jackplum

It says sufficient proof which can take many forms. I think DL is astute enough to understand privacy (though I say that with tongue-in-cheek) and if a W-2 or 1099 is needed that identifying information can be redacted.


"Delta reserves the right to verify the eligibility of any Company participating in the Program or the eligibility of any ticket for which Program credit is sought, which may include, but not necessarily be limited to, requiring sufficient proof of employment for passengers listed on tickets for which Program credit is sought. Only employees of a Company are eligible to earn points under the Company’s SkyBonus account. Family travel, travel of a personal nature or leisure travel do not qualify for earning SkyBonus points in the Program."

bennos

A reminder email just went out. Plausibly people didn't get it the first time.

The way I look at it is this: my partnership has exactly 5 people who travel regularly. One recently ditched DL loyalty due to the evisceration of the FFP. I might have been able to swing the other two to favor DL, but what's the point? SkyBonus could have been an influencing decision to shift business (especially pricey international travel, where there is plenty of competition) to DL. Instead, it's at best a non-factor.

LaserSailor

Because 99.9% of these same HGP don't give a hoot about what airline they fly, except what gets them there directly. We don't expense any travel to the client, it's included in our contracts without transparency. Any client who tries applying their travel policies to my employees is fired, or more accurately, never hired.

cptlflyer

I think this misses my point. Of course, loyalty programs will only ever be one factor in swaying business travelers. For frequent travelers in hub markets, they are almost always inclined to fly the hub carrier (which offers the most non-stop options). That's a red herring... because those customers were never in play.

I have to assume that if SkyBonus had no marketing value to DL, DL wouldn't continue to operate the program. It logically follows then that there are some HGPs who are swayed by SkyBonus... DL has just decided that only those HGPs who work for medium-sized companies (which you'd really have to be in most cases in order to have five employees who fly as part of their job in most industries) are worth trying to sway with the SkyBonus carrot. That just seems so arbitrary to me.

BusTrav8yrs

I am sure there were plenty of people that were scamming the SkyBonus program as a "business", there have been people on FT posting in the past that they had friends and family on their account.

And sorry but a "freelancer" is not a company no matter how much you would like to prop yourself up as one, and if you 1099 others your not a company either. (BTW, I "own" my own "company" of 1 employee).

I am disappointed that next year I will probably lose my SkyBonus perks but it was nice while it lasted. I do understand why DL would want to further define who can participate in the program that was meant to encourage companies to participate, I am actually surprised that they went as low as 5 for the threshold.

ExArkie

I, too, am a one-person company, which is legally registered as such with the North Carolina Secretary of State. Laws vary among states, but at least the one where I live considers a one-person operation a company if it has filed the paperwork to declare such.

However, the IRS does not. When I started, my company was a "disregarded entity," but still a company. Now, as far as the IRS is concerned, it's just me.

So, it sort of depends on whose definition of "company" you use.

Obviously, the purpose of SkyBonus was to lure corporate travel dollars to Delta. For a one-person company, there typically isn't enough money coming in to pay for the administrative burden of the SkyBonus account. I don't necessarily have a problem with the new policy, I just have to use my accumulated balance before being discontinued.

jamesteroh

If someone still has five friends or family members on their account that aren't employees they will still be able to scam Delta. Delta has no way of knowing if they are employees or not.

I thought this was a nice program for small businesses. I totally understand Delta not giving big discounts to small companies like they do huge corporations and the government and it was nice having the Skyclub passes and free drink coupons for employees who didn't travel much and to get a couple weekend getaways from all the flying I did with Delta.

I am sure the program got abused and surprised Delta didn't make these changes a lot sooner.

cptlflyer

As an officer of an LLC, I am, actually, a company in the eyes of the law regardless of how many employees I have. "Freelancer" isn't a legal status. In many states, receipt of just one 1099 at the end of the year makes you legally a business (including the requirement to obtain a local business license in some municipalities). So, BusTrav8yrs's definition of what is or is not a business is factually inaccurate.

But, that's really beside my original point. A company with five employees who reliably travel every year (meaning that, in most industries, the company has a lot more than five employees in total), is not likely to meet my conception of a small business. The exception might be a small firm in a particular line of work where everyone in the business is an executive, such as a small law firm or consulting firm.

The business world, at least from my perspective, is increasingly moving toward de-centralized operations that regularly engage individuals or smaller firms as partners on a project basis. Those individuals or very small firms are often high-level individuals that, by nature of moving around from project to project, do a lot of travel on a client/prime's dime but are autonomous when it comes to booking.

I think Delta is making two mistakes here. One, they are deciding that the growing number of small businesses that might be great customers aren't worth the truly nominal incentives that SkyBonus offers them, and two, they are misrepresenting SkyBonus as a program for small-to-medium sized business when they are excluding a great number of small businesses from participation.

traveler4ever

I was wondering if anyone has had success in calling skybonus and purchasing a ticket in a Y/B/M/S/H/Q/K fare (preferably H/Q/K) and getting an upgrade by using a select fare upgrade certificate for 50,000 points. Also, I looked but didn't see an expiration date. I assume it is one year from redemption of skybonus points?
I just booked three first class tickets but have about 500,000 points I'd like to start redeeming as I do not see our company doing much travel next year. I was thinking if it isn't near impossible I could purchase those "select fare" certificates.

Thank you for any replies

rylan

Well you'll want to confirm upgrade space availability before you purchase your ticket, and especially before redeeming points for the cert.

They expire 1yr from issue, however you can also use them on future travel past that date as long as you can confirm the upgrade... ie buy a cert now that expires in Mar 2017, and you can use it to confirm in advance an upgrade for a flight that you have in summer 2017.

Also you don't have to call the SB hotline, you just need the cert and redemption code number and can have DLAssist enter the info for you.

jamesteroh

Have any DM or PM's had any luck getting C+ seats for SB tickets for flights after 5/16?

I have a DTW/YYZ flight booked this summer and can't select C+ seats on either flight online and neither can the DM desk when I call. There is someone else that is on a paid ticket on the outbound I know and he booked his ticket after me and is only a PM and was able to select a C+ seat.

I'm wondering if that is another enhancement to this program, allowing only C- seats on SB awards

traveler4ever

Thank you Rylan... appreciate your reply!

rylan

Nope, SB tickets are like the Amex companion cert in that there are no upgrades allowed... and now that C+ is considered an 'upgrade', you aren't able to get on the list or have it overridden to get a seat.

SB or Amex Companion coach ticket = no C+ and blocked from the 'upgrade' list. Its another wonderful enhancement side effect of the C+ changes.

gooselee

I can confirm this experience, both on SB tickets and on Amex certs.

Hooray for exit rows...

RealHJ

It's only a matter of time until exit rows are designated as C+.