NBC News Correspondent Losing Delta Elite Status, Blames Trump

by Gary Leff

NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Kasie Hunt lost her Delta elite status, and it’s Donald Trump’s fault.

Regular readers know (and sometimes complain) that I blame President Trump for many things. However if you’re dating problems with SkyMiles, the program really started going down hill in the waning months of Bill Clinton’s second term.

And someone should teach Ms. Hunt the trick of just dialing Delta Singapore reservations (+65-6336-3371) to avoid long hold times, 24 hours a day call center in English.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. devastating
    But 2 hours on hold to speak with the award winning delta customer service
    I’d easily wait up to 6 hours

  5. Clearly this is a news correspondent whose every word should be trusted. Not.

    Most news correspondents love nothing more than a big and running story, and happily pay the price of either less or more travel so as to cover it. Perspective is useful not only for collecting FF miles and status, but also for covering the news.

  6. It took me several times reading her tweet, but I think she was blaming Trump for keeping her in DC later than she had planned I guess? And therefore, combined with the separately occurring drop in Delta Status, meant she needed 2 hours on the phone to change the flight instead of when she had status and the calls were quicker. But yeah, it was super confusing and sounded like she was blaming Trump for losing her status.

  7. 1) She should go back to being a reporter. It wasn’t Trump that caused Kasie to lose elite status. It was that she transitioned from being a field political reporter to an anchor in the last 2-3 years. That’s going to cost her a lot of MQMs, MQDs and segments. I know a lot of Washington political reporters and most of them are at least gold or platinum.

    2) Even if her travel was greatly reduced, between the Delta-branded AmEx and some strategic flying, she should have been able to maintain gold status. Just flying Delta’s Mexican partner from New York or Washington to Cancun or Santo Domingo via Mexico City once or twice would get her enough MQMs and MQDs to keep status.

  8. So, she:
    1. Moves to DC to improve her career as a political correspondent
    2. Is fortunate enough as a journalist to be able to cover the most news-generating administration that may have ever existed. Makes her career off of the 24-hour a day “Trump taking a dump” news stream
    3. Complains because Trump is making too much news
    #bitethehandthatfeedsyou

  9. Did she mention she had a baby in September 2019 which probably contributed for her not flying too much before and after the baby was born?

  10. Well, at least she hasn’t been dragged off a Delta flight yet.

    Maybe she should try United. Oh, wait a minute…

  13. Guys this is a joke. She lives and works in DC and reports on politics/capitol hill. But she also had a baby and was on maternity leave this year, which undoubtedly is the primary reason she didn’t rack up enough mileage (or spending) to qualify for 2020.

    Blaming it on Trump is an attempt at humor because his administration is chaotic (while still being effective) so she’s joking that she couldn’t get out of town or go on vacation because something is always happening. Blaming Trump is what’s called sarcasm.

  17. @Rob – I think you’re right. That’s the way I read it too. Her Trump (sarcastic) comment only had to do with her being delayed that one day. People are reading way too much into this.

  18. Gotta love when the news talks about any mundane occurence and starts with:
    -The Trump administration.
    Like, that man is responsible for e.v.e.r.i.t.h.i.n.g that happens in the world.
    And now that poor lady spent two hours on the phone because of Trump. What an evil man!

  23. Oh maybe this was a weak attempt to tie it to the AAdvantage Cabo story? #jokes

    @Gary forgot about that Delta feature but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it was really just a joke and actually does still have status.

  24. I am glad to see Allen the Mark ( so named because he always believes the race hustlers) is here. I recently purchased some genuine Martian alligator boots to sell. Martian alligators have skin that feels like plastic because they have a thin atmosphere on Mars. Allen, we know you like to buy such things: a pair of these boots cost $100 a pair, or discounted to $1,150 for 10 pairs. Are you a taker? Buy 10 for a discount?

    Let me use the secret words: Trump does not like Martians because of their Green skin color, so buying these Martian boots are a symbol against Trump. Do I have a sale? Go into resistance mode and buy the boots.

  28. good god, this is a simple tweet about the difference in service levels (hold times) from modest elite tier to no status. it casually mentions trump in a sardonic and playful way… for many of the reasons stated by some in this thread. she most likely does not mean to blame him for her drop in elite status, except to say that she’s kind of been DC-bound reporting on a chaotic administration.

    the title of this post is misleading because most reasonable readers would likely not come to the conclusion that she is blaming trump and the word “blame” or “blaming” does not appear in the tweet. A better and more accurate title may have been “NBC news correspondent losing delta elite status, thanks trump for keeping her in DC.”

    if you want, you can put “thanks” in quotation marks to suggest that she has playfully or sardonically thanked him. but to say that she “blames” trump demonstrates a bias one would expect only in conservative media. she actually *thanked* him… whether that thanks is akin to sardonic right wing cries of “thanks, obama” for all manner of perceived transgressions is best left for the reader to decide. the title of an article plays a significant role in how that article is perceived and – indeed – on whether it is read at all.

    you know, fox news is fond of saying “we report. you decide.”

    maybe gary should adopt the same philosophy?

  29. She is one of the more slightly saner ones at MSDNC, no less!

    If she has been kept more in DC, it is probably due to her having more air time at the anchor desk.

    Career problems, no less equals more exposure and a loss of status.

    As I said, one of the slightly more saner ones at that “network.”

  32. Thanks [president] is a popular sarcastic internet saying.

    That she deleted the tweet is likely because of the lack of sense of humor of some Trump supporters.

  33. @Richard. I think comparing people with Trump Derangement Syndrome with Zombies is hilarious. Another Zombie anti-Trumper running around quoting Adam Schiff. Unwashed, yelling ad hominem insults and full of mindless hate: Very Zombie like. Har Har Har. Can’t you see the resemblance? Har Har Har.

  34. I like to imagine Trump going out of his way to dab on so called journalists.

    Ah I stepped in a yuuuuge dog poop This is your fault DONALD TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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