And make the schedules a lot more convenient. When I travel to Toronto there are four trains from Windsor, that leave at various times through the day, and I just take the train instead of flying.

Taking the train by my house to Chicago there are two trains each day both leaving before 7 a.m. and both returning here after 11:00 p.m. If Amtrak provided the same kind of frequency Via rail did, I would just take the train to Chicago instead of flying.

[QUOTE=AA_EXP09;20277749]You're doing it wrong.
That's less than all my travel last year and I flew >175k BIS.

I'm in the middle of ATL LAX SYD AKL BNE LAX ATL.
Went QF Biz $6405 DL for domestic.

Not that had to rack up $12000.
I wish the MQD was double then DL would have really thinned the herd :)

If we all paid $679 to go from DC to NYC, we could HAVE a train the services many more points and offer a useable schedule. I could buy that there is a time factor and the current train situation is often too full to be of use, but to pay that kind of money for convenience? Heck hire a driver for that!

To be honest, if there is a type of flyer who will gladly pay that fare for a convenience ticket, I would think they would be just as likely to pay for a first class upgrade rather than have to be coaxed into it by points or status. The MQM program probably wouldn't do that much for you anyways.

Please leave politics out of this thread. If you want to talk about Obama or other politician, please start another thread.

I'm sorry that I mentioned his name. I simply should have said "You guys sound like the crowd that proposes the building of a train..."

I still maintain that would be a gigantic hole serving very little useful purpose for which the State of Florida would be responsible for filling with money. Anytime that I had jobs in Orlando and Tampa, using a train instead of a rental car to go from one to the other would have added at least a couple of hours to the trip.

I'm with DelrayChris. I take a backseat to nobody in my dislike of the prez, but political comments are what OMNI is for.

^

We need the update on this because this thread is no longer providing much entertainment value. Bubbashow hasn't been around for at least a week. Hey B, what did you find out?

Some thoughts
 

Well, I'm way late on this (thanks to being out of the country and on vacation and not wanting to spend time on things that could ruin it).

This change reminds me of LUser (later insULT) in the late 90s, where DL basically decided they'd rather fly an empty FC seat than upgrade someone with tickets in the U,L,T fare classes. DL lost me for four years thanks to that, and only got me back thanks to competitors blowing it with their own boneheaded moves. Like CO and US trying to give only 50% EQMs on certain fares (essentially another way of doing what DL is trying to do with MQDs).

Like LUser, besides adding another unwelcome layer of complexity, the change is only about taking away something (sorry, the adjustments to MQM levels for some fares don't count as an offset when the whole thing can be negated by MQDs, and I don't see the American Express "exception" as very relevant or a reasonable alternative for most people.

History tends to show that when airlines try one-sided moves like this where the net effect is mainly to take away from one group or another, it doesn't end well. Maybe the bet this time is that with only four large U.S.-based legacies (soon to be three) with global FF programs, competition has been eliminated to where it's possible to get away with doing things TO customers like this (ain't being done FOR you, but TO you, as it's a net subtraction).

Indeed, it's easy to see the old Northwest as a likely holdout against matching a change like this one. But we know what happened with that.

Delta would love to cater only to high spenders just like Las Vegas casinos would love to host only high-rollers. But the real world doesn't work that way, and to be successful you have to have offerings for both groups. Add carrots or rework the upgrade priority, but LUser showed that if you cut off the chance entirely (or, worse, bust someone's ranking on MQDs that would have been better under the old system), you might well lose 'em in the back of the plane as well.

In 21 years of frequent flying I've used as the primary carrier CO, then DL, then CO again, then DL again, then UA, then NW, then DL because of gobbling up NW. Every switch was the result of some negative round of changes to the program, and when you're in a hub like ATL it's not easy to vote with your feet (as other options may not have strong schedules), but nonetheless sometimes essential. This looks like one of those times.

Aside from my own situation, the move could have real unintended consequences. As I've posted before, many CEOs and corporate travel managers have a very dim view of FF programs, basically regarding them as inflating the company costs to give a form of kickback to the employee, who might be incentivized to try to game the system by booking unnecessarily late or doing other moves to secure a ticket earning more miles. Expect even more attempts by some companies to write new procedures or try to negotiate lower-cost tickets that don't earn miles or otherwise try to undermine the status quo to their benefit. This will also accelerate the general trend toward price being everything and airlines playing the unbundling game, as well as toward the lion's share of growth in the market going to LCCs and ULCCs.

Or perhaps spending more than necessary just to inflate MQD's? :)
Thank you for a very insightful post.

"the change is only about taking away something"

Yes, yes and yes....

I love how they wind their "toys" and "shills" up to throw insults and spin like no tomorrow. Very illuminating about how they percieve "customers"?

Delta's the one offering the fares, we just bought 'em but now we're somehow the bad guys in all of this?

Okay, fair enough, this bad guy will merely find some other business to patronize. I've done it before and will do it again....

RustyC, who you quoted (even if you did not use his name) is a veteran FTer with over 12,000 posts on various forums. He is in no way a "toy" or a "shill" for Delta, and should not be insulted in that way.

You misunderstand and I'm sorry if my substandard level of writing gave that impression.

I'm in total agreement with EVERYTHING RustyC wrote. I was merely adding what I believe to be Delta corp tactics by certain users in this and other threads.

Hard evidence cannot be shared publicly but it's fairly obvious how social media has rewritten the playbook these past few years.

Are you claiming that DL is sending in "undercover" posters to be cheerleaders, in addition to the official representatives who occasionally post here?

I'm making no such claims but it's no secret DL employees post here using private accounts. It's also no secret "shills" have been using discussion forums posing as members/users to review a wide range of products/services. It's the evolution of the internet and the reality of how some businesses conduct business.

However, RustyC's NO WAY involved in such antics. I feel terrible my post was interpretted that way. In my excitement to endorse his post I obviously missed something in English class.

There are others who fit the description but let's just keep them guessing how much and what "we" know.