Now that Skymiles2015 is here, with all it’s glory, look how absurd this commercial sounds today. First the text inside the video:
“If you go out of your way to fly with an airline, does that airline go out of its way to reward you? – Well, it should!
Because loyalty is a two way street. And when one side gives, the other side has to give back
So every action is a reaction, every push is a pull
And every ounce of dedication shown by one party, should be met with same amount of dedication by the other
Dedicated redcoat customer service, more first class upgrades, miles that don’t expire
This isn’t benevolence – this is our business
And the next time an airline asks for yours – ask them first what they have done to deserve it!”
Oh my. Talk about sad. Let’s look at this bite by bite!
I agree an airline should reward us for going out of our way to fly them. Gosh I wish Delta did that but they are only rewarding those who go out of their way to PAY MORE. American & Alaska Air are rewarding those who go out of their way to fly them.
As far as loyalty being a two way street, please ask Gold Medallions how they feel about the “one way street” they have been on all of 2014 to have their benefits, without notice, cut for 2015.
Equal reactions? Yep. I think we have seen that. For each #KeepDescending choice Delta has made in 2014 more have status matched other airlines or even, dare I say it, started flying Southwest more and more (even out of ATL).
Redcoats you say? Try and get a food voucher out of them when you deserve one and see how honest and service oriented they are.
More first class upgrades! ROAR – HA – RRRIIIGGGHHHHT! Can you say FCM!
Miles that don’t expire? Well true, other than when you Die or your Skybonus points do expire every three years even when you fly.
Benevolence? Oh Delta has made it clear that everything has a price. There is no reward for loyalty to Delta in 2015.
Ah well. Let’s end on a #KeepClimbing note instead. Let’s just quote the last words of the commercial:
“And the next time an airline asks for yours – ask them first what they have done to deserve it!”
OK – I am asking. Are you? – René
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You are confusing “loyalty” with “rewards programs”. They are related but not the same. They are rewarding differently. Some winners, some losers. They show images of red coats, flat bed seats, and many other service related things. Rewards programs are not the only way loyalty is built, earned and received, nor the only way to measure a company.
@Jason – I believe they are called loyalty programs for a reason. And yes, I agree, Delta is winning – medallions are not.
Words like ‘more first class upgrades’… they didn’t say the words complimentary upgrades. One could actually argue that those 4 words mean that first class has been upgraded…new fabric on seats, better meals, better service, etc.
@Jason – Really? Oh I think readers are going to have a few things to day about THAT comment – LOL. OY!
@Jason – I could not disagree with you more. While I admire your attempts to twist the commercial to some aspect (any aspect) that doesn’t portray Delta in a miserable, greedy, hypocritical, customer unfriendly light, you end up coming across as an apologist at best, a corporate shill at worst. Please just accept that Delta is hosing the vast majority of the customer base. This is not a state secret. As a Medallion member moving to another carrier, I really say this without rancor. I’m not making some promise never to fly Delta again. I will just avoid them where possible. After all, would you choose a Comfort Inn when you could be in a Hyatt?
Hi Rene, thanks for all the work you do on your blog. I am an alaska airlines gold member at the deal the AS hammered out with DL for 2015 is great increasing my earning rate from DL to my AS account. I have a $1254 r/t on DL from PDX to St. Lucia in P/P/I/I/P/P. The trip is 9000 base miles but DL is awarding me almost 16000 AS EQMs and 25,500 total miles. On Friday, the MVP GOLD and MVP GOLD 75K members got a LOYALTY gift from AS, our choice of two extra upgrade certs or 2 lounge passes or two GOGO passes. Here is an airline that understands what LOYALTY is all about.
Delta values my business more than ever and are getting a much bigger share of my travel spend.
The “two way street” that you talk about isn’t about a pax who takes three-segment routes (when two-segment routings are available) a on $400 ticket to get more miles and expect free upgrades on each segment. What is that pax giving DL? Not much!
I’m not going to say every change that they’ve made is best for everyone, including me. I’ve been a business traveler and a leisure traveler, but while miles definitely influence me, they only go so far. If Spirit offered me ten times as many miles as Delta, I’d still fly Delta. If United offered me ten times as many miles as Delta, I’d probably fly United. However, my experiences with Delta, or lack of customer service issues, goes a long way. I dumped AA years ago after I was literally screamed at by one of their agents not understanding my disability. I don’t care how many miles they throw at me, I’ll never go back.
So, if you watch and listen to a commercial from 3 years ago, and think everything will be true today, you are always fooling yourself. Frontier isn’t the same airline it was 3 years ago and neither is Southwest/AirTran. Delta has changed too. If you fly on $200 coast to coast flights and expect to earn more points as the guy paying $800 for his business trip from Chicago to Detroit, you need to adjust your expectation. Hotels reward by dollars and most other loyalty programs do too. It’s the reality.
When I lived in NYC, I flew JetBlue over anyone else because their TVs, legroom and experience was the best for me. Their rewards have never been the most lucrative. You can choose quality, miles, or a balance of both. I think we all know that some airlines are moving towards one or the other as their incentive. Pick which one you like and stop complaining.
@Jason – As you say, AA is not the same airline it was years ago. Neither is Delta. You are silly to think more miles from Delta is better when they have behind your back cut their value by 1/2 or MUCH WORSE with the end of stopvers and openjaw awards. Oh, and one-ways – just check the tax from Europe etc. And to compare to hotels is just ridiculous. Hotels are not airlines. Why not compare GAS points then too? Delta will keep decimating the program until it is gone and medallion upgrades will soon be history. As I have said before, when I PAY for 1st class, it will NOT be on Delta.
Delta never has rewarded customers who go out of their way to fly Delta. It, along with the likes of American and Alaska and other airlines, has historically rewarded customers who fly long distances on Delta, but not customers who fly frequently with Delta on short haul flights. That’s why Diamond, status along with all its perks, cannot be achieved by flying 100 segments a year. That’s why segments don’t roll over. That’s why short haul fliers would get far less redeemable miles that long haul fliers. I wish people would complain and write to Delta about this! Sadly, many times people believe that what’s good (or bad) for them is good (or bad) for everyone, and therefore fail to see that just because they liked the way the old system worked doesn’t mean it worked well for everyone. I’m not saying that the new system is any better because the airline’s most frequent/loyal customers are still not being rewarded appropriately with Diamond status. But going back to rewarding distance flown and continuing to ignor number/frequency of flights is NOT the solution
LOYALTY? You better believe that you deserve loyalty by DL. Why? Simply for two reasons:
1- The great recession of 2007+ and
2 – The bankruptcy of 2005.
I am an elite of another carrier that never had to file bankruptcy, I would think that if DL elites carried DL through the bad times then they owe you something in the good times – it’s called LOYALTY.
People, stop complaining and start voting with your wallets as we live in a free country.
@Rene, if you want an open-jaw, just used the multi-city search. I just searched JFK-LHR; CDG-JFK and found open jaw flights with no extra fee (just the regular taxes). Have you tried this?
@Jason – Under the old program you could get a FREE extra RT ticket via open jaw. This is no longer possible as you can no longer add an open jaw on the end of two tickets. A HUGE loss.
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http://deltapoints.boardingarea.com/2014/10/31/3-delta-coach-award-trips-14000-miles-time-game-award-sale/
Well at least the red coats are still around….
@ttx_tri – True ‘dat! 🙂
As a long haul flier, the changes to the program hurt my Delta bottom-line. I realize, however, that some might benefit from the changes. There are two ways I’m letting Delta know my chagrin. 1) I fly other airlines. 2) When I can respectfully and without malice tell an agent, red coat, or lounge desk staff, “the changes in the Skymile program have be detrimental to me as a loyal Delta customer and I really don’t appreciate them.” Not just management in ALT, but folks in the terminals need to hear from us – again, respectfully and without anger