Is DL missing me?
 

I have recently moved over to AA until I get EXP status, and I was wondering if DL ever realizes that someone who travels almost every week, and buy tickets typically less than a week in advance, has suddenly stopped flying on DL. For the first six months of this year, I did 45K EQMs on 70 segments. Since June, zilch....but 38K and 26 segments on AA.

I'm not trying to pretend that I'm so important, just wondering if DL has some sort of thing in place where they might recognize a sudden change in habits. Of course, all of the DL people at my home airport have noticed. Each week its, "Hey, where are you going?" as I walk over to the AA counter.

Just wondering if DL notices these things.

randidliyo

As you mentioned, aside from your home airport DL folks, I'm guessing Virginia Ave neither knows nor cares all that much. How is AA working out for you?

My guess is they will if it keeps up and they may invite you to take part in a promo or two to entice you to fly more again, but not much else outside of that.

As an individual, no way that DL can tend to dealing with every person that does that kind of move. You could have been fired, quit, had a medical event, or any number of things that may cause you to stop flying altogether.
However, if DL sees a trend of FFers that stop flying (with them), they may start checking in with some of them as a damage control mechanism, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

In 2002, after 9/11 combined with the dot.com crash (and over 10 years ago), my flying dropped to "merely" gold level. I remember getting a call from Delta, along with a couple of e-mails, asking "what happened" so they _can_ do the data mining if they need to. Of course it was a different time and certainly a different Delta back then.

Today, they are filling the planes more than ever, so if the OP drops out they have another body to fill the seat. If the situation changes and overall traffic drops, I'm sure they'll take action.

Other than a couple of flights on AF and a Skywest (DL) flight between LAX and SMF last month, I have not been on a DL plane since March.

Am pretty sure they do not care....

Don't personalize things. DL isn't a person and you are a # to DL. Nobody is sitting at a desk wondering why revenue from you dropped. At a micro level, people stop flying for many reasons. At a macro level, DL watches what happens to everything and might, on an automated basis, chuck some promo your way to see what's up.

We're moving to a domestic system in which there will be three legacy carriers. Same sorts of threads on UA and AA with people saying it, "lovin it over at DL". That's a wash.

Real question is whether carriers such as B6 make inroads with a premium product.

Decent summary. DL is a $35 Billion business with >160 million pax flown each year. No offense to OP but no airline is going to micromanage this down to an individual level. Well, perhaps they would if you happened to have a history of spending a billion/yr with them but that's ridiculous.

Totally different story if you were the corp travel manager for a F-500 company and your biz was down 50% from last year. UA felt some sting from this.

A bit OT but B6 is moving out of their comfort zone. Winners will be pax because of the addl competition but we will see -- in the future, of course -- how well this plays out.

Agreed with what others have said that in the grand scheme, no DL does not miss you. But I wouldn't be surprised if they had some kind of algorithm that notices your decreased travel and sends a form "Come back, we're awesome" email.

Then again, it's DL IT at issue, so maybe not...

They did send me an email acknowledging the ex-LHR trip I have next month...offering me (US passport holder, which is saved in my DL profile) to use their "preferred" visa service.

Um, yeah, I don't need a US visa to go home. ;)

When I asked "wil they miss me" it was mostly a joke. I don't expect a phone call but I was more curious to know, as some pointed out, that some promos might come my way as a result of my inactivity. I'm thinking about the other thread where you are able to decode what DL knows about you after you log in and in a few months I'll be able to decode it again and see if anything has changed.

As for AA, I can't complain. All of the airlines are pretty much the same. I don't get many upgrades with AA, but so many of my flights on DL were in single class aircraft that it doesn't matter much. I did get an op-up on my DFW-ICN back in June, both directions, so that was great. On the way back from LHR I was on their new 777-300 (77W) and it was nice, nice, nice. The AVOD there was terrific, better than anything I've seen on other carriers. It was just like a middle of the road tablet computer, lots of choices, easy to use. Haven't had any issues so far with AA so we will see how it goes. If I go get some evidence that DL misses me, in any sort of way, I'll post it here.

What's interesting about this is that you'd think the local station manager would prompt something. It's all about knowing who your customers are.

Eons ago I made my first elite status being a regular on a late red-eye out of LAX. When I crossed into the territory where I qualified for free upgrades, the gate agent gave me a congrats note from the station manager there on the first flight where I received an upgrade.

Oh we have talked about it for the past few weeks. She knows that since I have 230K MQM that I can roll over that it makes no sense for me to continue flying DL since the MQDs start in January and I'll be starting from scratch. Over the past few years I kept flying DL because of the rollover. Now, the rollover has been effictively eliminated. Her response was, "Yeah, I totally understand and I've told people that". Beyond that, nothing.

Keep in mind, with the details of the merger pending, AA could implement some form of EQD or something...without knowing the details of what AAdvantage will look like under AA/US leadership, the grass might not be greener in some respects.

Is DL missing me?
 

I would say by their recent quarterly profits, stock gains, and dividend announcement.......probably not

Several members of the DL revenue management team are in therapy at the moment wondering what they could have done to prevent you from flying on AA. :D

OP, I've considered this before too. I wouldn't expect DL (or any carrier) to call me, but some targeted promos would make sense.

Truthfully, even if they called, what can they offer that most of us don't already have? Miles, status, ham sammiches. It really would only be to find out why you left.

Hotels are the same as airlines... They expect people to come and go and while they may track individual info, it would be extremely costly and time consuming for them to even send surveys or something, much less a welcome gift to return, and the precedent would be quite expensive.

If you're looking for some kind of promo, best bet would be a CC. Since that is seen as more of a long-term commitment, they are more sensitive to those who cancel cards. Try saying bye bye to one of your credit cards and see what happens.

I went from 4 years of platinum medallion to zilch and not a peep from them in a year, even though I still for whatever reason carry my delta Amex reserve card...

I've seen threads like the one linked below pop up here and there. This was just the first one which popped up on a quick Google search:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...em-lately.html

This is assuming that DL measured the OP as a profitable customer and if they would actually want the person back.

People die all the time. Be careful, they might close out your account.

What was your spend?
 

Because if it was less than say $50K/year, I highly doubt anyone at DL (or any airline) would notice or care. More than that, they'd probably notice, but probably wouldn't do much unless people with similar spend were leaving in droves.

Actually Hyatt is doing targeted promos this summer and people are saying that they're mostly targeted toward folks who haven't stayed with Hyatt in a while.

Trying to figure out what this means. What is "mostly targeted?" Are current elites also receiving this or is it only former elites? Is it anyone who hasn't stayed at Hyatt in awhile?

The latter should be very easy to track. Even DL has sent out emails to those who haven't flown the airline in awhile but AFAIK, there are no promo offers to entice people to book with them. What is Hyatt offering in their promo?

Is DL missing me?

Terribly so; and they're trying to lure you back with unlimited pours of Miller Lite on tap.

True.

For every peraon like you that flew weekly in the first half of the year and none now, there is someone who just moved from AA/UA and is now flying DL weekly.

My spending is/was less than $50K, my customer value score is a "7" currently.

I'm really not trying to pretend that I'm so important, just curious to know what, if anything, happens when you go from weekly travel down to zero. Maybe I need to wait a bit longer. When each of my children were born, I probably had similar periods of inactivity so maybe this question will be better asked in December.

A few years back, AA called me inquiring as to why my travel on them had reduced. I found it odd and totally unexpexted, but our company had reduced travel across the board. The airlines can run queries ti see changes in activity... I do not see DL caring that much to call individuals unless they are a true HVC. Promos are certainly options.....

When my travel decreased significantly I got an email from Marriott about it.

Still, I think you have to look at the big picture. I think that overall, for every high spender that "quits" another joins.

It seems to me that most airlines and travel related industries look at marketing and big data analytics as a way of bolstering a station/location. Whereas DL is appears to be much more willing to change up the metal and schedule to meet the demand. Obviously there are focus cities where DL does market and target, but that seems to be the exception, not the norm.

For UA, for next year, I could still get *G by crediting fairly cheap US U fares to A3.
AA has a way out by crediting everything to CX and getting status that way.
(except for O class)
Plus, I think I can avoid this by using an overseas address (of which I have documents that I can use to justify my move, as the US address I put wasn't mine in the first place.)

DL doesnt care and hasn't paid you any attention which to me is baffling. Not because of your importance but because as a business they should be monitoring their "best" customers' activities.

A close friend of mine who is a consultant was a very HVC DM in 2012. Went to a new company who has a relationship with American. So he started travelling for work on AA. DL never called or emailed or anything. I believe he said he spent (or his employer did) in the range of $100K per year on paid international F for several years on DL.

Why would any business not pay attention to such an important customer who suddenly stops spending money on your product?? That seems like business 101 day 1 learning. Definitely a teachable moment for the bean counters on Virginia Ave.

I currently have 190,000 MQM's but haven't been on a Delta flight to Asia this year. I now mostly fly with United since I greatly benefit from the Global Services program (for example, it's nice to upgrade award tickets with Regional and Gobal Premier Upgrades for myself and family members)......Delta did send me an email about the Double Miles to Asia in February which I believe happened because I haven't flown them internationally all year.

If his company had a Delta specific contract, Delta would understand that flying DL was not a choice of his, but a decision by his employers (who are the real HVCs, as it was their money).

Same reason AA won't call your friend and try to lure him over, they call the decision makers for travel, which is (for a lot of companies) not the person BIS.

Fortunately for me, I book all of my own travel and make all of the decisions, not that DL really cares.

On another note, I just got my Ex-Plat status on AA and I can't wait to get my SWU's that I can actuallly use.

They will not miss you, or me, at the individual level. Their data mining may turn up a trend, and maybe generate some "please come back" emails. I pay for my business flying out of my own pocket and earnings. I shop price and schedule and upgrades, not brand loyalty. I will still fly enough DL in 2013 to make Plat for 2014, but I have been switching most of my flying to USAir, where there is (at least for now) no minimum spend requirement. If DL no longer wants my 100+ segments and 125K+ BIS of cheap 6-7 cpm business badly enough to give me DM or at least PM status for it, I'm not giving them those 6-7 cpm any longer. They will get instead from me an empty seat and 0 cpm. Delta, you're not going to get my 6-7 cpm business unless you give me back something more than just the getting from A to B, and your increasingly-devalued and nearly-impossible-to redeem SkyPesos isn't going to cut it, either.

If enough of us do this, they -might- notice. Maybe not.

I guess I'll give it another month or two and see what happens. I did notice a sense of betrayal on the face of my favorite DL GA when I checked in at my home airport on Tuesday. She will get over it, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if you got some promo offer if you fit the right profile
 

Back in '07 (before the NW merger and the economy tanked) I received a promo for double miles on every flight for 3 months after I had stopped traveling DL. At the time I was involved in a contentious situation down in N.C. and was traveling back and forth at least once a week (sometimes more often). The situation resolved itself and as it turned out didn't need to travel or wasn't on DL for over 6 weeks--although I bet I credited a CO trip or two. Then bang, I got a "we really miss you" email and an offer for double miles. It was a great deal b/c it had almost no strings and I started flying BOS/JFK-LAX on a weekly basis soon thereafter. We took a very nice family vacation in '08.

Somehow I feel they don't do that anymore. Frankly the game has changed. The goal is less about finding and keeping FF customers and more about changing the customer behavior now (i.e. making up buy more expensive tickets).

That's the kind of info I was looking for. I'll be on the look out for the 'missing you' email, but I won't be holding my breath.