Yeah this really bears underscoring. I hope going forward the folks who placed unwavering faith in "mountains of Amex data," "they wouldn't do this if they didn't already run the numbers" etc. etc. are a bit more circumspect next time they're tempted to rush to the defense of the decision-making capabilities of sclerotic corporate leaders.

Odds this was the plan all along? Rip the band aid off, pissing everyone off, then roll back 25% of the changes (or whatever), this making everyone "happy" so Delta can say "we listened"

Can we get a time when in the video he says it? I don't want to watch a 45 minute Rotary Club video.

Not at all. I firmly believe DL has significantly tarnished their brand with these changes amongst a subset of their flyers. People have already explored alternatives. For some, there will be no coming back.

Did the data scientists come up with that?

It would be nice to give us other way to earn (Skymiles Dining, Shopping.....etc.....)

For instance, Bastian said the ranks of Diamond Medallions — the top published tier in the SkyMiles program — have nearly doubled since before the pandemic.

I don't know...maybe three years of pandemic response MQM and status rollovers had something to do with that? And that would correct itself in short order, without touching the requirements.

The other part is, if they want to encourage branded credit card usage...maybe don't devalue the rewards so quickly. If I knew miles earned would actually be worth something, maybe I'd spend on the card more...but now with the MQD waiver gone, why bother with the card at all? I can earn miles that are worthless while racking up a 1 to 10 or 1 to 20 MQD payout...simply not worth it.

No it's not... I have been hearing this "Next year is back to normal for several years"........ Short order will be 3 or 4 more years and that's really too long for Delta. (I can roll over Platinum right now until 2026 with flying at all unless something changes... that's just STUPID!)

The TPG article has multiple quotes from Ed essentially saying they have too many elite customers and specifically mentions having 2x the number of DMs as before the pandemic, i.e. they are still going to find a way to fire some DMs.

I suspect the elite program will stand, potentially with FO changing to $5000 MQDs instead of $6000 MQDs. The big question mark is will travelers divert hotel and car spending (which may be more than flight spending) to DL�s portal, and that remains a question mark.

The Sky Club access changes I�m less confident about; I feel like they will reinstate unlimited access for Reserve card members, because the card doesn�t make sense to me otherwise. Even then, the 1:10 ratio on the Reserve card does not seem like it will develop the cult following (on FT) that the MQD waiver and MQM boosts did.

I wish they would continue the old program for another year while they sort this out, but unless this is truly a catastrophe (i.e. a sizable number of Reserve card members cancelled already) I don�t think that�s realistic.

29:35

29:00

So basically a little slower and tiny bit more lubrication but the end result will be the same

Even with the rollovers and stuff during the pandemic, I'm quite surprised the doubling of Diamond ranks.

The big problem is how Delta communicated this, corporate communications went silent, Glen Hauenstein was tone deaf at the Morgan Stanley conference this past month, as Delta subsequently lost the trust of travelers. Ed's response is a little too late, as way much damage has occurred, that people have moved on to other carriers, but this is how US corporations operate. Hopefully this is a wake-up call to the Delta 'loyal', as it's only a mater of time before low profit margin customers are shown the door again. This interview has no bearing on me, as I for one was staying with Delta. This is the second time that DL customers have called Delta's bluff (1st was upon arrival SkyClub access).

Good. The complaint letters are working. Though until we actually see what the "changes" will be it's all just words. If you haven't voiced your opposition yet (and you'd like to) then you should. Email CS and be polite of course...

Obviously, if the # of Diamonds "doubled after. Covid" then maybe it's the 3-year rollovers. You could have 20 Diamonds on a flight or 10, if there are no seats in F available then no one's getting an upgrade. The number one reason why upgrades are harder to come by is dollar spend is making people buy it more. Increasing requirements to $35K is not going to change that and may make more people buy F.