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Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian knows many people are unhappy about the Delta SkyMiles 2025 program. And he said the carrier will make “modifications” to their previously announced changes.
Is Delta Backtracking on the Extreme SkyMiles 2025 Changes?
During an interview on Monday with the Rotary Club of Atlanta, Mr. Bastian addressed what moderator Erica Qualls-Battey (the General Manager at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis) termed “the elephant in the room.”
“I have received a lot of feedback, and I appreciate it,” he said. “A lot of loyal travelers love our company.”
“….we have so much demand for our premium product and services that are far in excess of our ability to serve it effectively,” Mr. Bastian explained. He noted that Delta doubled the number of Diamond Medallions since the onset of COVID-19.
Then he seemed to admit Delta might’ve made a mistake.
“We probably went too far,” he said. “We moved too fast…we care about the feedback.”
And it doesn’t appear all the SkyMiles 2025 changes are set in stone.
“There will be modifications that we will make,” he teased.
(H/T: Jason Avnet/Inc., who points out the pertinent information starts at about the 29:00 mark in the above video)
What Will the Changes Be?
Forgive me for not stretching my legs — I don’t anticipate jumping for joy.
Delta may fear drastically reducing spending thresholds and/or reverting to the current (soon-to-be-“old”) Medallion-earning system might make them look dumb or weak. I don’t plan on them throwing us too much of a bone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see unlimited Sky Club visits for Delta Reserve cardholders (as it should be). Maybe Amex Platinum cardholders will see an increase in how many visits they’re allowed.
I find something interesting: he said the amount of Diamonds doubled in the past several years. That’s likely due to two years of everyone’s MQM rolling over. But that stopped last year. Shouldn’t the Diamond ranks be thinning a bit regardless — especially after Delta raised the MQD requirement last year from $15,000 to $20,000?
I’m genuinely surprised Delta is (allegedly…) backtracking this quickly. Some of us figured it would take around a year to see how much their financials — and Amex’s — were affected. But it seems like the angry emails — and I’m guessing some Amex card cancellations — actually worked.
We’ll see!
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For real !!!! Wao… I am eagerly waiting…
Sorry. I don’t care what they do – he showed us his cards, so we know where they intend to go, maybe not next year, but in a few years. So they will go back to boiling the frog slowly. Sorry, I’m still done chasing the moving prize. BTW I just flew on SQ in Biz JFK to SIN for half the price DL wanted, and the food, service, and seat were so immensely better! Still leaving.. Will still use DL for short haul non stop flights, but will NOT put any charges my DL Amex cards. I think if everyone simply stops using their DL Amex cards, that will hurt DL immensely, even if they continue to fly DL. DL will not hit their $$$ goals, and Ed will lose his job.
Don quips “we know where they intend to go”. I think Don nailed it.
In the interview, Ed says: “Our team wanted to, kinda, rip the bandaid off, and didnt want to have to keep going through this every year with changes, and nickel and diming, and whatnot. So, I think we moved too fast, and so we’re looking at it now…”
I hear this to mean: “This is where we intend to go, we just did it too quickly. Look for my team to bring you changes every year – nickel and diming you along the way – to what we just told you.”
Atlanta companies know about “New Coke” all too well
Good one!!!
I’ve been a Diamond Medalion and a Reserve Card holder for the past 10 years and will meet the requirement of $20 MQD this year, which of course was increased from $15K last year, but the $35K threshold for 2025 is frankly unacceptable. I ready to send my “Diamond Brang Tags” back to Mr. Bastain as look for alternatives for 2025.
Show me the $$$$
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!
But, as you say Chris, I’m not about to start jumping for joy yet.
I agree 100% that the COVID MQM rollovers should be organically reducing the number of elites. And…110% agree that the Reserve Card should come with unlimited SC visits while reducing the visits via the Amex Plat.
Let’s see…but question…why has Delta become the Mr. Kimble from Green Acres on every revision they announce? “Folks…everything has changed!…uh, well, not everything!”
(Apologies to those who don’t get this reference…check out Me TV for the reruns of Green Acres.)
1. Big Legacy Airlines (DL, AA, and UA) are too big to faii. The re-regulation of the 70’s and 80’s which caused Braniff, Pan Am, etc. to fail, is unlikely to occur again. They just survived the pandemic lockdowns with huge cash injections courtesy of the federal taxpayer. So DL loyalty remains a solid bet.
2. A CPA could advise on SkyMiles as a currency. I’ve read that it’s the most valuable asset possessed by DL, and I’ve read that it can’t be a valuable asset under SEC rules. I don’t knwo which to believe.
3. Loyalty continually seems to be drawing the short straw, in favor of seat monetization and AMEX/Visa demands. Loyalty means little. There’s no incentive to become a million miler. Some other loyalty programs are very enticing, right now.
The bottom line is that DL loyalty is not a total loser, but it seems less coveted and there are some other airlines that look more exciting now, and AA and UA loyalty will always be comptetive and actually look very good right now.
Likely they will throw us a bone. But: They will not change the revenue based approach. They will not make Skymiles more valuable. They are a financial corporation, they don’t care if you spend money on Delta Airlines or not , as long as you’re spending on their credit cards.
They have shown for years that we don’t get elite upgrades since they rather take non-rev extended family members of employees upfront. We would be fools to fall for Ed’s maneuvering . Delta lost me. The better price and the better service will determine my bookings in the future , and Delta Credit cards will have no longer value for me.
This wouldn’t be the first time that the CEO has misspoke and confused things. He and other executives have previously referred to Delta One business-class as first-class and also called Premium Select a business-class product when it’s premium-economy.
I don’t see how Delta can have double the diamonds now. Maybe in 2022 but not 2023. Those status extensions ended a while ago.
That aside, the proof will be in the pudding. Delta can’t just rollback some or all of the changes and then do it all over again next year.
I don’t think any diamond would object if the 125,000 MQM threshold was increased to 150,000 MQMs or restricted to actual flown MQMs and not credit card bonuses. But $35,000 MQD for diamond with no consideration of actual miles flown is absurd. Especially when Delta has not invested in its in-flight product to make it premium.
Has anyone seen the wine list in United Polaris of late? They’re better than international first-class on some airlines, including American. Meanwhile, Delta is serving gas station wine.
I’ve been around Delta for a long time and Ed’s statement about further changes because they have “gone too far” doesn’t surprise me. Every time new “enhancements” come out, they reverse part of them to get the changes, in my mind, where they initially hoped they would be.
Just a thought, but I think it’s true.
I still think they’ll have an MQD only metric, although hopefully with lower thresholds. And yes, make SkyClub visits unlimited for Reserve cardholders, as it should be.
Moved too fast just means they regret not boiling the frogs more slowly. It’s still coming.
I hope we knocked some sense into him
Delta turned up the heat too quickly and frogs were starting to jump out of the pot.
We clearly have a lot of French food lovers in this particular post’s Comments section! 😉
Do chablis and champagne count as French food?
Oh, geez. I don’t want to give you of all people the incorrect answer.
I have already obtained a new card and shifting away from AMEX Delta.
Which card did you go for?
I hope they keep the new structure and reduce the thresholds so there is actually a benefit from being able to pool flying and credit card spending.
All I’m looking for is that Amex Plat keeps unlimited SC visits. If that happens I’ll stay with Delta. If it doesn’t, I’ll keep the card but fly whatever airline gets me where I’m going with the fewest layovers. It’s the club access that does it for me. An FC seat is nice but an exit row seat will work just fine. Coast to coast I’ll use miles to upgrade if I don’t have status.
Just like with relenting on SC arrivals access this is all by design. Let’s aggressively rip the bandaid off then give back just a little bit and voila. The masses will think they won. Classic negotiation.
In business, there are basically 2 business models: 1) sell more at a lower price (ex: Costco) or 2) sell less at a higher price (ex: Designer Brands on 5th Ave). The Delta people in HQ who came up with the 2025 Medallion Program changes need to go back to the fundamental premise of any loyalty program, which is entice customers to keep coming back by giving frequent return customers perks. Remember in the early days of the airlines industry when there is no frequent flyer program. Most customers were not loyal to any particular carrier. Some shop for the level of service, some shop for price, some shop for the convenience in routing…etc. Let’s face it, 1) Delta does not provide the best service when it comes to international flights. The Delta flight attendants are, in most part, LAZY!!!! compare to most other foreign carriers. If you ever fly Korean Air Prestige Class or Cathay’s Business Class vs Delta’s Deltaone, you will know what I am talking about. 2) Delta very rarely is the lowest cost carrier.
Basically, with the new medallion program, one has to earn 35,000 MQD for Diamond. To achieve that I would have to fly almost 117,000 miles on a partner airline to get to 35,000 MQD because in 2024, Delta would only give me 30% of total miles flown for my MQD. Take one of the longer route such as JFK to ICN to SIN (JKF to Singapore with a connection at Seoul) round trip, the total distance is ~19,500 miles round trip and I would earn 5,850 MQD. This means that I have to make 6 of these mileage runs at a cost of roughly $5000 per trip. Therefore, 6 trips would cost $30,000.
For $30,000 what does the Diamond tier gives me???? “A Chance” to upgrade to first class on domestic flight; and since I always purchase the least expensive main cabin months out, I usually don’t get upgraded because so many “business” flyers buy their ticket last minutes and pay far more than I do. Oh, what about those Global Upgrade Cert, you may ask? Well, again, I only get to upgrade to Premium Select because I only purchase main cabin fare. Bottom line, if a person needs to spend $30,000 to get to Diamond for the hope of those upgrades, then why not just spend the $30,000 and buy first class tickets and fly only the trips that are necessary – meaning no more unnecessary mileage runs.
With the new 35000 MQD, Delta can no longer differentiate itself because smart customers will just shop for the lowest price rather than being loyal. It does not make sense, even for a business flyer, to chase after the Diamond tier because if one wants to fly first class, one would just buy that first class ticket on any carrier other than Delta unless Delta is the lowest cost provider; and any smart business person will tell you, any business can not survive based on lowering its price. It need repeat customers; and for most of us spending $30,000 to get to 35,000 MQD will not gain new customers nor retain its repeat customers!!!!!
Exactly. Spending $35,000 on Delta first-class or Delta business-class isn’t worth it. You can get a better product on other airlines. Foreign and domestic.
If you want a puppy, ask for a pony.
Obviously, as noted by others, he didn’t say they went too FAR, just too QUICKLY. This could also be subterfuge to allow those on the fence considering AMEX cancellations or changing travel habits to wait longer to do so. Kind of a “we hear you and we’re considering” without actually doing anything!
Food for thought: Delta didn’t just pull random numbers out of the air. They have all of the metrics that tell them how much we spend each year both flying and on the Amex cards. They also know how many Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamonds is ideal in order to provide value to those elites. My guess is DL set the Diamond limit based on the number of people whose current annual spend exceeds $35K on flights or $350K on the Reserve card. DL made it too easy for too long and now they need to thin the herd. It’s very possible that the thinned herd will enjoy a level of service and value not previously available due to so many elites. One final thought: what do you suppose is going to happen to AA’s and UA’s programs when they get flooded with DL defectors?
I had a conversation with a fellow dad when we picked up our daughters at school yesterday. We discussed the Delta changes. He lived in Chicago forever before moving with his family to L.A. He’s a United guy but said, “United sucks.”
If I were AA and UA, I’d be investing more in my people and product.
I’m a 3-million miler; lifetime Gold, and Delta Diamond since Diamond existed. I’m an academic, not an industry person (who is allowed to purchase upgrades, unlike me). Like many others, I think the Delta Reserve should retain unlimited SC visits and reduce the Diamond MQD limit.