Sorry, I don't blame DL. You somehow became emotionally involved with a publicly traded company. I'm glad you found US gives you a better deal for your current travel. I don't understand the vitriol towards DL.

Do you get upset with Mercedes when you decide Audi is a better car for you?

I have one particular airline that I simply will not fly for this very reason, even if it were for free or they paid me. So I agree that it's not always about the money.

That other airline was recently acquired, but I'm annoyed/bitter enough that I may not fly the parent airline either. (Had no opinion on them one way or the other prior to the acquisition)

You do know the person you replied to is the author of the article, right? ;)

Maybe there's some backstory I'm missing in the earlier pages of this thread, but it's not likely that you did. Upgrade priority doesn't work like that.

Actually, it happens often when one does SDC or SB, or purchases a last minute ticket after others have cleared. Believe it or not, as a Plat, several times I've purchased a fare that should get an automatic UG, but UGs cleared before I purchased, other tickets sold into F and I'm left sitting in the back. Personally, that's why I'd like to see all UGs cleared at the gate.

Happened recently on an SLC-OAK flight. The GA kept apologizing, but I was just happy to be getting on an earlier flight.

That's true, when you take time into consideration, all bets are off... but I thought he was complaining about a FO on a T fare beating a PM on an M fare at the same time (i.e. both pax on the list at the gate).

It happened....
 

Yeah, in all seriousness, it did happen. ATL --->LAS two Fridays ago. I made it a point to talk to the young man when he left his seat to visit his friends in the back. Apparently, he knew a friend of a friend of the gate agent. So, I left it not wanting to get a guy fired...but it happens all the time....at what point do I say, ENOUGH!

you would think by some of these post Delta was telling these people they weren't allowed on their airplanes. Delta is just telling you the cheap travel is now your perk, not free first class upgrades. The perks are now reserved for those paying the freight

Well now that could be a possibility... upgrade priority doesn't work like that but shenanigans sure do...

I'm not a fan of this "MQD" change, even though it doesn't affect me. But seriously, people should be able to at least see Delta's side of it (like bubba obviously does).

Let's suppose that I own a restaurant. Every day, I offer a dish at a special, reduced, unprofitable price, in the hope that the people who come in to eat that meal will also order profitable items like appetizers, wine, etc. Restaurants do this every day. We've all seen it.

Now, let's further suppose that I notice a group of customers who come to my restaurant frequently, order the daily special and nothing else, and then leave. They do this a lot. Clearly, they are not profitable, and I'm not going to be very pleased to see them. Nevertheless, I offered the daily special and cannot withhold it from these folks.

Now, third-stage exploration of the hypothetical, let's suppose that some of these unprofitable customers start demanding special treatment, like not having to wait for a table or getting the best seat in the house -- simply because they show up so much. Could you really blame me for saving that kind of special treatment for better, profitable customers? Would that make me evil? Somehow, I don't think so.

Bruce

Interesting example, but I don't think it's a good metaphor for this topic. With your restaurant, you offer the loss leader to get them in the restaurant and hopefully they buy something more expensive. Supermarkets do this all the time too. But with airlines, people don't really buy anything else besides the ticket.

Baggage fees? Economy comfort fees? Onboard food/drink? IFE/Wifi? There's plenty of other stuff that gets bought beyond just the ticket.

Anyways, if you want to tweak the metaphor a bit, imagine that this daily special can only be made in very large batches. So if you have some left over towards the end of the lunch period you're willing to sell it below cost because otherwise its going in the trash.

Yeah, but to liken it to his example then, it would be as though DL would refuse to grant someone Medallion status because they didn't buy on-board meals.

What you're leaving out of this example:

1) Volume discounts with your suppliers may suffer, causing your marginally-profitable diners to become fully unprofitable;

2) Budget diners allow you to get rid of food at less than its peak of freshness which wouldn't impress higher-dollar diners;

3) They may be leaving tips for your waitstaff which you might have to otherwise cover if you didn't have enough high dollar customers to keep good waitstaff employed; and

4) They will be filling tables which makes your restaurant appear popular, bringing in other diners, some of whom could be very profitable.

I could go on and address the special perks issue too, but I'm betting by now you're get the picture. Business 101! (I thought you were all really smart business folk .... ;) )

Isn't it really the other way around? Look at it this way:

Delta has some customers, mostly business travelers, who buy really expensive tickets a lot of the time. I used to be one of them before I retired. Delta likes these folks and wants them to be happy. So when they buy cheap tickets, like for family vacations (or whatever), Delta is nevertheless willing to offer them upgrades, SkyClub access and what-not because these are the people who enable Delta to thrive. Delta likes them.

Then there are people who buy only cheap tickets, nothing else. They obviously want to be treated like the folks described above -- who wouldn't? But does it make sense for Delta to treat the two groups alike? They did it for a long time, but now they are waking up to how strange that is.

So they add an MQD requirement to distinguish group 1 folks from group 2 folks. Group 1 folks will continue to get what they always did. Group 2 folks will get dropped down a notch or two. They won't like it, but doesn't it make sense from Delta's perspective? Let's try to put ourselves in the other guy's shoes for a minute.

Bruce