Rollback of a hated SM fee?
Aug 12, 2009, 12:09 am
#1
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Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Tucson, AZ, USA. UA 1K, reluctant but * best in class * DL FO/MM. Former BA jumpseat rider and scourge of Dilbertian management and apologists. As LX might - and do - say: "....an experienced frequent flyer of international airlines"
Posts: 3,386
Rollback of a hated SM fee?
"The Partner Airline Handling Charge will be removed before the start of the 2010 program and therefore will not apply."
http://www.delta.com/help/faqs/skymi...jsp#fee_waiver
OK, good. A big step, if it means what I understand it to mean. But what about rollback of the bogus "International Origination surcharge"?
Aug 12, 2009, 2:05 am
#2
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
"The Partner Airline Handling Charge will be removed before the start of the 2010 program and therefore will not apply."
http://www.delta.com/help/faqs/skymi...jsp#fee_waiver
OK, good. A big step, if it means what I understand it to mean. But what about rollback of the bogus "International Origination surcharge"?
Compared to the international origination surcharge amount that DL charges on an award ticket, the partner airline handling charge is peanuts. DL management is throwing customers a peanut but a peanut is all it is as long as DL keeps in place all its other award ticket fees such as the very substantial international origination surcharge and also keeps sticking to the customer-unfriendly three-tier award chart.
Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 12, 2009 at 2:13 am
Aug 12, 2009, 2:38 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,712
I don't think the fee was ever about collecting $25 - it was about keeping redemptions on DL metal instead of going over to NW/CO. No longer a problem.
Aug 12, 2009, 5:56 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: Amtrak Select Plus, Marriott Platinum, Marriott Lifetime Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,124
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)
They need to eliminate the close-in redemption fees.
They need to eliminate the close-in redemption fees.
Aug 12, 2009, 6:05 am
#5
Join Date: May 2003
Location: NYC + LAX + SEA
Programs: DL/UA/AA/BA
Posts: 588
They've just added close-in redemption fees to Northwest WorldPerks. Together with the newly added change fees, its a significant diminish to the value of miles. I think DL fails to realize that they really can devalue SM from a currency to a novelty. To think my company once bought mile certs as gifts and used the miles corp card - both are no longer economic.
Aug 12, 2009, 7:07 am
#6
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
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Posts: 102,095
UA already did announce the elimination of the close-in redemption fees, and AA's close-in redemption fees are pretty easy to avoid by even general AAdvantage members. The same cannot be said for DL, an airline whose management is hooked to fees on award tickets like a crack cocaine addict is hooked to cocaine. Sooner or later the pressures of the marketplace will hit DL in this regard and that will be a welcome force.