The primary benefits of flying Delta have been that they’re a more reliable carrier than competitors, and that their crews are marginally friendlier than United’s and American’s. However,
- The reliability gap between Delta and competitors has narrowed.
- They have an intentional strategy of having a less rewarding frequent flyer program relying instead on the airline being good to fly to bring customer into their ecosystem and keep them.
- But this year they told a lot of those customers that they aren’t actually valuable.
Delta told customers that to be a valuable customer they were going to have to step up their business with the airline and with its co-brand American Express cards. In fact, they’d have to upgrade to the most expensive cards for even their spending to fully count towards status.
The airline planned to go from $20,000 per year in spend for top tier status plus 125,000 qualifying miles to caring only about spend – on Delta and on its premium credit cards. The new requirement was going to be $36,000 qualifying spend – with other elite tiers going up as well. And that same top elite would be turned away from Delta’s lounges when redeeming miles for the least expensive award tickets, and limited in how often they could visit clubs with their premium card which had previously offered unlimited access.
Customers were quick to flee Delta. Loyalty Status Company CEO Mark Ross-Smith says that “100,000+ high-value frequent flyers did a Status Match in 2023” and that this was “[m]ainly driven by the Delta SkyMiles changes.”
A month later Delta rolled back these changes for 2024, while claiming to be committed to making them in the future. Clearly they realized they’d made a mistake in imposing massive changes all at once (without even giving customers anything more in return). The question is when they’ll try again, and what customer reaction will be to getting boiled slowly like a lobster.
- How many of these customers come back, versus sticking to the airline they matched to?
- Especially because Delta so far says the reprieve is just for a year – they’ll still be firing customers, just doing it later.
SkyMiles are worth less than competitor currencies. Delta’s quality advantage is eroding. But what they demand from customers is on a path to be far greater than at any other airline.
If you live in Atlanta or the Upper Midwest you’re hub captive to the airline and don’t want to connect. But if you have a choice, does it still make sense to stick with Delta? And if it does what would the last straw be?
I’m in SLC and fortunately hit 1MM a couple of years ago so will just settle with my lifetime Gold and give up chasing Platinum, which I’ve been for the last 7 years.
With a lot of flexibility I’m still able to find super cheap sale fares off season that will keep me with delta – 22k to Sweden and Spain, 60k to Australia in summer
I left Delta years ago when they lost two expensive professional camera tripods without much compensation. I even spoke to the President of Delta at the time to complain. When he did nothing I came up with an acronym for Delta on the spot! D E L T A, means Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive! He was apoplectic!
@ Gary — Count me as of one of those customers. Delta opened my eyes to their extreme greed, and you can’t close them back.
“100,000+ high-value frequent flyers did a Status Match in 2023” – Let’s assume AA and UA get 50k frequent flyers each. To those who switched to AA or UA, they would have to compete with the already high-status of those two carriers. Upgrades – Don’t even think about it. Priority baggage – When everyone is holding status, then every bag would have priority tag. Check-in priority – same as baggage. Call to dedicated line – A long wait is what they will experience. What are the benefits of doing status match here?
After 10 years as a Delta Diamond, all paid first class flights, I’m out. It’s amazingly freeing to chose the airline solely by convenience and price and not by loyalty.
@T: The benefits of a status march to United is unlimited lounge visits on the base lounge/card membership, a reasonable path to qualifying for status on flying alone, which allows you to put your credit card spend with much better points value and flexibility than sky miles.
Even if your complimentary upgrade chances don’t improve or are worse, it’s easier to get international upgrade certificates. And you get access to a larger/better international alliance.
I fly out of MSP and dumped Delta due to low sky miles value shortly after they bought Northwest and just connect in Chicago. The new C Concourse lounge makes it especially painless.
I also very much value United’s generous Same Day Change policy.
I’m out of EWR (and LGA, JFK). Very easy for me to switch to United. Currently using up saved miles on DL. Already picked up United’s Infinite card and got the 90K mile bonus.
Done with Delta!
@David Crane Same here. 10 years of 360/DM, all paid premium. Delta’s lines were so obnoxious that I would not be loyal to them again. They prioritized 1M people paying $500 per year over 100K people paying $100K per year, for instance.
This has some subtle layers beyond “last straw”. I live in a Delta hub and I’ve been happy with their service/product, so the changes thus far won’t drive me away from flying with them. I even have a Delta Amex for some of the perks that go with it. The downside of SkyMiles value being too low is that I don’t spend on that card unless I absolutely have to. I’m good for Delta’s flying business, but not their points-selling business. If Delta wants to sell points that I’ll earn from Amex, they have to consistently return better than 1cpp in redemptions. Otherwise, they don’t be cash back so there’s no point in accruing them via spend.
Me: Decade+ Diamond and current 2MM, Reserve Card Holder, non-hub. Also PlatPro on AA. Tried the UA status match but it was wonky (who designed that, anyway), but I got to try the Chicago Polaris club and that was better than any skyclub, but not better than the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LHR.
A Delta loyalist despite, but have concerns.
Did 6 Transpacific and 4 transatlantic R/Ts, 90% DL but some Virgin with points.
I would have hit the upper future boundary on MQDS in 2023 and will for the 2024 year with MQM Rollover.
Want the GUCs for this year’s travel trans-pacific trips, so conversion makes sense to get early 2025 status, but those won’t last long.
Will have no GUCs left until qualifying for 2026 deep into 2025.
So am planning on maxing out on AA to see how that feels.
Actually considering getting into ANA, JAL, Singapore programs.
This adjustment has caused me to think about planning 2025(!) travel strategy, which is crazy.
I am hoping more DL Elites bounce, so maybe more domestic upgrades, but I am already usu top 3 on any upgrade list. If they comped International once in a while, that would sway me.
I’ve been Platinum for a decade now flying 20+ round trip flights annually out of MSP, and routinely had at least $100K MQM’s to roll over each December 31st to assure I’d maintain Platinum status. Along with my flights, I also charged a substantial $90-$100K in new and recurring AmEx Reserve Card spending. However, with these huge Delta changes, once I hit $90K in early December and received my 3rd & final $15K MQM status boost, I immediately starting moving ALL my large recurring charges over to both my CostCo Visa, and a Chase Visa.
I then called the Platinum line to let them know that if ‘anyone’ cared, in just the prior three days I had officially just transferred OUT $84,000 or ongoing Reserve Card charges. I similarly called AmEx with the identical info, and the agent I spoke to quickly indicated she had been hearing from a LOT of disgruntled Delta customers.
After Delta debits my MQM account to officially grant me Platinum status in 2024, next up I’ll be looking for their February details where I will ‘spend’ $100K of my remaining accrued MQM’s to ‘push’ my Platinum status out through all of 2025. My current plan is to keep my Reserve card both to buy my Delta tickets, along with getting the ‘measly’ 15 annual full day long SkyClub visits for at least the next two years, and then unless they back down from these egregious changes I’ll then bid the whole program ‘adios!’
As one of those flyers being boiled slowly, it’s being boiled slowly like a frog. I think the lobsters are boiled quickly. Point taken though! 😉
COVID was the trigger. They let a lot of employees go during that period and the customer-service has never been the same. I was a long-time Diamond member who no longer sees a path with all the new rule changes. Also, all the SkyClubs were ridiculously overcrowded the past year… getting better though. The only rule change that I like is that I am a lifetime Platinum now because I am a 2 Million Miler.
Delta has never had great International flight service compared to other airlines. The meals are awful. Domestically they still hold a very edge over AA and United… but not by much.
They also have alienated a lot of their customers with the CEO’s stupid involvement with politics… example, when new sane voting laws were put into place in Georgia and Delta decides to denounce. STAY OUT OF POLITICS. Fly the planes safely and provide good service,
I still fly the airline because I am based out of Atlanta, but I have chosen to use alternatives a few times because of cost and I no longer see much difference in service.
I’ve said this before in this forum, so I apologise for being a broken record…. the slippery slope of Delta treating their best paying (cash paid premium cabin) customers like sh*t started shortly after Ed Bastion became CEO, and it hasn’t slowed until recently when they realized they’d pushed too far, too fast.
IMO, until Bastion leaves or gets the Heave-Ho, it won’t change.
Delta pimped out its soul to Amex. Delta cannot be everything to its customers when it is in absolute servitude to Amex.
All of you complaining aren’t the type of customers Delta wants. They want fanboys like me who know they are the world’s #1 premium airline, and they haven’t made a single bad business decision in their 300 year history!
Good riddance to all you complainers, go fly on Spirit where you belong!
Awful airline. They ruined the great service of NWA under Checkee (sp?) and his management team when Delta acquired NWA. For a while I had little choice but then I moved and after they screwed me repeatedly on awards and rude service, I left for good – nit that they cared and obviously still don’t care about status customers.
So, dl no longer wants my business. I fly annually, from MCO to a conference in IAH. I always took dl via ATL. Of course I’d book with my Reserve card for lounge access. Guess what dl, there are 4 airlines flying non-stop MCO-IAH, so why should I fly you? Miles don’t count. Segments don’t count. I can book UA, use my reserve card to pay and not have to connect. Plus, you won’t have to feel bad by transporting a White man!
@ Travelman5 — PLEASE don’t use your Delta AMEX Reserve card to book your UA flight. Maybe a Chase Sapphire Reserve, but please not a Delta AMEX Reserve! Even better, use a Platinum AMEX for 5x on fights…
Living in Mpls, we have little choice, but I still hoping (not a business strategy) that Ed hears the client defections and complaints. I have more than 2.5 million actual miles on Delta. My adult children who live in NYC, LAX and Washington, DC that fly First for business with more than 175,,000 miles each per year have deserted Delta for another carrier. Especially, when shops and hotel overseas charge a premium for using Amex over Visa or MC, What a shame to lose a base of customers in their 30’s.
I’m done with Delta. There’s no point being a diamond status when the perks are no longer there. I’m just going to look where there’s cheap flight. No need to be loyal to Delta anymore.
Delta Airlines lost its credibility and better we chose alternate Airlines. I gave Delta sky miles since 1996. Trying UA Thank you
I’m with @Jason.
When I worked in Detroit, my company had a contract with Delta and with Marriott. I hit my 1MM and my MarriottTitanium Pro, which gives me United Silver. Now I’m retired, so I fly maybe 12-15 trips/year. (If I knew how much fun grandkids were, I’d have had them first.)
I have a Delta Amex Gold that sits in the drawer, so I don’t pay the surcharge when I convert DL skypesos. I use my Amex Platinum for the 5X miles and the DL Sky Club access when flying DL. I also have a lifetime UA Club membership that I bought in 1973 for when I fly UA. I transfer points when I need to when I want to — usually for business class to Europe.
Credit card points are the only worthwhile currency today. Choice of airline is based solely on price and schedule. If I want to sit with the grownups, I’ll buy that seat. After all, now it’s MY money.
I’ve found that status is essentially useless. I haven’t figured out what I really get for it.
And, if you want loyalty, get a dog – but be sure to feed it (hmmm – sort of like a loyalty program).
The changes to the lower Delta status levels this past year made it a no brainer to use whichever airline is the best for me at the time of planning.
It’s clear that Delta is focused on the strategy of being a full travel services company and not just an airline. I could also see them eventually being bought and operated by a bank or consumer credit company. The business of flying and the value of those customers has been vested in their mind.
I dumped Delta long before it became trendy to do so lol
The greed and arrogance they display daily was enough for me.
The handwriting was on the wall long ago but eventually if your bright ,affluent and savvy you move on cut your losses and become a free agent
Gary none of this matters. Delta, a for profit company, caters to discerning customers who know it is the best run and most profitable airline on this planet. No one can dispute that. Delta earns a premium that no other airline can command. These losers will come crawling back.
I was one of those customers. I’m now an Executive Platinum with AA and LOVE it! Love there EP desk. Their Admirals Clubs and Flagship Lounges are truly amazing. I’ve been flying the JFK to LAX and their level on service on that route is outstanding. 1-1 in first class and international lounge access. No regrets and they gave me 10 system one way upgrades and it includes Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii. I never saw these with DL. I do NOT miss ATL at all.
@ John — What EP desk? That one that takes an hour to call you back when its your turn?
Was Delta Medallion and immediately switched to jetblue Mosaic, fantastic choice #flyjetblue
Because the US government has allowed the US3/US4 to become an oligopoly, none of this really matters. AA and UA suck just as much, just in slightly different ways. The airlines know loyalty and service don’t matter so much when customers have so few choices.
@ John — I hate to defend Delta, but you actually received 10 AA SWUs that you were able to use on international flights IN ADVANCE? AA SWUs have become a joke. At least Delta gives Diamonds a choice of 12 Regional Upgrade Certificates that are fairly easy to confirm in advance.
@George Santulli
When I worked for a large service company in a position that thankfully wasn’t call center but still dealt with them, they decided on a new QA model called “CARES!”, which basically came down to QA counting the call center agents off based on the hypothetical possible outcomes of their actions (even when they were illogical and the actual outcome was totally different). They didn’t like what I said the acronym really stood for… “Can Anyone Really Expect Success ?” It was true. QA scores became a joke that supervisors and managers quit caring about because of how false they were.
@Angry in Atlanta
I too ABSOLUTELY HATE corporate in politics. Generally they don’t really give a crap about the issues and are only using it for publicity bonus points (which they so often make worse anyways = Budweiser for example). Don’t you remember, that hardly a decade ago, corporate “ethics training” was always making a big deal about NOT using the company (or your position within the company) for political agendas / purposes? And then 2015-16 hit and everyone started making the company represent some new political movement!
For me, the last straw is customer service. Delta used to be safe to fly with and yes could reasonably expect to never have an in-flight unruly passenger or an incident-triggering employee, and no political drama. Now they’ve been slipping on all things and the problem people are flying delta and the FA’s are reacting similar. They BARELY have better customer service too. But they’re a premium price, 30-50% higher. It’s “almost” not worth it anymore. If customer service slips more, or the nonsense increases, then I’m done.
I’d probably go to United, as AA has BS level of customer-serve-us and then SW has too much booking / check-in / boarding / seating toxicity because of how the way they operate encourages those behaviors.
Flew FC from SAN to SEA with a seat mate that was a DL loyalist, but he had just status matched to Alaska 100k. He was totally frustrated with a lot of things DL has done but this latest cluster was his last straw.
I have no statistics to back up my comments however, if Gary is correct, this may be part of the reason Delta is stating revenues are expected to be lower in 2024. The best way to change company behavior is to vote with your pockets.
I love to Delta but now live in AA hub. Stuck with Delta for years even though I was in AA hub. Finally gave up middle of last year. I want to say I miss the airline but everything I’ve read since then has been pretty shitty. Upgrades on AA are very hard to get but at least living in the city. I get to fly direct to more places than with Delta. And I do not miss ATL.
AA’s SWUs have saved me tens of thousands of dollars flying to London and Europe 4x per year.
Although one commenter above who lives in MSP claims to have jumped to United, and enjoys connecting in Chicago, this is exceedingly rare. Connecting in Chicago is a nightmare, only eclipsed by NYC airports. Few people will add hours to their travel day and risk a misconnection just so they can sit in a lounge. Especially not those who pay for first.
The people jumping away from Delta are by and large not located in Fortress Hubs. They are in secondary markets where the equation is which hub to connect through…. Leaving DL and Atlanta as a connection point for AAs Charlotte or Dallas hub can make sense. Leaving a direct flight to connect? Not so much
I am a DL customer out of MSP. I pay for first class domestic, about 8-10 trips per year. (Me and spouse). I have Delta cc but put $0 spend on it. I spend on Chase Sapphire and Amex Platinum and transfer the points to whoever makes sense, usually for international first. (Often Air France but also Lufthansa, Swiss, KLM, and other international carriers)
I still fly Delta, but I’ll use another carrier if they offer a direct flight.
My math is:
Direct flight most important
Cost second most important
Carrier least important but DL > UA > AA
(because I fly UAs partners more than AA due to Chase Sapphire)
Alaska and Jet blue have almost no flights to msp so they’re out
I hate SW boarding process and they don’t have first so….
I think my version of “leaving” DL (becoming a free agent) is more common than people who fully “quit”
But DL is still losing $3k to $5k annually on my household based on the above so…
Interesting this pops up. I was thinking about strategy for next year and out.
I priced tickets to BKK and SYD yesterday. DL 1 priced about 2K higher than two other carriers. Delta won’t provide a no cost stopover. The others offer that. As well as comping a hotel on the 20 hour layover.
I don’t consider the D1 product a premium product. It is just basic business class. So no winner there.
The DL reserve card will hold for 2024 for lounge access. I won’t make Platinum again and I’m LT Gold so it carries no value other than club access. Tickets can go in wife’s Gold Amex or somewhere else. Reserve spending has been totally devalued.
I have DL and AA options without a drive. Won’t fly enough to gain any real status with AA so not worth it. International business will be a price/value decision.
So far this year EK, QR, DL for one each. DLs partnership agreements and route structure are negatives so far.
2025 may be Priority Pass only. No SkyClub at my origin, IAD, or sever other airports I use. It isn’t worth using a one day entry for 1 hour connection.
If the Reserve card stays at the 15 visit point for 2025, it will be gone. I don’t see Lifetime Diamond coming with anything but boarding priority.
Looking at the comments and in discussions with others that were high mileage flyers, I think DL blew this. I also don’t think they really care.
Wow, Gary. You really hate Delta. What did they do to you to make you go on these constant screeds?
While I appreciated the perks associated with Delta Diamond status (4 years in a row), it was always a tough pill to swallow with respect to the very poor mileage redemption options. It was obvious in recent years that they were on an aggressive customer devaluation streak and the recent change was too much. I gave up Delta status and moved to Southwest. First class upgrades were nice, no doubt about it, but am getting much more bang for the buck with Companion Pass than I ever would be able to with Delta. It’s a little sad, to be honest, but even the FC upgrades just were not worth it anymore to me and my spouse.
I miss Northwest Airlines
This is clickbait being presented as a fact. Here’s the supporting tweet:
“Pick up a copy of Business Traveler Magazine (USA) and check out the latest feature from our co
I estimate that in the US, over 100,000+ high-value frequent flyers did a Status Match in 2023
Mainly driven by the Delta SkyMiles changes.”
If if the clickbait is true, it doesn’t mean high-value customers are fleeing Delta. It may mean that people took advantage of the aggressive status matches targeted toward Delta customers. I’m a Platinum Pro with AA and I’ve taken 1 flight with them in 6 years.
thank you, RPG
The real test will be how well other airlines do in the 4th quarter.
Some were convinced that people would flee Delta and it would take years to be seen. If 100K people fled, it would impact the bottom line now.
IN fact, Delta noted that part of the reason for its domestic weakness in the 4th quarter was because of the additional revenue that it got from a competitor last year – clearly Southwest.
Now that AS and UA are experiencing significant cancellations due to the MAX groundings, AA, DL and WN could see significant revenue bumps in the 1st quarter that are as large or larger than in the 4th quarter of 2022.
And some of those passengers that are displaced by the MAX grounding might switch their loyalty.
Life and business is a marathon and not a sprint.
@RPGfaFG, no, read the followup https://twitter.com/drdoot/status/1747034072826949963
“Estimated that ~100K matches away from Delta in the back end of 2023.
Most of these matches were to Frontier, Jetblue & Alaska, and some international airlines. AA & UA were late to the party.
80% of those Delta elites likely have co-brand.
Assume 100K elites @ $10k average flight spend annually + 80K elites with co-brand @ $50k card spend annually.
That’s $1B of premium seat sales + $4B of card spending walking out the door = $5B/pa at risk.”
When premium customers leave Delta, they walk away with a premium swagger.
Just greed by Delta; excessive greed.
The bigger question to ask is why airlines are increasingly constructing elite status levels that are only possible to achieve with significant revenue premium cabin flying, while at the same time offering benefits that are virtually useless when flying premium cabins. Think about it: what’s the point of upgrades when already in F/C, and priority/free checked bags and priority check-in are already included in F/C tix. Overcrowded domestic lounges aren’t much of a benefit, and why are you in the airport so long on a domestic flight? Mileage bonuses are nice, but devals and the crapshoot of dynamic pricing seriously reduce the inherent value of miles that are locked into a specific airline. I really had to chuckle when I recently flew out of CDG and saw that AF now has two sky priority check-in zones: one for actual AF C pax and another (self-service) zone for elites; apparently, AF top-tier status receives access to the “real” priority check-in zone.
And, the only thing in life that matters is profit! Just ask the World’s Most Miserable Man!
@Gary “Estimated”, “most”, “assume”, “likely”. It doesn’t mean it’s not true, but calling this fuzzy math is being generous. A less generous take is pure speculation. And given the headline, can this be supported by similar “numbers” for other airlines?
I’m also done chasing status with Delta. I barely made Diamond the last 2 years, and I don’t see a path to it for 2025 with the new structure. Like others on this thread, I’m looking forward to choosing flights with fewer connections, and at lower prices. I’m not looking forward to going back to my United flying days, but Delta has made it clear I’m no longer of value to them with these changes.
I status matched on another airline. I made Diamond for 2024 and, with excess MQMs, will be Diamond through 2026. That gives me the flexibility to shop fares and become a WFBF customer. Delta remains a strong option, as it controls the largest share of my home market, but it is no longer my primary choice.