Jonathan Jacobs offers an interesting take on the recently announced changes to the Delta Sky Miles program, focusing not so much on the changes themselves as on the way in which Delta communicated them. The idea that Delta showed profound disrespect and a lack of empathy to its loyal customers is a contention worth considering and a warning to other carriers.
Delta Air Lines Should Have Communicated Program Changes In A Different Way
Does empathy matter for Delta? Yes, according to Tim Mapes, Delta’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.
“Delta is a brand that very much believes in empathy. It believes in humanity. It believes in connecting with people on an emotional basis … driven by the nobility of serving others.”
But Jacobs asserts (and I concur) there was no empathy in the news that Delta would drastically alter access rules to its network of Sky Club lounges and fundamentally change how elite status is earned, leaving many very loyal SkyMiles members in the dust.
I won’t rehash here why I think it makes little sense to tie loyalty exclusively to spending, but Delta’s policy changes will result in fewer elite passengers. It is true that if everyone is elite, no one is elite, but on the other hand, there really is little incentive (or need) for elite status when achieving that status requires buying premium cabin tickets that already come with most elite perks.
Most perplexing is that the spin doctors at Delta tried to cast the changes as positive. Jacobs believes a more nuanced announcement would have been far more effective:
“We know these changes might not be what everyone wants to hear, but in order to keep delivering the premium product and reliable experience you have come to expect from us, we have to make some adjustments.”
But instead, the news leaked on September 13th, Delta officially announced the program changes on September 14th, and we’ve actually heard nothing from Delta since then. Radio silence.
I think some Delta apologists will say that Delta is wisely waiting for the dust to settle by letting angry frequent flyers calm down and realize there still is no better alternative.
That’s really not the issue, though.
Questions have gone unanswered. And as always seems to be the case when Delta unleashes its latest devaluation on the SkyMiles redemption side, there is a smug silence that passengers are owed no explanation for why their points are worth 60% less than the previous day. Alienation does not cultivate loyalty.
Delta, whether actually truly or not, has said it is responding to “consumer demand” over the “complexity” of the program and also responding to consumer demand for less lounge crowding. Thus, Delta thinks it is “customer-responsive” when the better approach would be to speak candidly that its continued elite status rollovers during the pandemic artificially inflated the elite ranks and its lucrative relationship with its best customer of all, American Express, has greatly contributed to lounge crowding.
These changes cannot be “faulted” on consumers looking for outsized value.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, the dust will settle, some will leave Delta, and many will stay. I do not view these changes as genius or necessary…but only time will tell how people will respond. I do concur that the way this news was communicated shows a fundamental lack of respect for Delta frequent travelers, which is a symptom of my diagnosis that Delta is not nearly as great as it claims to be.
Silence is not golden.
image: Delta
But Delta clearly does respect their customers. It isn’t hard, you just spend 35K, put 350K spend, or do a combo of the two, and in addition to coveted Diamond status, you’ll have 350,000 sky miles. That’s enough to fly one-way on a 767 to Europe. And can you expect to get in to the SkyClub at JFK? Of course not because DL is premium and they respect people.
If you spent the same over on AA you’d only have EXP, 8 SWUs, and enough miles to fly QSuites 5 times. A line in the SkyClub in T4 is better than any of the horrid lounges in T8. AA hates its pax and DL respects theirs.
Exactly! DL just wants to show it’s passengers the country! That’s why every flight regardless of destination connects in ATL, BNA, DTW, AZO, SLC, MSP, PHX, OAK, and SNA. Because they care about humanity and empathy or whatever.
I’m thinking Ed B must be a fan of P.T. Barnum. Or Tim Dunn. So while a sucker may be born every minute, Delta will need thirty years to cycle them into loyalty. In the meantime, cobwebs start growing in their incredibly “premium” product.
I get that this is an aviation blog but can you tell me how many industries or large companies anywhere in the western world are OBJECTIVELY delivering better service than they did before the pandemic?
Quality is about perceptions but facts clearly show that Delta is indeed THE MOST premium US airline.
– Delta CONSISTENTLY earns the most revenue per available seat mile
– Delta CONSISTENTLY scores at the top of the DOT’s customer service metrics including on-time and customer complaints. On customer complaint ratios (which is an inverse measure of quality), Delta is often HALF of the ratio of American and United and even Southwest no longer is competitive over the past 9 months.
The Sky Club complaints are red herrings both in terms of lines and food quality.
Comparisons are often made between DL’s Sky Clubs and AA and UA’s business class lounges and yet DL does NOT YET have a business class lounge. The food in the Sky Club is of two categories and many Sky Clubs have food that is far better than AA or UA’s standard, not business class lounges.
As for business class cabins, the true measure is what people pay far. Uniformity is not the goal and mental midgets that don’t understand the concept prove that they don’t really buy premium products. When was the last time that you told us that you bought a premium cabin product WITH CASH? Delta does a very good job of using its different premium cabins on routes where they are appropriate. The 767-300ERs are used on short leisure heavy routes across the Atlantic.
Delta IS a premium airline and people who actually fly them and pay for their services decide that and not bloggers like you that don’t pay for a premium cabin on Delta with cash.
Just a few factual fleet related comments:
1, In terms of fleet age, the youngest fleet among the big 4 belongs to AA followed by WN then DL then UA.
While AA has the youngest fleet, it has the most spartan cabins, not even comparable to WN which at least makes up for the lack of onboard amenities with more space on SOME aircraft in SOME seats.
WN has the most consistent product in an industry where the largest players all operate fleets of more than 800 aircraft where it is and always will be possible to have a consistent product.
DL has a lot of product diversity in its fleet but also does the best job of segregating its fleet by mission type and use. and it still has more aircraft that have modern seatback AVOD and free Wifi than any other airline in the world.
UA has great aspirations but all of the fleet purchases are simply not going to replace large portions of their fleet if their growth plans are going to be reality. There is simply no way the supply chain will support the amount of retrofitting that UA will have to do to retain the majority of its older fleet, replace regional jets and take delivery of more new aircraft than any airline in history or this decade. UA’s talk about fleet improvements is THE REAL vapor ware.
As far as premium cabins on international aircraft, no one bothers to note that UA still flies 757s across the Atlantic and sells them as premium class but AA and DL no longer do. UA 757s most certainly are inferior to every other longhaul US premium cabin product.
DL’s 763ERs in domestic service compete heavily against UA’s high density 777s which certainly do not have Polaris or near as much space for any passenger. The HD 777s are the LEAST comfortable US widebodies in the sky
And AA and UA do not have ANY SUITE products on any aircraft while Delta has scores of A330-900s and A350s that do – but all of the bottom feeding comments never seen to recognize that reality. Those that want to argue that a door doesn’t matter simply prove that quality is subjective and anyone can choose to argue about what is desirable and what is not.
Are you a regular on the Accra , Ghana – JFK route ?
This post really gives “CTRL+v.” I’ll just address one (or two) points:
If SkyClub complaints are red herrings, how are doors not? A small subset of D1 has a door, and while I’m sure it’s a great seat, it’s not a vastly superior product out of metro NY. An elite on AA may not have a door, but they have a dependably good hard product, no risk of a swap to an inferior product, and two fantastic lounges to go to. A UA flyer at EWR basically has the same .
Also, isn’t IFE a bit of a “red herring” as well. If you’re flying enough domestic to spend 35K on DL you’re not watching the same TV every time. I don’t watch TV, so maybe I don’t get it, but I can’t imagine premium domestic frequent flyers are flying Delta so they can watch a rerun of a show that was filmed 11 years ago.
As I said before, I will continue flying Delta BUT only when convenient which is mostly domestic non stop. Nothing else. I used to get to the airport with time to spare and go to their lounges. No more. Leave home in time to spend minimum time at the gate. Used to sacrifice quality and price for loyalty when flying internationally. No more. Will fly domestic to a bigger airport and get an international airline that flies to my final destination non stop. Bye bye connecting at AMS to go to Europe. Delta may not care about someone that had been Diamond and 360 for 12 years in a row and carried all their credit cards. Too bad. I don’t care about them either.
Stablemate Air France is objectively more premium than DL and ironically easier to get Flying Blue status with, while getting a 2-3x more valuable redeemable currency than SkyMiles
Shoot I missed the part that you mentioned US only. Still. Even if your assertions are true (I believe most of them), their status as it is right now is nowhere near the 1.5-2x “cost” of what would be equivalent on UA or AA.
The ‘western world’ is also mentioned in the comment. I have been to a bunch of countries in the last 1.5 year or so, and service has been absolutely fine in most of them. In fact, my experiences with hotels in places like Portugal and Mexico were better than pre-pandemic visits. Some airlines have improved their lounge offerings (e.g. AF at CDG, A3 in both ATH and SKG), while new/improved airport terminals have also opened (e.g. MAN T2) and the passenger experience has improved as some amazing new planes (mostly Airbus, I recently had my first A350 longhaul experience, so much quieter and more civilised than anything else, but even the A220 is a game changer in the regional jet market) have reached more airlines. The fact that some lousy
(cont from previous comment)
…lousy restaurants and overly leveraged hotel owners in the US have been struggling to recruit people to work for them for next to nothing in no way translates to a global deterioration in the quality of service provision.
I can objectively say Delta’s reliability service has worsened since before the pandemic. 2019 on time was 85%. It was 82% last year.
Meanwhile UNITED improved from 75% to 78% in that period.
The Delta edge is fading – it’s not the airline it was when Deltalina graced the safety videos and Anderson at the helm. I think they jumped the shark when the red dresses got sent away.
I genuinely hope the FAs avoid needing to unionize to feel valued. That was another Delta advantage that feels like it’s faded during the Bastian years.
Fact is – UA and AA had rough integration years in the 2010s and Delta wisely exploited it. Now with their improved ops their edge is fading.
Copy/Paste Job. I’ll just say this: I’ve flown the big three in economy, and the experience is mostly the same. I have flown on Delta One and Polaris, and they’re mostly the same. Yeah the Delta seat is slightly larger and has a previous DOOR, so one could say that it is slightly better. Service is the same. That doesn’t justify labeling Delta as any more “Premium” than AA or UA.
@ Tim Dunn — Bottom line is that United’s fleet is BETTER TODAY. PERIOD. Orders are great, but I’m flying now and being asked to contribute to DL’s bottom line now. If Delta’s plans come to fruition in some future year, maybe I will be back. Until then, I will be flying Uinted and the VASTLY superior Star Alliance.
Wow. A butthurt DL cult member explosively reacting to negative news about DL. How innovative! -_-
This is the most disappointing move Delta is doing to their loyal customers. We have been great customers through the years and feel our loyalty has been thrown under the bus. I’m a million miler and a skymile platinum level. Delta could care less about people like me who have traveled on their airline and told my friends how great delta has been. Delta has done a horrible in justice to people like me. Shame on Delta.
They should have done what United did when they went to dynamic pricing and claimed that the changes are actually good for consumers and not to trust your lying eyes. Sure that business class award to Munich went from 80K to 200K, but that hot economy redemption from Denver to Biloxi is now 5000 less!
They are there primarily for your safety so shut up.
ha ha
Obviously Tim Dunn is a shill for Delta. The number of times he posts defending them and the lengths of those posts- on literally every aviation web site out there- is staggering.
If he’s not being paid for this he’s an idiot.
I’ve been asking, has “Tim Dunn” ever actually flown on Delta? I have read no personal experiences written by him.
So, our Tim Dunn appears to possibly be the mayor of Lilburn, GA (pop 16,000; he won unopposed, so don’t read too much into it)? He apparently terminated from Delta Airlines in 1994. I guess we all now know whay he is so clearly biased, and as suspected, I doubt he flies very often. Of course, in Georgia, politicians are GIVEN Diamond status for FREE by Delta, so a $35k target matters not to him. Plus, he may even fly non-rev as a retiree.
I never thought he used his real name. Would be interesting if that was him. Tim, what say you?
Just Google Seeking Alpha Tim Dunn. My take is that he’s pumping the stock.
While Delta could have communicated the changes in a better way, ultimately the way that Delta communicated is, to quote Tim Dunn, a red herring.
The changes are negative for virtually every category of Delta traveler. Substantially negative. DL Skymiles is already the least rewarding program and Skymiles are less valuable than other airline currencies. With these changes, DL makes earning elite status harder for every category of traveler, and DL makes its Amex cards less valuable. It’s much harder to reach elite levels. Substituting spend on a card that has subpar earning is not worthwhile for most.
DL may be right that enough customers will stick with DL whether due to hub captive or good service. Not sure DL’s service is materially better for must, so it comes down to price and schedule. Skymiles will become irrelevant as a reason to travel on DL for most travelers.
There wasn’t a good way to communicate this. So DL is staying silent, betting that it will blow over and that travelers are sticky or hub captive.
They made earning status easier for one group. Those that travel business to Europe or Asia 3-5 times a year and their company pays for D1.
Meanwhile, those that fly 100+ segments a year get a middle finger.
Not a way to build brand loyalty.
It appears Traveler is correct. My apologies to Mayor Dunn. I guess he isnt “our” Tim Dunn after all.
The “smug” attitude is very strong in almost all large US corporations and the federal government. You all can complain and boycott till you are blue in the face, but it won’t make a dent in the “smug” force field at these outfits. They really do believe they know what is best for you.
Exactly. Don’t be condescending and tell me you’re making my life “simpler.”
I have had elite status for more than 15 years been a loyal customer for Delta with many flights but I’ve already canceled my Delta credit card and will seek other means of transportation I fly internationally and have lots of choices Delta will be the last choice
Isn’t the problem miles inflation with people getting 60000 to 100,000 miles just for opening a credit card? Then you have people who have small businesses put their spend on cards and get a bunch of miles. People open multiple cards just to get miles.
The only miles earned should be flown miles. That will reduce the amount of miles available but the people who do a lot of flying might get 75,000 miles a year. Now you have people who all of a sudden have 150,000 miles or more and might not have flown for 4 years.
The lounges should have a monthly or yearly fee. That would cut down the amount of people in them. You could reward people who fly 50,000 miles a year with free lounge access. I am not sure what the number of miles would be for free access . It might be 50,000 or maybe some other number.
Also lie-flat seats are overkill unless you can get serious sleep. Most flights from Europe to the US don’t need lie-flat seats but they can’t change them out each flight.
Let them deliver whatever premium product they want, ain’t buying it! They just lost replaced a loyal base, a sticky business with one that’s dependent on old rich people spending their way on CCs or flying private. This won’t scale well for delta!
Couldn’t tell you how liberating it’s to spend all my miles and GUCs. Everything is booked, autopay on the Reserve car has been cancelled and the card will follow soon. After 2M I feel I’m Delta-free!
For 2024, have few trips booked with Middle Eastern and European airlines. Adios Delta ! Enjoy Tom Brady!
Bye bye to Delta and the Amex Reserve. At $600 per year, it’s just not worth it anymore. After paying for bags through Sun Country, it’s far cheaper anyway. I can wait to send a few texts until I land. I spent $50,000 this year on the Amex but I’ll never hit the levels needed to qualify when these rules go into place. Delta’s new “disloyalty plan” will ultimately work and reduce elites to….almost none.
Am I missing something, or is the logic just not there? If you need spend some huge amount with the airline to obtain status then surely most the time you’re buying premium tickets that include most the things status gives you (faster check in, extra baggage, lounge, early boarding etc). If you need to spend $100s of thousands on a card to obtain said status if you fly less then you’re rich enough to also afford to fly premium anyway?! You may as well therefore spend the money on whichever airline is most convenient, and/or where you get more bang for your buck with miles if that’s you’re goal…. Which certainly isn’t SkyMiles!
That was a major point I made…if you’re spending $35K, it means you are already buying very pricey premium tickets, so who needs the status?
The requirements weren’t complicated at all. Ed just pulled a Bud Light…
Naw man this is worse than Bud Light. Bud Light just made some hideous weirdo their spokes…thing. This is way worse. It’s not just an insult, but a massive middle finger to all their loyalists who continued to chase loyalty no matter how costly it became.
At the end of the day:
What generated my loyalty to delta was upgrades — mostly on long haul. I’ve been diamond for the past 6 years, and I was hoping to make 360 this year, but it doesn’t seem very likely. With these changes — I can’t / won’t spend more on delta, but my status will be reduced to barely silver. This means … for me at least — that the loyalty I’ve had for delta and pushing for maintaining my status — doesn’t provide any value anymore with these changes.
No longer will I pick delta over other airlines, even if they cost more — I’ll shop on price.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t good for delta. It’s good for me — I’ll save a bundle.
They’ve moved to a spender not flyer program. But as a spender you get the benefits already. Upgrades, already front of the bus, free bags, already get 3 in the ticket. Lounge included in my D1 ticket.
So yeah those that get status don’t need the status.
I have been a diamond for ten years. I have been loyal to Delta to this time, but a 15k jump to dollar spending is unreasonable. It’s time to take my business to airlines that aspire to offer similar premium service at competitive prices. It is a global competition when you travel long hauls.
There is a better alternative for at least a fraction of us. We won’t know (nor, really, will Delta, though they have their business plans and beliefs) for while how big that fraction is, but the best alternative for people like me will be to decouple from the loyalty race.
If Lufthansa business to Nairobi is my best value flight, I should buy it (and credit it to a useable alliance partner, sure. Don’t throw away miles). If the trip after that is Delta C+ or P.E. to Geneva because that’s the best value + schedule combo for that trip, sure I’ll book it. And maybe I’ll miss the ‘priority’ bag drop but really, how much do those percs matter. And cutting miles cards and maximizing cash-back could be the best value proposition of all.
Chase card (and other carriers…..here I come!)
I haven’t figured out my plan for 2024.
Here are my options:
a) I could start driving 90 minutes each way to fly American or United out of the next closest airport. Delta is the only airline at my local airport.
b) I could keep flying Delta and easily be diamond in 2025. If 2025 is like 2023 then I would probably diamond in 2026. Of course, we have to assume Delta keeps increasing the $35,000 threshold.
c) I could keep flying Delta as a platinum and just purchase first-class or business-class tickets on longer flights.
d) I could keep flying Delta but credit the flights to Air France/KLM. I’ve been flying Air France internationally to/from Europe lately because their product is so much better than Delta.
Last option exactly. If you’re captive to DL being only carrier in your city, go Flying Blue and get all your miles on DL credited there. Not only is it a better program, but they have partners outside SkyTeam, like JL, QF, numerous others. Recently made the decision myself.
Besides a more valuable loyalty program currency, what do I get with Flying Blue? Obviously, I’m going to lose a hypothetical upgrade on Delta. I’ll also lose Sky Club access domestically as I can’t buy a Sky Club membership without having Delta elite status.
Have you not reached MM? Before now, it hasn’t taken long to reach MM if you are flying DL often enough to reach DM. If/once you are MM, then you have Gold, so can buy SkyClub. I had forgotten about the obscene rule that you must be Medallion to even buy SkyClub. Delta management is so full of themselves…
I am a million miler but that only comes with silver. Silver qualifies to buy Sky Club membership but you wouldn’t get Sky Priority as a silver. But regardless, if I buy a membership but fly Delta and credit to Air France/KLM Flying Blue I surely can’t access the Sky Club on a Delta membership? I believe the flight would have to be ticketed by and credited to Delta.
Oh, right, only silver at 1MM. I am not aware of Delta requiring you to credit your flight to them in order to gain access to the lounge on a paid membership, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that is a thing or if they add this rule later.
Just the fact that Delta doesn’t allow you to earn miles on Basic Economy or Economy seats is ridiculous in itself considering their price point compared to other carriers.
I suggest Delta Million Miler, Diamond members be granted this status for life once achieved as they typically are lifetime loyal contributing flying customers on Delta airline loyally and understand mostly represent .2 percent of flying public. This may be a reciprocal empathetic gesture on behalf of the carrier being perceived as fair to their life long customers!
You are joking, right?
To be clear, it wasn’t me.
As I suspected! 🙂
Come to the midwest where there is no Delta 1, it is just business class, even if you are flying overnight from San Francisco to Detroit.
While the 7171’s are a bit better than CRJ’s, they are still cramped and with little bin space.
I have 3 million miles on Delta (or so my account says) and more than 9 million Frequent flyer miles.
But, my employer requires I use their credit card – not an Amex, that I book on their site, not Delta or Amex’s. So I rack up few dollars on spending on my flights. Always buy refundable tickets, almost always in a middle seat in the back of the airplane. With status, at least Delta mostly found me an Aisle.
Gave up on Sky Clubs just before Covid, never could find a place to work at.
While I have permanent Gold, it will do nothing to give me a better seat, and some instacart shopper using a Delta Amex will get Diamond status.
I may or may not fly Delta in the future, depending on cost and routing.
Delta shows me they don’t respect my 30 year loyalty to them, so I will return the favor.