Delta Frequent Fliers... Skymiles going to dollars only instead of dollars + segments

[EACarlson]

hum. take direct flights out of atlanta and the hit rate is about 0.0

In and out of a fortress hub is going to be much harder. One of the podcasters I listen too lives outside ATL and flies anyone but Delta so his status actually matters. It's be the same thing on American out of CLT or DFW or United out of ORD.

 

[longboard55]

Capital One Savor card, 4% on dining, 3% on groceries, cash and do not have to deal with the mile thing.

 

[kdonnel]

Second, I do agree you shouldn't be able to attain status without flying (by just doing CC spend), if people are attaining status by not flying, they're not flying, so it doesn't affect me.

The airlines are basically banks at this point.

https://jabberwocking.com/delta-airlines-credit-cards-are-now-half-its-business/

An astonishing 1% of US GDP is spent on Delta branded credit cards.

If half your business is credit card based, the credit card holders should expect benefits and attention equal to those flying. Maybe even more because that credit card revenue comes at a much higher margin than flying revenue. The profit all comes from the credit card side of the business.

I guess only delta has the data to show any negative effects, but if someone got status through spend and is not flying, are they impacting those that fly?

 

[kdonnel]

In and out of a fortress hub is going to be much harder. One of the podcasters I listen too lives outside ATL and flies anyone but Delta so his status actually matters. It's be the same thing on American out of CLT or DFW or United out of ORD.

The only upgrades my wife got out of Atlanta as a silver were during Covid on wide bodies flying domestic routes. She only tries for first upgrades as comfort+ is usually a downgrade from the exit row seat selected when booking.

Now she is generally 80th out of 100 or so for a single seat. Apparently the routes she flies are heavily flown by medallion members who account for 80+ percent of passengers on the plane.

Frequent delta flyers should be more upset about first class monetization. That program entices many to buy up which kills upgrade chances.