Let me be clear from the onset: I am not a Delta guy. In fact, I’ve flown like 5 Delta segments in my life, 4 of the 5 were on awards.
To recap what others, like One Mile at a Time have written about: Delta has pulled their award charts. The general sentiment is that Delta will price awards as the computer prices them and that is that.
I have two opinions on this. First, its customer unfriendly, second, I’m not sure how much I agree with it, because they still have an award calculator (a la British Airways).
Further, you can even get the award costs:
So, yeah, I’m not sure how much I agree with the concerns here.
But then I got into what may become an infamous twitter argument with @Milestomemories – discussing whether Delta’s changes may warrant government intervention. My opinion is simple: We–travel hackers–treat airline miles as “currency.” Banks pay money for these miles. In fact somewhere (which I haven’t been able to find in a quick search), View from the Wing has highlighted Chase paying, I *think* millions of dollars for United miles, when United made its way out of bankruptcy. The fact of the matter is though, that frequent flier miles are not true currency. There are few regulations, airlines can change the terms any time they want, and frequent flier miles are not regulated by any government body.
You know what? I’m comfortable with that. In fact, I would prefer not having government involvement in frequent flier miles. But my concern with folks that are highlighting it, is that someone will take notice. I would propose to you, that if politicians take notice, and there is government intervention, we all lose.
So, next time you see a devaluation, consider how much you publicize it. Have United’s or Delta’s devaluation hurt? Yes. Have they materially hurt you? I question that. I’ve paid 2x for a United award already, but I don’t feel like that experience warrants pushing it to government intervention.
What do you think? Will government intervention kill loyalty programs, or do you feel it is the answer?
I agree that government intervention will hurt, but this is not an devaluation as you say. This is a company stating that they have no need for transparency.
Miles and points are a defacto currency. Yes you are right that legally they aren’t a currency and hopefully it stays that way, but this is not a devaluation, but simply a move to allow the company to do what they want without even disclosing it in the future.
The calculator means nothing when they can just change the inputs at any time. Before today there was a document that governed the inputs to that calculator. Now that document doesn’t exist, so they could make changes at any time without even announcing it.
Ask yourself why they would do this other than to make those changes without disclosure.
I do not want government intervention either, but I should point out that this post brings as much attention to the topic as my own.
We won’t bring intervention, but I fear that Delta’s next move, the one at 2am with no notice will be the last straw.
Hopefully I am wrong. Either way, this is a despicable move by the company.
@Shawn – I think there’s a difference between illegal and non-transparent. What Delta is doing is non-transparent (opaque?), but its not clear that it is illegal. Its entirely possible that the changes were made without thinking. American admitted to as much when they made changes and rolled them back when there was pushback from their elites.
As far as the calculator and inputs being governed – I’m not sure that’s correct. Ed at Pizza in Motion cited Gary at View from the Wing who stated that the calculator has not in fact been aligned with the award chart, even *after* Delta changed it to reflect some outputs of the calculator. Yes, it might give the appearance that there is basis, but the IT systems don’t seem to support that appearance.
Glad you took the topic up Trevor. I’m sure government intervention would help some “mainstream” customers… But you and I hang out on the fringes, and IMHO, it is best to shine as little light on our world as possible.
Also, there are people thinking delta will start preferential pricing awards for certain customers. This could be the first step towards charging fewer miles for certain customers. Or it could be nothing more than a way to start the true revenue program we’ve heard has been coming for years. Only time will tell.
@Sam – I totally agree – those of us on the fringes get hurt, but we accept the hurt because we can still get out-sized benefits. I’m not even sure it would help “mainstream” customers though, because costs would invariably increase (when has government intervention ever *not* increased the price of something?).
The more I’ve been reading about this, it very well could that some “genius” at Delta came up with the new award chart system, but the technology for one reason or another cannot support it. Either way, I think there is more to the story, and you are right, only time will tell.