Delta’s President says that the most frequent Southwest Airlines customers are abandoning the carrier for SkyMiles status, thanks to their current match offer.
Glen Hauenstein offered during the carrier’s first quarter earnings call that they plan to go after the loyal customers of airlines that are trying to convert themselves into premium – like Southwest Airlines as well as Spirit and Frontier. They’ve had an elevated status match offer for Southwest elites, and Hauenstein says it is working.
And as people continue to change their products to try and align more with full service carriers, I think there are opportunities to go after some of their more loyal customers, which we’ll be taking advantage of as we move through here. We’ve had some very successful successful programs that have gotten us a lot of new members in places that other carriers are operating as the largest carrier, but maybe not the one people want to align with.
In particular, Delta suggests here that they’ve brought in Rapid Rewards elite members with this status match “in places that other carriers are operating as the largest carrier” which is going to mostly be Austin (Southwest is number one in the market, Delta has been growing its presence) and the reason for this is that customers no longer “want to align with” Southwest in light of that airline’s changes.
It’s ironic in a way that Southwest elites are abandoning the Dallas-based carrier. While Southwest is going to be charging checked bag fees, that will affect elites less (A-List members still get one free checked bag). While they’re moving to assigned seats, elites will get free seat assignments and a shot at more legroom than is available to them today. In other words, elites are less affected by the carrier’s changes (though still affected by the devaluation in Rapid Rewards points, but even more ironic that anyone concerned with that would move to… Delta).
However, Southwest Airlines is destroying its brand – and its bond with customers. That gives those customers a moment to pause and reflect on their habit of going straight to the airlien for their flight needs.
And if Southwest is going to position itself as ‘just like all the other airlines’ doing everything in the same way, they do not compare favorably. They will have premium seats, but not first class. They have inflight wifi, but it’s slower and more costly than what others offer. They don’t have lounges. They don’t have seat back entertainment screens. They don’t have many international partners to earn miles and status with, redeem points on, or extend their elite treatment across.
American Airlines was actually first extending status matches more generously to Southwest Airlines elites and is similarly based in Dallas. It would be interesting to know the extent to which customers are abandoning Southwest for American as well.
Ha!
Buh Bye Southwest!
No more Luv!
The morons ruining Southwest will regret what they have done to Southwest as their customer base leaves and their revenue stream disappears.
Delta, or any other airline, shouldn’t assume they are converting WN elites simply because they took a status match. I don’t fly WN much anymore but if I was elite I’d jump on the DL and AA status matches just in case I may want to fly them.
As you noted the changes are actually, IMHO, good for top elites since they get assigned seats, extra legroom seats and won’t pay for bags anyway
I find it so interesting Ed wants to reward SOUTHWEST elites. Yet for his OWN elites this is the CEO who stuck it to its Medallions, his own elites. He doesn’t bump up to first anymore , lots of jets depart w empty first class. It’s much harder, almost impossible , to reach Diamond. I am a Diamond for my first time ever. Had to take an extra flight on Dec 27 to get the status. Haven’t been upgraded a single time in 2025 nor has a single flight attendant “thanked me for my loyalty” the way Inited does now. His “snacks” are like 6 pretzels or almonds. Thought they wanted less elites and less people in Skyclub? Which is it , Ed. The marketing and logistics are so off base . You care more about Southwest fliers than Delta EARNED elites?? Be nice if someone in the C suite reads this !!
@AC — Agreed, no guarantees of sticking around.
Still, if so, this was completely self-inflicted. Southwest management has no one to blame but themselves. A shame.
“elites are less affected by the carrier’s changes”
I disagree. Elites will lose their current ability to same-day change the lowest fares and still get a non-middle seat. That’s a major downgrade.
Elites and everyone else will need to keep track of funds expiration. Funds that expire in 6 months are a big disadvantage when booking 5 months ahead.
For the first time in 25 years I am looking forward to the year I no longer need to fly Southwest every week.
No premium class is no go . Extra legroom seats or blocked middle seats won’t cut it in the chase for premium class customers.
It would be really great if Delta, etc made a great offer to people that aren’t “the elite” but just regular flyers. “,Elites” still will get bennies on SW, it’s the regular people that are getting screwed and no one seems to give a crap about them
first, there are a number of markets where DL is the #2 to WN including a number of Florida cities and Midwest cities like MCI as well as AUS.
DL is the only other airline at Dallas Love, and is the only other airline that serves both Chicago and both Houston airports.
and, yes, DL has had considerable success doing status matches for AA customers so knows how to make them work.
and status matches only work if you meet the requirements which includes maintaining a certain amount of travel; DL doesn’t just match your status and let you park at that level.
Sadly, DL and UA see WN as this decades wounded animal that they will prey on just as they did w/ AA in the past and still do.
even if DL doesn’t give WN elites more than they might get under WN’s new product, DL does offer a global network for award travel which really does deliver plenty of competitively priced coach and premium select awards.
and DL does have airport lounges
Eh, the cold hard reality is that most frequent flyers — especially the ones who buy the more expensive fares — fly the airline that’s most convenient for them. Honestly, competitors are more likely to poach Southwest’s less valuable, more price conscious, occasional flyers. Delta can dream of getting a big chunk of Southwest’s best customers now, but it’s just a dream.That said, they’ll get some, and there’s no harm in trying.
Sorry but Delta would have to pay me to fly them again. Did fly them a few years back and I think I prefer the Southwest brand of Customer Service over the rude treatment I received.
I’m flying delta sunday
But only because aa was sold out and a one stop on delta was half the prices aa one stop.
Atlanta doesn’t control the market anymore
They follow it.
#telling
chopsticks,
despite what many believe, WN does carry a fair amount of corporate and high value traffic. DL is not after WN’s low fare passengers but their high value passengers.
DL competes very well with WN in markets where they overlap.
American,
and yet DOT data shows that DL consistently gets the least amount of complaints of the big 3. However, DOT customer service complaint categories do not include “wasn’t nice or friendly to me”.
we all get to have perceptions and I would say that in general, WN’s employees are nicer than DL’s which in turn are nicer than AA and UA employees. WN has had the benefit of being able to offer a pretty simple product for all but that is all changing.
and I would strongly bet that complaints to the DOT about WN will soar as their employees have to explain an increasingly complex system that will change far faster than the public can process it all and some WN employees inevitably will not show the patience they once did.
I suspect DL sees the chaos that is coming and many WN loyal passengers see will come during the customer service redefinition/upheaval.
and jane,
since you mention a connection, it is way too complicated to figure out which segment was not available on AA but DL managed to have available – but it is generally not desirable not to have seats available 2 days (or more) in advance.
Both AA and DL use O&D revenue management systems so they will try to get the best revenue on the system but not all 2 segment O&Ds are worth selling.
DL also said it is being more aggressive at releasing inventory to offset the slowdown in demand.
DL also consistently runs the highest load factors of the big 4.
and the price you see is a reflection of the availability which, again, is related to what flights have seats.
More times than not, I see AA fares connecting over CLT to be much lower than DL fares over ATL.
Every airline is chasing customers. The other airlines were going after Delta customers following their IT meltdown. Economy flying is largely a commodity product with each airline offering relatively the same pitch and width on a 737 or A321. I doubt the value of sky pesos and Delta’s higher fares are going to motivate s lot of Southwest customers to jump ship. If it does affect Southwest, they will adjust their product.
Would someone please tell me to shut up. Oh wait, OMAT already has me in timeout. So now I have to come over here and shill Delta. Bah, Hah!
Just because people are doing the status matches does not mean converted business…we’ll have to see…not going to compare favorably if they are on Delta’s regional smaller jets vs Southwest’s 737s.
@Jeff T Have folks not noticed that elite benefits are more marketing than loyalty benefits these days. I hear of 1K’s who cant get an upgrade whether they apply their plus points or not. It’s not 2009 yet.
RE your comment that “SWA is destroying its brand? True, but why? Seems to me they are “making SWA more like everyone else” so they can be more easily merged into another airline. They have hit the limit of how much they can grow. It’s not realistic to think they can grow internationally with widebody”s so their huge domestic feed will make one of the big three really big. Only possible under the current administration with its pro business, we aren’t concerned about the consumer attitude..Perhaps these guys took a gamble that Trump would win and they could pull this off. America is now being run like big reality show so while this scenario would be unlikely with any other administration it’s not now.
No reason to remain loyal to SWA……Cashing in my frequent flyer miles about 100K and craneling the cc and move on .
and john,
which of the big 3 doesn’t have a Texas hub?
Doesn’t really feel like there’s anything to see here. DL is doing what businesses do…compete aggressively for customers. WN made a business decision that its competitors have deemed as an opportunity for them. They’d be fools not to seize it.
I’m wondering of the LCC are coming to an end…or at the very least evolving radically. LCCs like WN are wedged between the legacy carriers and the ULCCs with nothing left to differentiate. WN’s entire marketing campaign of late was about no fees. Now that that’s gone they are just like everyone else. Getting encroached upon from both sides is never a good place to be.
Valid point Tim but their fleet of narrow bodies could augment DAL,UAL or AA substantially.
My take is the battle for their takeover would make some people wealthier quicker than a stand alone investment in SWA would. It just occurred to me even a merger like the Alaska/Hawaiian one playing out could be in the cards. They have a huge domestic presence.
John W,
first it is far from a given that WN won’t be able to turn itself a4ound. They have very deep pockets in the form of a very strong balance sheet.
Their stock has fallen so badly because their earnings have fallen so badly. that is why Elliott stepped in and in the process forced WN to destroy all of their unique attributes, even if those didn’t generate profits. It is highly unlikely that WN will ever be “parted out” by selling off assets separate from a full merger or acquisition.
AA and UA strategically need other airlines to “complete” their domestic route networks more than DL does. AA and UA both have far larger Texas presences than DL.
DL already flies more domestic ASMs on its own metal than any other airline; AA is larger domestically than DL because of its larger use of RJs. DL plus WN as it exists now is huge.
DL knows it needs to fix its lack of a presence in Texas, the most gaping hole in its network even though DL is #2 at a number of Texas airports including DFW and DAL, HOU and now AUS.
DL is far more likely to gain more passengers and revenue from WN in markets outside of Texas than inside of Texas. If DL and other carriers wear down WN in other key markets, WN’s ability to keep going outside of chapter 11 grows less and less. IF WN keeps pulling back in other markets other than Texas, its attractiveness to DL increases.
I wish WN the best – as I do for any airline but if you think through where WN is strategically, there are some pretty logical conclusions you have to come to if WN doesn’t figure out how to turn itself around.
I have to wonder what can DL offer to Southwest customers that Southwest won’t offer. If you fly long haul/International you don’t fly Southwest. If you book premium cabins you don’t fly Southwest. If you fly/spend enough to reach the higher elite levels you don’t fly Southwest. If you want lounges you don’t fly Southwest.
Free upgrades? Not when airlines monetize domestic first.
Let’s say you fly Southwest because you fly shorter hops, want direct flights, and do not care about the “trimmings.” Just get me there and back as quickly as possible. So what you will now connect in ATL? What DL has 32 inch pitch in coach? Free checked bags?
I think some of this is hype (and bs) from DL.
George
ask yourself why DL has been successful as it has winning over passengers in markets competitive with AA – which has a far closer business model to DL – and you should know why DL has a good chance of winning over some WN passengers.
For those that know the data, DL gets far higher average fares than any other US carrier including in markets that overlap with AA. DL has already picked off large numbers of AA’s domestic high fare passengers.
DL has far less direct overlap on its domestic system w/ UA. UA’s hubs have more direct overlap with WN’s hubs but outside of hubs, DL has greater overlap with WN – which is carrying more and more connecting passengers. UA has made no bones for a number of years about gunning for WN’s passengers.
It is ironic that the two Texas-based big 4 airlines are the lowest performing even though Texas is doing well economically and is a huge market. It is clearly AA and WN’s operations outside of Texas that are the drag on their finances and DL and UA are focused on picking off that traffic.
@Jeff T has it right, and everyone is missing the news that DL is also destroying its brand with its mistreatment of its best customers. When flyers DL congratulates as being one of their top 1% don’t get Amex free Skyclub access DL loses its claim to be a premium carrier. UA appears to be smelling the blood in the water as Ed B and Alison H continue to search for the best way to ditch Thales pesky people that pay to be flown places instead just getting a high annual fee Amex.
I’m sure Tim Dunn will weigh in on how Delta is just killing it, but so was General Motors in 1972
Tyrone,
the bottom line results speak for themselves.
Lots of people have been convinced multiple times that DL would kill itself every time they tightened the requirements for elite levels and knocked some people out of benefits.
DL reported Wednesday and UA will report next week. When you see the results, don’t forget to factor in that nearly all of UA’s non-pilot unionized workforce will be working under amendable contracts which means that UA’s labor costs could go up by $1 billion/year esp. if UA employees expect to get profit sharing comparable to DL employees.
In contrast, WN raised its labor costs well before it fixed its revenue problem which is part of the reason why its margins have been hit as hard as they have been.
and UA needs to grow its domestic network to more effectively compete with AA, DL and WN; UA carries very little connecting traffic in non-hub markets compared to AA, DL and WN