vincentharris

Nothing, I live in ATL, and the ability to fly to 99% of the US non stop trumps any and all devaluations.

GRALISTAIR

Not fly out of where I am stationed or where I fly to. I do not fly Delta for their Frequent Flier program.

gooselee

Same.

Believe it or not I actually am a free agent for each an every trip, technically speaking. I naturally build miles/status with DL simply because reliability/routing/schedule for the price works out best with them the vast majority of the time. But on any given year I will find myself on a couple flights each of AA/UA/WN when the circumstances suit it.

I suppose if DL du-hubbed ATL...

3Cforme

People - and you, specifically - who are dissatisfied with Delta really ought to fly other carriers more. You can - to balm the psyche - deprive Delta of revenue. You might also see that Delta may be the best of the alternatives in contrast to:

- United, that can't sync gate departure screens, airport departure screens, and app departure times at ORD

- Southwest, that can't reliably do gate change push notifications to the app

- American, which finished its business class lie-flat installations more than three years after Delta, doesn't offer award or broad IROPs rebooking via app or online, and the general crap-storm of delays, cancellations, and inferior baggage handling that is American Eagle/Envoy.

Complaining without changing purchase behavior is just whining.

MSPeconomist

There's something wrong with your arithmetic. If you pay 11,000 miles for an award ticket and miles are worth one (1) cent each, so more than 0.77 cents per mile, it would be equivalent to a ticket cost of $110. Many of us would be glad to use 11,000 miles to avoid paying about $500.

flyerslc

You're right. I meant to say 110,000 RDM. That was the cost for an economy ticket priced at $850. I've edited my original post.

MSPeconomist

To answer the question in the thread title: If DL de-hubs my hub, I would no longer be a hub captive. Bye-bye fortress.

PV_Premier

DL is the best of the bad options...from my home city, DL is as good if not better than the other options for the places I typically travel. I expect much more WN next year though as they add a new nonstop flight to a city that encompasses >50% of my business travel.

bretthexum

Exactly. Actually more and more of my travel requires connections anyway. If the "enhancements" continue I'll consider moving to AA. I am going to spend the travel money no matter what. We'll see what airline gets my DM spend next year.

pauly_long

I have to fly for work regularly and I'm hub captive.

I like AS and they serve many of the west coast markets I fly to, but not all. DL has superior schedules and all direct flights, so I remain.

I would actively start looking for other options if DL switched to the WN model of no reserved seat and cattle call boarding. Short of that, I will remain DL #1 with AS as my backup.

FCM and the changes to the DM qualification don't negatively affect me - in fact I think they make my life better. The routes I fly are always elite-heavy and my upgrade % is less than 50%, so spending $40 for FCM to knock the 10 people ahead of me off the UG list looks attractive now. I will qualify for DM for the first time ever next month, and I typically spend > $20K (yes, it's 80% other people's money) per year, so thinning the DM herd is attractive to me.

As a side note, DL are far superior to UA when I flew them as a hub captive in DEN.

sdadept

I already hit it. When upgrades as a diamond flying on expensive fares were almost never upgraded I simply decided to always just buy FCM fares. I fly on whatever airline is best for me and always at the front of the bus. The 'perks' for almost all of the FF programs are just not worth the price of loyalty to an airline. Can honestly say I'm much happier now because I don't 'expect' any perks from any airline, I just buy what I want.

bubbashow

Exactly.

For all the doom and gloom of manufactured elites, DL seems to be doing just fine moving in the current direction.

http://ir.delta.com/news-and-events/...t/default.aspx

There is no longer gross over-capacity in the market. If you look at why the FFP was started and compare it to system over-capacity, you will see why they are currently going down this road.

bergamini

I'm out of the game if PM qualification is changed substantially to make it impossible for me. I will be DM soon but given my status as a regional road warrior, getting 125K MQM most years is not terribly feasible so as long as I can keep PM and the C+ product stays reasonably the same (given low UG% on my road warrior routes), then I'm fine.

flyerslc

I don't think many of us are whining. We are having a discussion about the relative value of the FF program and how it has changed our purchasing behavior as customers, not as investors discussing whether Delta's decisions are wise corporate tactics. In my case, the value of the FF program would sometimes cause me to pay more for some Delta tickets than competitors' because I would get the miles and other perks, including good service. The relative value of the FF program has declined for me to the point that I now frequently make the decision on price and available scheduling alone.

Detroiter

This. since DTW is by far my most convenient airport and as I'm deathly allergic to connections because of traveling with someone in a wheelchair, DL's service would have to be really bad before we would bail. We don't fly near enough for status, so devaluations to the Medallion program have no effect on us.