prices as possible -- so yes, adding the Diamond level and juicing MQM's for highest fares were good moves in my view. Once you've exhausted the high end buyers, however, the rest of the seats are better filled with loyal LUTs (who will often overpay a little chasing medallion status) than with the expedia customers buying only whatever is cheapest.

sbjnyc

Well that's not quite what I meant by the comparison. McDonald's as a large international corporation has to adapt to be able sell products in different markets. This gives them a large cost infrastructure that the hotdog vendor simply doesn't have. As I'm not familiar with NK I'll use WN as an example. It flies one kind of aircraft. That reduces its training and maintenance costs. No amount of fiddling with the skymiles program will overcome that advantage. If Delta tries to increase its fees on lower elites and kettles, how will they compete with WN out of ATL?

StayingHomeIsBetter

Incorrect?

As in "not supposed to happen at all"?

Or, as in "not supposed to happen this soon"?


Count me in the ranks of those believing that this was just an inadvertent preview of what is in the works but, nonetheless, thanks for listening and posting.

hazelrah

First, if anybody thinks Delta doesn't watch Flyertalk, you are full of it

Lurkers