Here are my flights for the next two weeks:

• ATL-PHL r/t T/U fares purchased ten days in advance: $0.24/mile.
• ATL-DFW r/t L fares purchased ten days in advance: $0.51/mile.
• ATL-RDU r/t U/T fares purchased three weeks in advance: $0.15/mile.

These cpMQM figures are based on pre-tax fares, without any fees and, where applicable, the 500 mile minimum.

IME, $.10/mile is pretty low, and very attainable.

And these are all short hops with one end on a DL hub.

My point is not that 10 cpm is low or high or unattainable or whatever. My point is that if you're flying between certain markets you can come in under 10 cpm without any sort of gaming, or even multiple weeks advance purchase.

Understandable. But that doesn't make you as valuable to DL as those who do fly these routes. Previously, you would have been deemed more valuable because you flew more distance, when, in fact, you likely brought in less profit. It seems the new requirement corrects this.

A system designed to encourage profits should have a qualification requirement that measures profit, not expense. Miles flown are expense.

Sure. The old way used miles flown as an approximation of profit. The new way uses revenue as an approximation of profit. Is revenue a better approximation of profit than miles flown? Almost certainly.

In theory you could measure profit per customer directly. Take your RASM - CASM for each segment you fly multiplied by segment length and add them up. This would of course be terribly complicated, and DL likely would not want to share its CASM for specific routes/aircraft/etc. So we get a revenue based approximation instead.

Name another with rollover. Elite inflation became critical after Delta introduced it.

Killing it would make more enemies. This is a lesser evil.

If a transit agency chooses to end long-running senior-student discounts to raising fares, it's not a contract breach...it's a trust fissure. You can't fault disgruntled students and seniors for being insufficiently seized of the revenue evangel.

"Adjust capacity" is doublespeak. A CEO telling Congress there are "no plans" to kill service may have no shelf life whatsoever. But expect a price paid later.

And each time a marketing scheme backfires.

Miles made worthless in part because they were so easy to get, and unused elite qualifying miles rolled over from year to year took less than three years to miscarry.

How is this a trust fissure? One year's notice. A history of changing requirements from time to time and written notice that requirements may change. DL is doing what it always said it could do and doing it with much advance notice. Where is the trust issue? It seems the opposite; DL is building trust by being transparent.

You might not like the new policy, but it is NOT busting any real trust.

BTW, students and seniors will still be able to enjoy low fares, they just won't be rained upon with perks. They will get what they pay for, which will still be a relative bargain. Hotel chains have always based their points on revenue, so those getting an AARP rate have always been given fewer points per stay than those staying on the rack rate. I've never heard any complaints about that.

Those facing downgrade aren't 6th graders. Everyone gets the motive. The airline giveth and taketh away.

They could kill the GM SkyClub freebie and the same applause line would work. The cheering section would celebrate "another step in its commitment to high value customers."

Thank you sir, may I have another?

The lead time was in their best interest. They likely couldn't pull the trigger in October.

Taking away the easy glidepath to elite qualification was a must. Someone made the case to become the AT&T of the airline industry with rollovers. Now they have too many damn Platinums.

Do upper-tier elites get complimentary upgrades on award tickets as well as on paid tickets? If not, was it recently disallowed? If so, what the hell are they thinking?

GM+ are eligible for upgrades on award tickets.

Just so that your planning is based upon factual information... it is not lifetime Silver for 1MM. It is annual complimentary Silver. Your status could go away in a year, based upon a DL management whim.

Your argument is that rollover "caused" this reaction. That other carriers do not have rollover BUT have the same "reaction" is precisely what weakens your argument!

I never said they have to like it, just that they should have prepared themselves better for it.

What price is that? Some nothing Congressman from Memphis throws a hissy fit? As I see it, everyone wins. The Congressman gets to throw his hissy fit in an attempt to win votes and DL ignores it.

Perhaps I have lost historical perspective (in which case, I am sure you will correct me :D) but aren't some of those "idiots like those that drove NW into bankruptcy" the same people your are currently praising for their insightful and inspired leadership of Delta?

What industry reaction?

Southwest, for one, doesn't have lounges, upgrades or elite bag fee waivers. Their FF model bears no resemblance.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson told a congressional committee the merged carrier would retain the hub's TATL flights, and suggested to a Memphis newspaper that the merger would increase its Memphis service, not shrink it. He did it to forestall any government opposition to the acquisition of Northwest. I gather it was something like, "we have no plans" to give both pledges a trap door.

Indeed, they are.

Some? Yes. All? No.

And remember that I am fundamentally an optimist. I may think that most other people are idiots, but even idiots can be redeemed.

Off the top of my head, PPS, GS, and Concierge Key are all examples of attaching spend requirements on at least some elite levels.

And MEM kept that flight for, what, 5 years? Again, how long does the promise have to hold. Things change.

And bear in mind that Congress had no standing to approve or disallow the merger anyway. Their hearings were nothing more than show for the constituents back home.