Delta not fullfilling Status Match Commitment
 

I wanted to reach out to this forum for help:
Last year I received a status match from Delta valid till January 2016 per Delta's email. In the meantime I have been downgraded to Silver without notice. I tried to reach out to Delta Corporate, the Helpdesk and the Medallion Helpline,but nothing has been done to correct this issue. Any recommendations with whom I can speak ?

Thank You !:mad:

Are you sure it was a match and not a challenge? If it was a challenge, you get the status immediately- but you have to fly/spend a certain amount over a period of time to keep it.

+1 I don't think DL does straight status matches, they do challenges. Unless you got it though some back channel it's almost certain you were on a challenge.

Here is their standing program: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...challenge.html

I believe they send you an email when they do the initial match spelling out the terms of the challenge.

It might be helpful if you can provide more details (i.e. what did you match from, have you ever matched before on DL, what has DL's response been when you called).

I guess that I should be more charitable.

But, after working hard to maintain my status through normal procedures, it is hard to to empathize with status matchers. Mea Culpa.


Agreeing with others... sounds like the OP may have misunderstood the ground rules.

==
I have same issue- had about 4 emails back and forth explaining- last response when they accepted my argument:
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the SkyMiles Medallion program. We
have forwarded your request our Elite Membership Team for further
review. Please allow 3-4 weeks for review.

That was Feb 12. I gave up. Booked my next Biz flight on OW. Will ask AA for Status Match in June/July.

Status matching is an interesting concept because it defeats the reward for loyalty, it basically says if you were loyal to one airline, our airline will give you the same benefits. However, it is an effective and necessary business practice as it reduces the lock one airline has on a traveler if they want to switch.

I can't imagine there's a big impact to locally earned elites. Either someone matches and doesn't re-qualify, thereby probably only taking a couple flights which doesn't disrupt much, or they qualify, which means they would have qualified a few months down the road.

I think it's because the programs are really misidentified as purely "rewarding loyalty" when it comes to elite status. The benefits are intended to incentivize future spending at least as much as they are designed to reward past loyalty.

What did you match from? As far as the public offers go, Delta only does what they call "Status Match Challenges" - which are just challenges.

If you matched from United Silver (as in your profile), the highest you can go is Delta Silver.

If you got a higher offer, but only met the lower Silver requirements, you would retain the higher status for 90 days, at which point you fail the challenge, but you keep the status for a challenge that you met, up to the challenge status - so you'd keep Silver.

OP claims a status match from an email. Let's see him post the full T&Cs from that email. Let him post evidence he fulfilled the terms. Then there's a discussion to be had.

Wasn't there a targeted NYC loyalty blitz last year? I think you had to fly 1 or transcon/international BE tickets to keep the status?

I can't remember but it might have been that.

As long as Ma ATL continues to call Sky Miles a loyalty program (and they still do), I am going to gig them for not administering it as loyalty program.

Status Challenge
 

You were absolute correct, it was a challenge from Star based on my senator status. I met the challenge and here is the email they sent me, I don't see any conditions:

Congratulations on completing the Status Match Challenge.

Medallion Benefits





Dear Mr. XXX,

Congratulations on successfully completing the SkyMiles Medallion® Status Match Challenge and earning Gold Medallion status through January 31, 2016!

We hope that you will enjoy what Gold Medallion status has to offer, including:

Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades on paid and Award Tickets
Delta Sky Priority® suite of services, featuring Priority Boarding, Priority Check-In and accelerated security lines at select airports
SkyTeam® Elite Plus status when flying internationally on our SkyTeam partner airlines
Complimentary or discounted upgrades to Economy Comfort™ seats
Same-day confirmed and standby fee waivers

Already enjoying Platinum Medallion status through our Status Match Challenge? Continue flying to meet the Challenge requirements to enjoy Platinum Medallion status through January 31, 2016.

You'll find everything you need to know about the Medallion program and your new benefits at delta.com/medallionprogram. Plus, your digital Medallion card will be available in the Fly Delta app for iPhone® and Android™ and can be sent to iPhone Passbook® once your account has been updated.

Thank you again for participating in the Challenge and becoming a member of the Medallion program.

We look forward to seeing you on board.


Medallion Benefits

So, if you have this email, what is Delta's explanation for why you've been downgraded to Silver? Maybe I'm just too cynical, but it seems like there has to be more to the story, other than DL just saying "yeah, we said Gold through Jan 16, but screw that, we're just giving you silver."

Interesting. Try @DeltaAssist on Twitter - they're the only ones that could even get in contact with the challenge folks when I went through a challenge a few months ago. Sounds like an IT issue.

OP, has delta ever gotten back to you?

Did the OP request the status match/challenge from LH or was he/she approached by DL with the offer?

If this were part of some corporate travel contract, maybe the company has ended its preference for DL and hence the status was downgraded if it was conditional on the corporate contract and the OP's continued employment in a position requiring business travel. <I'm just trying to guess here.>

I finally gave up on Delta a couple of weeks ago based on many factors that were important to me and part of my calculus. I took the AA status challenge for their platinum and will have it locked up in a couple of weeks. AA wins by offering a status challenge as they are able to lure me away from a competitor based on the fact that if I have an option to switch and a better potential exists to gain access to an enhanced experience by the nature of my AAdvantage level - with this in hand, I am likely to leave the comfort of my Delta DM space. Granted, DM was earning me row 39 on the aisle just about every flight, but there was a hesitation on my part to switch without a new prebaked program alternative.

I thought AA had discontinued the challenges? When did you start?

There is no loyalty involved at all. The reward you get is the pay back for the promises they made to incentivize your future behavior some time ago.

If you work two weeks and your boss gives you a pay check (hoping it is big enough to get you to come back next week), is he rewarding your loyalty?

I'm sure there are many people here with status on two or more airlines. Are they getting rewarded for their loyalty? It would seem they have none.

Loyalty is a red herring in a company of this size. Your neighborhood butcher, maybe. Delta...they have no idea who you are.

Thanks for asking, Delta never got back to me. Will try the Twitter route

An important part of the status match process is learning to face the reality of what it will be like to deal with Va Ave. ;)

I called two weeks ago - paid the fee and committed to flying 10,000 miles by Early June to obtain that level.