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I am sure you noticed that this month Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is looking into frequent flyer programs and if they are ” “transparent and fair”. This should have all the airlines shaking in their boots and especially Delta as they have been one of the nastiest with their program changes over the past many years. For example, here are just a few to consider :
- A no notice Delta SkyMiles award price jump in November or 2013
- A no notice Delta SkyMiles award price jump in March of 2016
- A no notice Delta SkyMiles award price jump in August of 2016
- A no notice Delta SkyMiles award price jump in April of 2017
- And to keep the ball rolling on #KeepDescending practices just a year ago Delta, again with no advance notice (as always), eviscerated one of the last real values for Delta points with business class awards with AeroMexico.
The point being that if Mr. Buttigieg does a simple review of the past few years of the Delta award program he will find they have simply destroyed real value over and over and over again and every single time with no advance notice so flyers could cash out if they wanted to before the changes.
But this is not one of the worst changes Delta has made over the years – this is: “Delta DieMiles”
Delta states that “Delta reserves the right to deactivate or close an account (and accordingly remove all miles in the account) under the following circumstances: A Member is deceased.” – Delta.com
This means that your loved one, who likely spent a lifetime flying Delta jets, you now are grieving will have their hard earned Delta points ripped away from their family as a final kick you while you are down.
This should not be allowed – period!
Not only is it morally wrong on Delta’s part but it encourages people to work against the Delta T&C as is evident by a grieving FlyerTalk member who reached out for help stating:
“1 Million Skymiles Member Died I need help. Please help. My family member died and they have over 1 million points. They were a diamond medallion member. What can I do? From what I understand Delta is just going to delete all the points and account when they find out about the death.” – Bfly1 on FlyerTalk.com Delta forum
So the advice, including from moderators of the board, is don’t tell Delta and just spend the points on you and yours. The sad part is you never know when Delta may get wind of what you are doing (think mid trip) and cancel everything leaving you stranded. Oh then there is also the pain of loss you feel every time you have to log in to your dead loved one’s account and pretend to be them!
I think you see my point. I hope Secretary Buttigieg imposes some reason on not just Delta but all the airlines and gives us all some rights. I do think, of all the airlines, Delta will be the one who has to make the most changes due to their simply nasty and egregious devaluations over the past few years. – René
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I disagree. This isn’t something that should be forced. I’m pretty sure the T&Cs of most loyalty programs like this clearly state that the points/miles/rewards are the sole property of the business.
I dislike their policy and think the American one both stated and in practice is much better but I don’t think Delta’s is immoral as you claim.
And from the consumer side there’s an easy workaround of logging in and using them.
Should the rewards programs of your local coffee place, sandwich shop, grocery store, gas station, etc all also be required by the government to pass the accrued balances on to survivors? Is it immoral if they don’t? The benefit earned is supposed to be a reward for that person’s spend and loyalty.
@Andrew – Do you work for Delta? 😉
My local coffee place and sandwich shop both use physical punch cards for loyalty. When I die, my loved ones can continue to use those punch cards without issue.
Perhaps you’re accidentally adding a few words to your last sentence, Andrew. Let me help you remove those words: “The benefit earned is supposed to be a reward for spend and loyalty.” The business really doesn’t care where that spend and loyalty comes from.
Let’s look at it another way: if the benefit was exclusive to the person who spent, Delta would not allow booking flights for anyone other than that person. That said, Delta allows booking for anyone – even when the loyalty member isn’t traveling. With this frame, it is exceedingly clear that the purpose of DieMiles is to renege on a promise. So, yes, it is immoral.
I agree with Andrew, I dont know of any other program or product that Must alert folks when their price will be going up , so everyone can stock up or going down so people can wait for the lower price to take affect No one forces me or you to join Skymiles or even fly on DL or any Skymiles Carrier. There are a number of items that I choose not to buy due to not liking the companys policy/s. Dont like DLs dont fly them, its very simple
This is not the role of government.
I’m pretty sure Mayor Pete has a few thousand bridges, roads and tunnels in need of repair, and that should be a priority.
A voluntary contract where one party granted the other party the right to adjust pricing and withdraw a benefit at death should be approximately number 110,000 on his list.
But… it’s a solid pander move, some will just lap it up.