RealDLInsider - Program Information
Jan 26, 2007, 6:27 am
#1
Company Representative - Delta Air Lines
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 34
RealDLInsider - Program Information
All,
Thanks for the positive feedback around the original posting. I’m actually finding writing something is actually a nice break away from what can sometimes be an endless list of “to do” items. A couple items that I wanted to share my thoughts on, and then hopefully some answers around a few recent questions you all had:
US Airways
The DL bankruptcy has allowed our company to shed costs and reorganize into a leaner and more financially stable company. Our headcount has been reduced by 40+%, our costs have been reduced by several billions of dollars annually, and our RASM (Revenue Per Available Seat Mile) performance has grown substantially as a result of recent network and product-related changes. The result is an airline that I’m proud to work for, and one that probably exceeded the expectations of most onlookers. The negative, is that we are now a very attractive purchase option, we have an ATL hub that brings tremendous upside to any other airline, and are the target of a very aggressive US Airways takeover attempt. We realize as employees that we can’t necessarily control the outcome of what finically greedy people want to do with Delta, but what we can do, is to continue deliver an experience and airline that we and our customers expect. Right now, although the US Airways takeover attempt appears less and less likely, our company owes a great deal of thanks to US Airways as well. Because of them, our employees have come together now stronger than ever, all committed to one thing – turning Delta around and continuing to make her our own. Thank you Mr. Parker!
Recent Upgrade Program Changes
It’s taken 18 months, but we are finally launching a number of technology changes around the upgrade program that we think differentiate Delta. We remain the only airline to offer unlimited and complimentary upgrades of the big three, we now automate all upgrade requests, we now have automatic transfer to the airport standby list (which will occur as soon as you check-in and at any check-in path), our prioritization of upgrades is now clean and is exactly the same prioritization both pre-airport and at the airport (you all know we had issues with this before). Next week, we are set to launch “notification technology,” which will then confirm with you all proactively when your upgrades are confirmed and when you’ve been transferred to the airport standby list. These efforts, although each small, have been back-breaking efforts for our SkyMiles and technology teams, and I’m glad to see they are all launching.
By the way, I can confirm that the upgrade priority is as follows – and continues to be audited to be sure it’s working appropriately. If you have specific experience that it’s not – I want to know about it!
Platinum – Full Y
Gold – Full Y
Silver – Full Y
Platinum – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
Gold – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
Silver – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
More to come in next thread ...
Jeff
Thanks for the positive feedback around the original posting. I’m actually finding writing something is actually a nice break away from what can sometimes be an endless list of “to do” items. A couple items that I wanted to share my thoughts on, and then hopefully some answers around a few recent questions you all had:
US Airways
The DL bankruptcy has allowed our company to shed costs and reorganize into a leaner and more financially stable company. Our headcount has been reduced by 40+%, our costs have been reduced by several billions of dollars annually, and our RASM (Revenue Per Available Seat Mile) performance has grown substantially as a result of recent network and product-related changes. The result is an airline that I’m proud to work for, and one that probably exceeded the expectations of most onlookers. The negative, is that we are now a very attractive purchase option, we have an ATL hub that brings tremendous upside to any other airline, and are the target of a very aggressive US Airways takeover attempt. We realize as employees that we can’t necessarily control the outcome of what finically greedy people want to do with Delta, but what we can do, is to continue deliver an experience and airline that we and our customers expect. Right now, although the US Airways takeover attempt appears less and less likely, our company owes a great deal of thanks to US Airways as well. Because of them, our employees have come together now stronger than ever, all committed to one thing – turning Delta around and continuing to make her our own. Thank you Mr. Parker!
Recent Upgrade Program Changes
It’s taken 18 months, but we are finally launching a number of technology changes around the upgrade program that we think differentiate Delta. We remain the only airline to offer unlimited and complimentary upgrades of the big three, we now automate all upgrade requests, we now have automatic transfer to the airport standby list (which will occur as soon as you check-in and at any check-in path), our prioritization of upgrades is now clean and is exactly the same prioritization both pre-airport and at the airport (you all know we had issues with this before). Next week, we are set to launch “notification technology,” which will then confirm with you all proactively when your upgrades are confirmed and when you’ve been transferred to the airport standby list. These efforts, although each small, have been back-breaking efforts for our SkyMiles and technology teams, and I’m glad to see they are all launching.
By the way, I can confirm that the upgrade priority is as follows – and continues to be audited to be sure it’s working appropriately. If you have specific experience that it’s not – I want to know about it!
Platinum – Full Y
Gold – Full Y
Silver – Full Y
Platinum – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
Gold – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
Silver – B, M, H, Q, K, L, U, T
More to come in next thread ...
Jeff
Jan 26, 2007, 6:38 am
#2
Company Representative - Delta Air Lines
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 34
RealDLInsider (Part Two)
Here's the rest of thread -- I posted in a reply.
Award Combinability
There appears to be some confusion around this and disappointment that we have taken away something. Although there has been some agent workaround solutions that were prevented in the new combinability technology launched, we have NOT made any program changes. When award combinability launched, our intent was for 100% customer upside and at the same time, to prevent our agents from being able to easily override rules that have been in place for years. These rules around stopovers allowed, connections allowed, valid routings and open-jaws, have been in place for years, but our front-line agents (being customer service-oriented), were doing what they could to push these rules to help ensure customers get SkySaver awards. Although potentially viewed as a good thing, the result was carrying passengers through multiple connections and in sometimes very unusual routings that would result in greater risk of misconnection, lost baggage and passenger inconvenience. Thus, one agent makes the customer happy by getting them a SkySaver award seat, and then in the end, the customer is upset about multiple connections, delayed flights or worse, a lost bag. These rules have been in place for the last several years on delta.com and we now have audits in place within our reservations offices that ensure the rules are followed. Although I’m aware some of you may be disappointed by this, 99% of customers who redeem are getting a far better experience and combinability is truly a good thing for customers.
International Business Class Upgrades
I’ve viewed many posts over the past year on this issue, and I thought I’d share why it would not be a good financial decision for our airline to allow complimentary upgrades for Medallions in Business Elite. Like all airlines, Delta sells a large number of either full-fare or discounted confirmed Business Elite seats – in the range of $3K to $6K per ticket – YES – People pay these fares! As the economy turns brighter, more and more companies begin to relax their rules on premium cabin travel, and as such, we are beginning to see more and more premium cabin paid travel. If we were to upgrade our highest Medallions who purchased a coach fare into the Business cabin complimentarily – two things happen in the longer term. First, that Platinum/Gold Medallion becomes less and less likely to ever want to buy a Business Class ticket – because there is a chance they get upgraded anyway. More importantly however, the bigger risk is that full-fare paying Business Elite customer decides “what the heck,” I’m going to buy-down to Coach (since I’m also a Gold/Platinum Medallion) and can get upgraded like others are. The result is a significant drop in the yields on our international flights, which for all airlines, are the bread and butter of future profitability. Some of you might ask, well what about the incremental business we might get in Coach from customers who would buy Delta to try and get upgraded. Because of the differential in fares between Coach (e.g. $800 to Europe) and Business Elite (e.g. $5,000), there just aren’t enough seats in Coach or passengers to offset that loss in Business Class revenue.
In summary, it’s not that we don’t want to “service our customers,” it doesn’t make financial sense for Delta given the current competitive environment.
I’m signing off for this week, but I also wanted to share with you that we have our first “Customer Sounding Board” yesterday. We’ve decided to reinstate this program that we have many years ago, where we randomly bring in 10-12 Medallions every quarter, and share with them very specific information around why we made the program changes we did, but more importantly, what changes we are currently investigating. They intent was to gather their feedback and actually use them to assist us in the analysis, recommendations and ultimate communication plans around these changes. The group yesterday came from various cities throughout the country, and provided us tremendous feedback. Over the next few months, I’ll likely be doing the same things with you all – and potentially throwing out a couple ideas to gather your feedback on.
Have a great weekend – and even thought it’s only Friday Morning, this DL employee is already exhausted (it’s been a long week).
Jeff
Award Combinability
There appears to be some confusion around this and disappointment that we have taken away something. Although there has been some agent workaround solutions that were prevented in the new combinability technology launched, we have NOT made any program changes. When award combinability launched, our intent was for 100% customer upside and at the same time, to prevent our agents from being able to easily override rules that have been in place for years. These rules around stopovers allowed, connections allowed, valid routings and open-jaws, have been in place for years, but our front-line agents (being customer service-oriented), were doing what they could to push these rules to help ensure customers get SkySaver awards. Although potentially viewed as a good thing, the result was carrying passengers through multiple connections and in sometimes very unusual routings that would result in greater risk of misconnection, lost baggage and passenger inconvenience. Thus, one agent makes the customer happy by getting them a SkySaver award seat, and then in the end, the customer is upset about multiple connections, delayed flights or worse, a lost bag. These rules have been in place for the last several years on delta.com and we now have audits in place within our reservations offices that ensure the rules are followed. Although I’m aware some of you may be disappointed by this, 99% of customers who redeem are getting a far better experience and combinability is truly a good thing for customers.
International Business Class Upgrades
I’ve viewed many posts over the past year on this issue, and I thought I’d share why it would not be a good financial decision for our airline to allow complimentary upgrades for Medallions in Business Elite. Like all airlines, Delta sells a large number of either full-fare or discounted confirmed Business Elite seats – in the range of $3K to $6K per ticket – YES – People pay these fares! As the economy turns brighter, more and more companies begin to relax their rules on premium cabin travel, and as such, we are beginning to see more and more premium cabin paid travel. If we were to upgrade our highest Medallions who purchased a coach fare into the Business cabin complimentarily – two things happen in the longer term. First, that Platinum/Gold Medallion becomes less and less likely to ever want to buy a Business Class ticket – because there is a chance they get upgraded anyway. More importantly however, the bigger risk is that full-fare paying Business Elite customer decides “what the heck,” I’m going to buy-down to Coach (since I’m also a Gold/Platinum Medallion) and can get upgraded like others are. The result is a significant drop in the yields on our international flights, which for all airlines, are the bread and butter of future profitability. Some of you might ask, well what about the incremental business we might get in Coach from customers who would buy Delta to try and get upgraded. Because of the differential in fares between Coach (e.g. $800 to Europe) and Business Elite (e.g. $5,000), there just aren’t enough seats in Coach or passengers to offset that loss in Business Class revenue.
In summary, it’s not that we don’t want to “service our customers,” it doesn’t make financial sense for Delta given the current competitive environment.
I’m signing off for this week, but I also wanted to share with you that we have our first “Customer Sounding Board” yesterday. We’ve decided to reinstate this program that we have many years ago, where we randomly bring in 10-12 Medallions every quarter, and share with them very specific information around why we made the program changes we did, but more importantly, what changes we are currently investigating. They intent was to gather their feedback and actually use them to assist us in the analysis, recommendations and ultimate communication plans around these changes. The group yesterday came from various cities throughout the country, and provided us tremendous feedback. Over the next few months, I’ll likely be doing the same things with you all – and potentially throwing out a couple ideas to gather your feedback on.
Have a great weekend – and even thought it’s only Friday Morning, this DL employee is already exhausted (it’s been a long week).
Jeff
Jan 26, 2007, 6:52 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA, Europe
Programs: DL Plat, NW Plat(x2), BMI Gold, IC Ambassador, etc
Posts: 1,685
Good to know about the upgrade priority.
If you can provide us more details about the new ticketing rules for awards, especially in relation to international and RTW trips, we'd appreciate it - the changes this month have been 'interesting'
If you can provide us more details about the new ticketing rules for awards, especially in relation to international and RTW trips, we'd appreciate it - the changes this month have been 'interesting'
Jan 26, 2007, 6:58 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Marriott Platinum, National Exec Elite, Delta
Posts: 505
Jeff -
Thanks for your post. Always great to hear it from the source.
Is there an "Official" way for flyers to get KDMD pins, shirts, etc.?
Thanks for your post. Always great to hear it from the source.
Is there an "Official" way for flyers to get KDMD pins, shirts, etc.?
Jan 26, 2007, 7:07 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Under an ORD approach path
Programs: DL PM, MM. Coffee isn't a drug, it's a vitamin.
Posts: 12,935
1. Does time of purchase play a role in the priority?
2. What about international? It seems the rules are significantly tighter there. Is a TATL ever upgrade possible from LUT when Y is not full to the brim?
Jan 26, 2007, 7:13 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SLC
Programs: DL GM, UA, CO, HH, PP
Posts: 548
Thanks for the insight so far.
Jan 26, 2007, 7:45 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Oakland Park, FL
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM
Posts: 480
Thank you for this information.
Jan 26, 2007, 7:55 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Wayne, PA USA
Programs: DL MM, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, HHonors Gold
Posts: 7,242
Thanks for the info! I look forward to hearing more about the evolution of SkyMiles and Delta.
(Hint: Hopefully, you'll have some new partner announcements in the pipeline - especially partners that offer international First Class
)
(Hint: Hopefully, you'll have some new partner announcements in the pipeline - especially partners that offer international First Class
)
Jan 26, 2007, 8:18 am
#10
Moderator: Coupon Connection & S.P.A.M
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Louisville, KY
Programs: Destination Unknown, TSA Disparager Diamond (LTDD)
Posts: 57,952
I’ve viewed many posts over the past year on this issue, and I thought I’d share why it would not be a good financial decision for our airline to allow complimentary upgrades for Medallions in Business Elite. Like all airlines, Delta sells a large number of either full-fare or discounted confirmed Business Elite seats – in the range of $3K to $6K per ticket – YES – People pay these fares! As the economy turns brighter, more and more companies begin to relax their rules on premium cabin travel, and as such, we are beginning to see more and more premium cabin paid travel. If we were to upgrade our highest Medallions who purchased a coach fare into the Business cabin complimentarily – two things happen in the longer term. First, that Platinum/Gold Medallion becomes less and less likely to ever want to buy a Business Class ticket – because there is a chance they get upgraded anyway. More importantly however, the bigger risk is that full-fare paying Business Elite customer decides “what the heck,” I’m going to buy-down to Coach (since I’m also a Gold/Platinum Medallion) and can get upgraded like others are. The result is a significant drop in the yields on our international flights, which for all airlines, are the bread and butter of future profitability. Some of you might ask, well what about the incremental business we might get in Coach from customers who would buy Delta to try and get upgraded. Because of the differential in fares between Coach (e.g. $800 to Europe) and Business Elite (e.g. $5,000), there just aren’t enough seats in Coach or passengers to offset that loss in Business Class revenue.
In summary, it’s not that we don’t want to “service our customers,” it doesn’t make financial sense for Delta given the current competitive environment.
I want to be able to use my miles/PMUs on any fare, not just the overpriced Y/B/M fares.
Use of those instruments hardly constitutes a complimentary upgrade. Furthermore, I want to be able to use them day of departure.
American's and United's policies on international upgrades keep me spending my international and/or high-dollar fares with them. Delta gets what's left over as a result.
Jan 26, 2007, 8:46 am
#11
In memoriam
Join Date: May 2005
Location: DAL
Programs: SWA A list preferred and CP, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Hertz President's club
Posts: 9,803
I did have to laugh when I saw above about the confirmations (which I think are a GREAT idea!!). You do realize that some of us will be able to get an additional part time job with the amount of time you are going to save us from checking if we have cleared yet or not *smile*.
Gosh if you get us a notification when our seats are changed we might actually be able to get second full time jobs (or have more time for mileage runs).
Thanks for your time on here, we are very grateful!
Jan 26, 2007, 8:54 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ireland, UnderH20, AUA, Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Charter KM, DM180, RW, DM, SC, SkyBonus; HH Diamond, IHG Plt Amb, Global Ent, TWIC
Posts: 2,191
Thanks for the real information
Jan 26, 2007, 9:10 am
#13
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 6,645
I can not agree more with this. In fact, the Y/B/M restriction is what keeps most of my flying on other airlines.
Jan 26, 2007, 9:31 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: LHR / BHX / MAN / ATL
Programs: DL DM 2MM - IHG Diamond
Posts: 4,052
Jan 26, 2007, 9:46 am
#15
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Merced, CA
Programs: Lifetime Gold AA, Gold Delta, Gold Starwood, Silver UA, Silver Hyatt, etc.
Posts: 288
Promotions Question
I have a question regarding promotions and I have never got a straight answer from either Delta or Amex. on this issue. Why is it that some people are chosen for certain promotions over others? It to me doesn't seem fair to reward someone with say a double or even at times triple or just most recently 5x miles promotions for someone who charges say $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 a year and not give the same promotion to someone that charges $100,000.00 a year. Not sure if you can answer this, but figured it's worth a shot to try to get an answer as there is always people guessing about how you and Amex. pick the criteria for your pormotions.
