Coverage of the Delta FF program changes
 

Check out who broke the news on FT about the Delta changes..... none other than legend himself -- Randy Peterson. Very interesting. He's been predicting this for years, so I guess it must feel vindicating for him to be right. (Though if I was sitting on 17M miles -- as was once reported -- I sure would NOT want to be right about this prediction.)

And of course, the post is more of a stub telling you to come read the whole story on InsideFlyer. I guess it's the history of journalism to try to profit off of tragedy, LOL.

Apparently the news was leaked.... will be interesting to see which bloggers have their stories all queued up, and which ones were left out in the cold. Can't wait to read the spin from Delta Points!

Considering DeltaPoints.com didn't have any sort of reaction at all ready - and they were IIRC about to launch a delta mileage run site (which now has absolutely ZERO value) - i'm guessing that their "inside sources" left them out in the cold.

My prediction though? somehow the spin will be towards getting an AMEX card. to think, if they still had their chase links - they'd be able to push that!

With several different sources sharing the same details at midnight it sounds a lot more like a standard media embargo/release process to me than someone "leaking" the story out.

Decent number of posts up about it so far, but I haven't had time to run my normal analysis yet. Coming soon enough.

Call it what you want, some 'journalists' were on the inside, some were not. Still surprising to me, given that I don't recall such a coordinated release of information with the switch to PQD's, partner devaluation, etc. Why now? If you're going to release bad news, why not aim for Friday 5PM, and hope that the media doesn't pick it up? Or does DL actually believe in their heart of hearts that this is really a positive for their customers?

Will be interesting to see your analysis.

They're not the only ones calling it that, believe it or not.

True enough; some of the HVCs have figured that they will earn more RDMs with this new program -- as long as they keep flying those expensive F and BE flights paid for with OPM. But eventually when they have to pay for travel themselves it might not seem so positive.

Nice to see Randy around here, even if it is just to draw traffic to his newest blog! ^

Speaking of which...is "The new InsideFlyer blog" on the blogroll? Seems not.

Also...don't BA blogger chaff at their business partner competing against them?

I buy premium cabin tickets with both my own as well as OPM.

I'm looking pretty hard at the new DL program right now. :)

I do feel terrible for mileage runners. Especially if AA and/or UA copy.

But, keeping this on topic for this forum, this also can't be great news for bloggers that make their bones by doing and blogging about mileage runs.

Oh right, this is a great deal for the 1%-ers..... or more likely the 0.1%-ers. is that why the WSJ is being DL's lap dog?

Maybe we should #Occupy ATL. :D

Some of those sources received the news early.

The rest of us — I doubt that I am part of any special group — received an official press release from Delta Air Lines at 5:00 this morning.

I stayed up until 6:15 in the morning to get the story out there.

Agree. I actually left a comment on FM's blog about it. He's saying it's not so bad (or maybe good?). Do they honestly think that the CC bonanza will persist indefinitely? If DL is screwing the people who actually fly them and directly give them money, what concern do they have for those who use a CC with some bank?

As I pointed out to FM, if all the majors adopt this, I'll have to find a new hobby. But I'll still have a job. Will the same be true for the bloggers?

According to many of the articles I read this was 'announced at' (ie, embargoed until) midnight. It was wily of Randy to have his blog article ready then post first at 12:08 on FT with a link to his blog since he was clearly in the early- receivers group. Old media still retains SOME advantages! ;)

My very first thought was: what about credit card miles.

I guess it remains to be seen if this approach enhances or kills the allure of CC miles. For some (like Mileage Runners), CC miles may become a real necessity rather than a nicety since they are losing miles. And some mileage runners may turn into CC churners (if they were not churning already). OTOH, some folks will be leaving the game altogether as it wont be as much fun as it was. And who knows how DL and the CCs are viewing each other in this new paradigm.

And until the effect on CC miles shakes out, the fate of P&M bloggers will be unclear. But these do have to be stomach-churning days for our blogging friends.

Here's Gary Leff from VFTW with some choice opinions on the change on ABC World News:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/delt...ogram-22690621

I'm not sure who all you had in mind, but I felt that the InsideFlyer post this morning was overly positive about it.

http://insideflyer.boardingarea.com/...miles-revenue/

It almost felt like a DL press release in spots like this:

Not sure that respect for members and Delta belong in the same sentence.


My first thought this morning was "oh well, this makes my CC earning even better". My next thought was "yeah but they will surely screw CC holders next". Maybe you'll only earn 1 mile per $2 or something like that.

And the spread of this type of scheme to UA, AA, is only a matter of time I fear. I think this does portend some bad things for some M&P bloggers in the long run. Not to mention the MR forum on here

Based on his banter with Gleff on the topic, I'd bet he's had this post queued for a couple of years now!