The Definitive Delta Devaluation Thread
Feb 23, 15, 3:11 am - Wikipost
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Feb 23, 15, 12:31 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
The Definitive Delta Devaluation Thread
So in the last 3-5 years or so... what have been the devaluations of the Sky miles program, and even Delta in general? There have been so many coming from so many angles I've lost track. We should have a complete thread summarizing these.
There's just too many for me to list. None of this, "but it doesn't apply to me so it's not a devaluation" nonsense. If Delta made a program change to put more dollars in their pocket - It's a devaluation - pure and simple. None of this - "But I like it better because it's so exclusive now" spin either.
Example - "Premium Drinks" - well whooppee. If I wanted a fine cocktail to pay for I could easily buy it outside the lounge. Now I pay for Sweetwater 420 instead of free - That's a devaluation. Does this type of move lower overall Delta's lounge alcohol costs? - Yes indeed - therefore its a devaluation.
Let's see - a few examples that come to mind...
Limiting guest access to lounge
M fare MQM bonus reduction (when that used to matter)
RTW ticket gone
Of course the huge move to dollar based miles
Minimum spend requirement MQD's
There's tons more...
Then some obscure ones..
Upgrade on trans-cons
Upgrades on E fares (introduction of E fare in general)
Meal availability on flights of certain lengths
Then some really obscure ones...
24 hour cancellation policy for booking on DELTA.com does not apply if booking originates from ASIA (Even if you are a US based customer) Say what? True!
Introduction of the "X" fare that then morphed into a policy of not allowing a change in schedule on a ticket even if the ticket says changeable/refundable (on the Delta.com website) with a fee (You lose the ENTIRE ticket cost) - this is if ANY leg of your travel has an X fare originating from Asia (don't know about other locations) and you haven't flown the outbound leg yet. Sneaky I know!
Removal of seat availability from 3rd party web sites.
There's tons more... I just haven't seen a definitive list and thought it might be fun to put one together so we can see what the death by 1000 cuts now looks like compared to what we expected when we started giving our loyalty to Delta.
There's just too many for me to list. None of this, "but it doesn't apply to me so it's not a devaluation" nonsense. If Delta made a program change to put more dollars in their pocket - It's a devaluation - pure and simple. None of this - "But I like it better because it's so exclusive now" spin either.
Example - "Premium Drinks" - well whooppee. If I wanted a fine cocktail to pay for I could easily buy it outside the lounge. Now I pay for Sweetwater 420 instead of free - That's a devaluation. Does this type of move lower overall Delta's lounge alcohol costs? - Yes indeed - therefore its a devaluation.
Let's see - a few examples that come to mind...
Limiting guest access to lounge
M fare MQM bonus reduction (when that used to matter)
RTW ticket gone
Of course the huge move to dollar based miles
Minimum spend requirement MQD's
There's tons more...
Then some obscure ones..
Upgrade on trans-cons
Upgrades on E fares (introduction of E fare in general)
Meal availability on flights of certain lengths
Then some really obscure ones...
24 hour cancellation policy for booking on DELTA.com does not apply if booking originates from ASIA (Even if you are a US based customer) Say what? True!
Introduction of the "X" fare that then morphed into a policy of not allowing a change in schedule on a ticket even if the ticket says changeable/refundable (on the Delta.com website) with a fee (You lose the ENTIRE ticket cost) - this is if ANY leg of your travel has an X fare originating from Asia (don't know about other locations) and you haven't flown the outbound leg yet. Sneaky I know!
Removal of seat availability from 3rd party web sites.
There's tons more... I just haven't seen a definitive list and thought it might be fun to put one together so we can see what the death by 1000 cuts now looks like compared to what we expected when we started giving our loyalty to Delta.
Feb 23, 15, 2:48 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1
Yeah, Delta has gone from my preferred to carrier to least-preferred almost overnight with their new policies.
Living in Taiwan, which I currently do, I don't go home often. When I do, however, I like to stick with what I know and what is reliable. A lot of people I know go for the cheapest ticker bar none, but I stayed loyal to Delta for a long time, flying their routes on my annual/biennial trips, despite the fact they started being more expensive about 3 years ago.
It served me well. Taiwan is about 8,000 miles from where I live in Pittsburgh, so I was banking miles. I never got enough in a year to qualify for any tiered preference, but I still raked in the miles that I could use to get reward travel later on.
Then, last year, they announced that they'd be switching from miles-based to $$-based flyer miles, effectively reducing my round trip ticket from 15,000+ flyer miles to around 2,000.
At that point, I decided to switch to a new airline - maybe Korean Air or EVA Airlines. Anyway, I still had just over 24,000 miles, which under the old system could be used for any round-trip ticket within the US as long as I bought an extra 1,000 miles.
I'm going to a wedding in SF this summer, so in January, I checked and yep - it was 25,000 miles for a round trip. I still need to work out logistics for some other family members, so I didn't purchase right then.
A few weeks ago, the reward travel charts disappeared. Last week, when I purchased my round trip from PIT>SFO, it had gone up overnight to 35,000 miles. So the $70 I had spend to bump to 26,000 miles the month before was meaningless. I ended up doing the miles + cash option, which altogether cost me over $260. My wife's ticket cost $430. Not much of a savings, by any means.
Yesterday, my father-in-law bought a round trip ticket with his miles for my sister-in-law to fly from ORD>SFO over the same dates (fewer miles round trip). They charged him 42,000 MILES!
Seriously, ... Delta!? They have screwed like 90% of their customers over the past 2 months. My return flight from the wedding will be my last with them.
Living in Taiwan, which I currently do, I don't go home often. When I do, however, I like to stick with what I know and what is reliable. A lot of people I know go for the cheapest ticker bar none, but I stayed loyal to Delta for a long time, flying their routes on my annual/biennial trips, despite the fact they started being more expensive about 3 years ago.
It served me well. Taiwan is about 8,000 miles from where I live in Pittsburgh, so I was banking miles. I never got enough in a year to qualify for any tiered preference, but I still raked in the miles that I could use to get reward travel later on.
Then, last year, they announced that they'd be switching from miles-based to $$-based flyer miles, effectively reducing my round trip ticket from 15,000+ flyer miles to around 2,000.
At that point, I decided to switch to a new airline - maybe Korean Air or EVA Airlines. Anyway, I still had just over 24,000 miles, which under the old system could be used for any round-trip ticket within the US as long as I bought an extra 1,000 miles.
I'm going to a wedding in SF this summer, so in January, I checked and yep - it was 25,000 miles for a round trip. I still need to work out logistics for some other family members, so I didn't purchase right then.
A few weeks ago, the reward travel charts disappeared. Last week, when I purchased my round trip from PIT>SFO, it had gone up overnight to 35,000 miles. So the $70 I had spend to bump to 26,000 miles the month before was meaningless. I ended up doing the miles + cash option, which altogether cost me over $260. My wife's ticket cost $430. Not much of a savings, by any means.
Yesterday, my father-in-law bought a round trip ticket with his miles for my sister-in-law to fly from ORD>SFO over the same dates (fewer miles round trip). They charged him 42,000 MILES!
Seriously, ... Delta!? They have screwed like 90% of their customers over the past 2 months. My return flight from the wedding will be my last with them.
Feb 23, 15, 5:25 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
>>Yesterday, my father-in-law bought a round trip ticket with his miles for my sister-in-law to fly from ORD>SFO over the same dates (fewer miles round trip). They charged him 42,000 MILES!<<
Ahh yes - forgot about that. Often there is a different price if it is YOU travelling rather than someone else - Why? Because someone at Delta saw that they could make more money doing it this way. They are your miles. You earned them. Why do they need two prices?
Ahh yes - forgot about that. Often there is a different price if it is YOU travelling rather than someone else - Why? Because someone at Delta saw that they could make more money doing it this way. They are your miles. You earned them. Why do they need two prices?
Feb 23, 15, 5:26 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by DJMeatBall
If you're based in Hong Kong, you have so many better choices to choose from. I only stay "loyal" to Delta because Virgin America doesn't yet fly to the cities I want to travel to.
Indeed.
Feb 23, 15, 6:35 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ATL Lost Luggage
Programs: Kettle with Kryptonium Medallion Tags
Posts: 8,163
Welcome Back to FT, BogusRogus!
To your list, I would add the tripling of the requirements to earn "status". The program went from having one simple requirement for status (mileage) to three: mileage, MQM/MQs and MQDs.
I wonder how soon Delta will add a social media requirement -- for example, FOs could be required to make 50 Delta-related Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat posts, GMs required to make 100, etc.
To your list, I would add the tripling of the requirements to earn "status". The program went from having one simple requirement for status (mileage) to three: mileage, MQM/MQs and MQDs.
I wonder how soon Delta will add a social media requirement -- for example, FOs could be required to make 50 Delta-related Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat posts, GMs required to make 100, etc.
Feb 23, 15, 7:17 am
#8
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Look up - On a ✈ DELTA ✈ jet NOW!
Programs: Blogger & Delta Diamond Medallion Million Miler
Posts: 4,174
Originally Posted by GRALISTAIR
May be this thread isworthy of a Wiki? Possibly with links to other threads on the specifics?
Feb 23, 15, 7:46 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
Wow - I didn't know this.
21) Delta DieMiles – why you die so do your Skymiles
This one just seems so ... petty and mean spirited for world class company. An announced change to boot.
http://travelsort.com/blog/can-you-i...-members-death
21) Delta DieMiles – why you die so do your Skymiles
This one just seems so ... petty and mean spirited for world class company. An announced change to boot.
http://travelsort.com/blog/can-you-i...-members-death
Feb 23, 15, 7:48 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
I didn't know this one either. I thought the idea of the T-72 was to provide more availability close in for low awards?
23) No LEVEL 1 awards on DL metal unless 21+ days
23) No LEVEL 1 awards on DL metal unless 21+ days
Feb 23, 15, 7:54 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
9) MQDs or qualifying dollars
We can add - raising of MQD's that were just established last year.
Silver Medallion MQDs increasing to $3,000 (Previously $2,500)
Gold Medallion MQDs increasing to $6,000 (Previously $5,000)
Platinum Medallion MQDs increasing to $9,000 (Previously $7,500)
Diamond Medallion MQDs increasing to $15,000 (Previously $12,500)
We can add - raising of MQD's that were just established last year.
Silver Medallion MQDs increasing to $3,000 (Previously $2,500)
Gold Medallion MQDs increasing to $6,000 (Previously $5,000)
Platinum Medallion MQDs increasing to $9,000 (Previously $7,500)
Diamond Medallion MQDs increasing to $15,000 (Previously $12,500)
Feb 23, 15, 7:57 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
37) No more cheese and crackers in SCs
What no more fake Cheese? Remember that one with claim they didn't have enough refrigerators for real cheese?
What no more fake Cheese? Remember that one with claim they didn't have enough refrigerators for real cheese?
Feb 23, 15, 8:02 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong, Philippines, Alabama
Programs: Delta Skymiles KM (Charter Member)
Posts: 143
How about this one?
Starting January 1, 2015, Delta will limit the number of miles a SkyMiles member can transfer from a single transfer partner (e.g., American Express Membership Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest) into a single Delta SkyMiles account to 250,000 miles per calendar year. This change will apply to all their partners that allow you to convert points into SkyMiles.
source thepointsguy (since I just copied and pasted it)
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/10/delt...#ixzz3Sa3VnTzP
Starting January 1, 2015, Delta will limit the number of miles a SkyMiles member can transfer from a single transfer partner (e.g., American Express Membership Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest) into a single Delta SkyMiles account to 250,000 miles per calendar year. This change will apply to all their partners that allow you to convert points into SkyMiles.
source thepointsguy (since I just copied and pasted it)
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/10/delt...#ixzz3Sa3VnTzP
