rylan

Delta, leading the way to the bottom of the pack.

Maybe I'm a consumer that has been stepped on enough, but I look forward to when these changes backfire against DL and it damages their profits.

GatorBlues

Maybe, maybe not. At some point, Delta will have watered down the benefits of status to the point that people that often pay more to stay on Delta's flights will instead mix in significant numbers of flights with other carriers. If a large group of travelers starts flying only 65% of the time with Delta instead of over 90%, it's going to hurt Delta's bottom line. I'm not offended by any of Delta's changes, but I question whether they have gone too far and caused unintended negative consequences for the airline.

MNAudiS4

Let me see if i have figured this out.

1. If the flight is within 3 hrs of your original it is still free if the route has the same booking class available?
2. Outside of the 3 hrs it will cost $50 but you can call at midnight, but you still need same booking class?
3. You cannot go from a direct to a connection or a connection to a direct?

RobertS975

"Loyalty is a two way street." Gee, I must have made a wrong turn somewhere. I seem to be on a one way street.

mridley2

Sounds like paid standby is the way to go now. Fare restrictions basically eliminate SDC except in the rarest of situations.

Though I guess as long as I am GM+ and the paid standby fee is waived i'm fine with new rules. It does reduce my ability to utilize my time though. If i'm trying to get on an earlier flight and can't get a confirmed seat, very rarely will i rush to the airport and wait around in the SC to chance my standby option. I'l just take my confirmed flight and spend the extra time with the rest of my day.

And paid standby alleviates that pesky pax who SDC's for a better shot at the UG! ^
Since the standby list is usually processed after UG's have processed. Unless the GA is proactive and looks at medallion members on the Standby list. That would really annoy me!

But more VDB/IDB's will happen. Lots of people won't fool around with paid standby unless they're already at the airport due to a connecting flight etc. So those later flights will be oversold even more. I'm sure delta will get a few kettles to accept their bid of $50 for VDB onto a flight the next day! haha. good luck with that DL

rylan

Actually I think this is looking like one of those cases of abuse where the abused person sticks around and just continues to get beat up over and over.

andymo99

Incorrect. You can change from nonstop to connection and v.v. on SDC. (Not on paid standby, though.)

DLGrkItalNY

The quote "He didn't hit me, I walked into his fist" seems appropriate here...

GatorBlues

From the "loyalty" perspective, my only criticism would be that they should not have implemnted this change until 1/1/14. It's not right to diminish the benefits after your medallions stuck with Delta all of last year to make status.

Otherwise, I don't put much stock in loyalty. I'm not loyal to Delta and I don't expect them to be loyal to me. If I stop taking lots of flights, I don't expect the airline to treat me like a premium passenger when I'm not one anymore. However, if the perks and benefits they are offering to incent me to fly them more than the next airline are watered down too much, I'll start purchasing based on convenience or price. I'm not sure that Delta has crossed the red line yet to push me in another direction, but I'm definitely going to step back and reevaulate my ticket purchasing patterns.

jamesteroh

Are they going to grandfather in previously purchased tickets? I have a few flights after April that are purchased and hope they are going to honor the rules of SDC at the time of purchase.

How will they clear the standby list for priority? Will they give FO's and kettles priority over GM+ since they will realize $50 in revenue from them? Do GMs+ get cleared on the standby list before Non-revs?

I can live with being taken off the upgrade list but what sucks for me are the times I do decide to check a bag. It's going to mean flying standby is out of the question unless I want to make another trip to the airport to get my bag.

I also hate giving up premium seating. Even if my upgrade didn't clear on a SDC I normally received a decent seat, and if not the gate agent would give us priority and move my seat to a EC or exit aisle if someone in that seat had their upgrade cleared.

By the time they get around to clearing the standby seat, all the premium seats will have been given out.

I actually helped delta out a couple weeks ago by SDCing. The flight I was originally on was oversold and I freed up a seat by going on an earlier flight.

This has been a bad day for Hilton and Delta members. Hiltons major devaluation started today and then this announcement by Delta eliminating one of the few perks I found useful.

lamont2718

Strongly agree. Unless previously purchased tickets will be exempt from the new SDC policy (a la MQM bonus on M fares), the lack of advance notice would represent truly bad form on Delta's part.

BigFlyer

I believe this was the case on CO, and perhaps on UA as well - although you could only do the SDC equivalent into the same fare bucket, they would open up all fare buckets close to departure - in other words, if there were 5 seats in coach available, it would show 5 across all classes of service.

Delta might do something similar, except with a twist - open up last-minute room for SDC on some of the higher fares, but keep E & X (for example) zeroed out. I assume what they really want to get rid of his people buying the cheapest ticket of the day and then changing to the more expensive flight for free.

poppabear

Jeff, Why is are all those headlights coming right at me?

elkapong

Being based out of NYC, I do have more options than most and the flexibility to fly out of any of the NYC airports.

howtofreetravel

I think too many people have been gaming the sdc for more mqm or upgrades