But you DO have another choice. Bail out to another airline that treats you, if not right, at least better than that con artists at DL.

It's time to COMP, BABY, COMP!

It's time for a new edition of those, unless there is still a supply of the old ones.

rcs85551's word is good enough for me. I'm sure other FTers will confirm that this poster has always provided good, solid information, often before the information was released publicly by DL.

I had been thinking/hoping that this was a typo, but if rcs85551 says Y/B/M will only earn 100% after March 1, I'm certain that's what DL has planned.

I'd love to heard DL's explanation as to how this will increase revenue...

Flood DL and NW's customer service with angry emails! If they hear negative feedback and threats to go elsewhere from enough of us, they may rethink it. Then again, they may not, but it only takes a minute to send them an email!

It's not about increasing revenue. It's about decreasing cost (caused by the RDMs on the one hand and by providing elite beneits to more flyers on the other hand).

Just another step that reaffirms that SkyMiles is not a frequent flier program anymore - just a frequent buyer program, where you generate miles through their partners way easier + cheaper than by actually flying.

My partner and I also typically book into the higher/refundable coach fare buckets, but with this change, we are unlikely to continue doing so. It's a very foolish business move on DL's part, as it's going to DECREASE, not increase, the money I spend with them.

Each of these moves teaches me to put less and less stock in airline loyalty programs these days, and more into perhaps just bargain-hunting across all airlines. Perhaps we should just abandon the loyalty and elite games.

when do you think they will post all these new rules and regs on their site?
will they wait for March 1?

are they leaking [dis]information to "TEST" what they will actually do?

thoughts?

Frankly everyone, that is what I have been waiting around all weekend for. It is true...they are selling status of perks to folks that don't fly as much as us on Delta. Perks for folks that fly are no longer really important to Delta - just the illusion so they can in a way, sell time shares that may never be used. Feel free to make your own metaphors up. Interesting concept...time for a new thread.

The airline business is a crappy business.
If you can sell the dream of flying for pure profits just by signing a contract with AMEX, why do any actual flying?

Slightly OT - but I saw a reference the fewer F seats.

I couldn't find the source - is DL planning to cut down the size of the F cabins on its fleet - if so which ones, how many and can somebody direct me to the information. Thanks!

IMHO that's Delta's own fault.

Nobody forced Delta to run a double EQM promotion which pretty much doubled the number of elites out there.

I'd say the brain behind that promotion should get the boot for their foolishness, stupidity and lack of foresight.

Last week when there was the published rumour of a fourth tier I posted something like, "well I would hope that they would give 2x MQM's for Biz and First", when I posted this I secretly feared that the other way would be to reduce other classes of earning. It seems that everyone is focusing on only the loss of MQM part of this, which does incredibly piss me off, almost all of my fares are M+, in fact of the 190k MQM' or so that I earned last year, only one RT from NYC to Florida was in anything less than M, with the overall split probably being something like 65%+ YBM, 30% J,D,I, Less than 5% M-. So, if I keep it up, yes I'll still be Platinum, but I will be earning far less miles, this is insane.

Why on Earth would they wait until possibly the worst time possible economically to alienate their best customers? This makes no sense. Forgetting the status thing, there are plenty of airlines out there that now offer better deals than this.

^

Statements from rcs85551 are more reliable than anything coming out of DL.

This is truly truly astonishing!

Welcome to BIZARRO WORLD frequent flyer program!!

In BIZARRO WORLD, when you read this encouraging word from DL CEO to NW flyers in the January inflight magazine:

We are listening to feedback from customers in both programs so we can create a "best of" plan that distinguishes us from the rest of the industry.

it is very easy to translate to the actual BIZARRO meaning:

We may be listening to your feedback, but we are implementing, in most cases, the exact opposite of your desires, so that we can create a "WORST OF" plan that - truthfully - WILL distinguish us from the rest of the industry.