Management employees do hear about these things ahead of public announcements when they are invited to participate in the company wide conference call like the one held Tuesday that my contact was in on.

Is there anyone who thinks that this is not a good idea, from a business point of view?

If you have the choice, non-stops are often more expensive than connections, seldom the other way around. Connections must be more costly for the carrier - complexity of processing, higher risk of costly mis-connects, bumps etc. There's often a slight extra yield enhancement from the shorter distance flown on a non-stop.

I always failed to see a rational case for giving status as a reward for pure sector count, when that can be driven up so easily by booking ridiculous connections with no direct benefit to the airline.

Delta has long discriminated against its CVG and ATL based FF members with segments. Even still I have maintained PM status for years. If they start to play more games with this program, then Airtran will be the biggest winner, American second and Delta losing the most from a long time business traveler.

This is no different then NW flyers who live in MSP/DTW or AA flyers who live in ORD/DFW or HP flyers who live in PHX or US flyers who live in PHL/PIT or. . . . . .

No one denied that. I was simply saying that frontline employees don't hear about it. I've got my own sources at Delta who have fed me their own version of the gossip, but I'm sitting back to see the details rather than jumping the gun and posting about it.

The official changes may now be read and discussed at:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/008362.html

WOW!
Lots of changes! It is going to take me some time to work these new changes into the matrix. Only thing I don't like for sure, is mileage based on fare paid. This was the main reason I left EI back in 96 for City Jet who had a Virgin FF agreement and could then move miles over to DL.

Dear

As a Delta SkyMiles Platinum Medallion� member, you are one of our most valued customers. Therefore, we want you to be among the first to learn about upcoming Medallion program changes that primarily relate to earning elite status and the domestic upgrade process.

With these changes, many Delta customers will have one of the fastest paths to elite status of all major U.S. carriers. We are reshaping the Medallion qualification system to better align loyalty benefits and rewards with the fares customers choose to pay. Effective January 1, 2003, Medallion qualification will be based on a combination of miles flown and fares purchased, instead of base miles, segments or transoceanic segments flown. Please note that these changes will not affect your status earned in 2002 for the 2003 membership year; rather, they affect the way in which you may earn elite status starting on January 1, 2003.

We also are modifying the Medallion domestic upgrade process over the next 13 months. The changes are designed to simplify the upgrade process and enhance the value of upgrades by better controlling the number distributed. We also will be increasing the opportunities to use upgrade benefits by expanding domestic upgrade privileges to L, U and T fares, for day of departure, beginning May 1, 2003.

All Platinum Medallion upgrade benefits and guidelines � including unlimited domestic upgrades that members may confirm at time of booking, subject to availability; as well as six complimentary Platinum Medallion upgrades for use on most Delta flights worldwide � remain unchanged for 2003.

You also will note that we have increased the SkyMiles bonus for Delta BusinessElite� and Business Class customers from 25 percent to 50 percent. This benefit is available to all SkyMiles members.

The ability to earn and accumulate SkyMiles for Award Travel through eligible flights or partnership activity has not changed.

You will receive a more detailed explanation of these changes and other enhancements to our SkyMiles program via U.S. mail in early January. Until then, please visit delta.com/skymileschanges for a more complete overview.

As we move forward with these changes, we hope that you will notice an improvement in our ability to recognize and reward you for your business. We are dedicated to becoming a better airline and to developing a partnership that provides our customers with the best travel experience possible.

Sincerely,

Patrice G. Miles
Vice President, Consumer Marketing
Delta Air Lines

Bye, Bye Platinum Medallion......

http://e-mailprograms.delta.com/AC/C...-PNAIKpXGnL3Rd

As someone who commutes between NYC and San Diego on a weekly basis, let me be one of the first to say that these changes will definitely influence whether I fly Delta. I am a graduate student at NYU, but I continue to work in San Diego. I commute back to CA from NY every week. As a student, I qualify for student fares (normally in L class). Based on the modifications to the program, I will now only earn 50% of the miles flown. Why should I fly on an airline which has basically just told me that they think my weekly travel is less worthy of elite status because I qualify for a cheaper fare!! I have my fingers crossed that this is not the start of an awful trend among frequent flier programs.

We have been "enjoying" this in Canada on domestic flights with Air Canada for some time. It happens on other airlines in other parts of the world too.

Welcome to the club

I fly DL enough to earn status when UA's prices are outragous in the MCO market. It looks like DL will push me to US when I can't find reasonable fares on UA. It might be a blessing for me since US flights will now get me status miles on UA...if UA continues to exist.

As a FF with 1 Mil mile on AA and 1.2 Mil mile on Delta, the proposed changes will surley result in my not making PM for the first time in 5 yrs. Maybe it's time to stat sending my relatives on free FC trips.

Having had two DL flights today, I did not hear this in BOS, SLC, or TUS airports, but maybe I just wasn't listening. I liken this to airfare increases...one airline raises fares and others follow. Now, let's see who follows this one.

Hopefully no one.