dgcpaphd

Many readers might not know that there are close to seven thousand deaths reported each day in the United States. Many deaths "slip through the cracks" and do not end up on the Social Security Death Index.

Can you imagine the amount of labor involved if Delta were to check death records from the SSDI (that get reported) to Delta's frequent flier program?

The labor expense to Delta to hunt for deceased account holders would far exceed any savings in finding unreported deaths of account holders.

Even though there is no way to determine how many deceased persons are not included in the death index, both my parents and a brother died. Not one of them is in the SSDI.

Furthermore, several of my clients who died are not in the index. Therefore, I don't have a great deal of confidence in the SSDI.

Bottom line? I would not be concerned that Delta would make any meaningful discovery from the SSDI.
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indufan

Well, yes, but the deceased members widow that I helped get a million miles for had NO CLUE. None whatsoever. Sure, she knew he had "miles" and occasionally they got to go someplace for free but knew nothing of how many miles and what was their relative worth.
Just all the same, I don't expect "protection" from Delta.

But again, I am not sure my inheritors would know enough about it to even give it a shot. I would sue their a$$ off but I would be dead.
Amen.
Yeah, but the courts still need some guidelines and the rules will be part of that. They COULD override it but they might not.

Where did you hear this?

I am as big of Delta cheerleader as there is here but even I don't think I would say this.
Then they are alive...and whoever has access to the account can deal with it. Separate issue.

HELL YES, this is a big deal.

NO. But, they are counting that it isn't that much ill will and it will slide under the table.
I guess I better do this. But it is against my judgement.
Amen.
I thought that was the oddest move ever. We just read here about someone with 2,700 miles. Those add up. I could care less about a miles expire policy. I care a LOT about this one.
I would rather not gamble on this proposition. Plus, computing is evolving quickly. I will probably check-in to my casket on Facebook.

readywhenyouare

"Loyalty Programs Should Be Loyal" ... "Just Kidding!"

StayingHomeIsBetter

What is the conditional probability of both DL IT and Fed Gov IT working correctly simultaneously?

You're likely correct in your bottom line conclusion.

StayingHomeIsBetter

IIRC, back when miles expired, there were a limited number of ways to keep your account active:

Travel... dead won't be doing that

Charge something to a DL Amex... spouse might be able to keep the account open for a while, but I bet that Amex is better at finding out you're dead than DL would be.

Maybe some others...

You might be able to pull it off. But most folks would be that savvy.

Gargoyle

IIRC DL doesn't have my SS number, and there are other people in this country with the same name as mine. Even one (completely unrelated to us) with a wife with the same name, and her name is quite unusual.

So, the odds of a positive match to the SSDI are questionable.

OHDL1

Has anyone posted the "over/under" number of posts before a Delta Rep will be back to take/answer questions?

justhere

Maybe I'm missing something but why is this a big deal? I can understand why it could be a big deal IF DL found out a member died but otherwise I'm just not seeing the issue.

If the miles didn't expire and you wanted someone to use them after you die, that person would have to know about the account to go get the miles. DL could ostensibly charge a transfer fee to move them into another account. To avoid that, don't inform DL of the death and make sure that that person has access to your account.

If the miles do expire, don't inform DL of the death and make sure that someone knows about and has access to your account.

The net result is the same. I've been doing this for 2+ years with a BA account and have had zero issues using the miles. I honestly don't think we are going to see a bunch of posts about how someone expired and so did their miles.

justhere

Look in some of the other forums for airlines that have expiring miles. There are many ways to keep them from expiring. Most of the time the simplest way is to either buy something from itunes or just use the miles. Any activity generally prevents them from expiring. Again, if you have access to the account it would be a very trivial matter to keep the account active.

dgcpaphd

Okay! Let us say that we do as you state. After we select a flight, using the decedent's miles, what credit card will we use to pay the incidental charges for the award ticket?

The airlines do audit frequent flier accounts and activity.
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indufan

I can hear my sister calling Delta now. "Well, my brother died and we want to go to Hawaii to drown our sorrows. How do we do that?" "Well, sorry, since you just told me he died you are screwed."

PLUS, it really SUCKS to tell your loved ones that they are going to have to lie their way through the SkyMiles. I wouldn't bat an eye at it but some people have more ethics than I do.

StayingHomeIsBetter

What "over/under" number is associated with "no chance in hell"?

indufan

Below zero. Of course, assuming they are going to stick with it, what is there to say?

My hope is that they are reading this and see it is full of holes, HORRIBLY customer unfriendly, and ripe for a legal challenge. I am not a lawyer, so I don't know what their chances of prevailing are but would ask Delta to consider is it worth it? Pathetic, in my opinion.

In the meantime, I guess I better be writing a document to my family with explicit instructions on what to do and not do. Sad that it comes to that, isn't it? Of course, if my day is next week, they might remember. If it is 25 years from now, they will probably probably forget and screw it up anyway.

Burj

+1 Any company policy that encourages the survivors of some of your most loyal customers to LIE to keep the benefit/reward that your customer EARNED through years of patronage is just dumb from a business prospective (I won't mention morals or ethics because...hey this is Delta/Skymiles we are talking about...)

DL2SXM

whats to discuss? It is what it is. Damned if they post and damned if they dont.