Rapid Travel Chai

This is the first time I have dedicated a post to a rant. Usually rants seem petty, entitled and hysterical. This is no better.

Delta SkyMiles is the laughingstock of US airline frequent flyer programs. Delta hardly gives lip service to offering value in the program. Statements from executives rarely touch on SkyMiles. Award availability is the most public issue: sure, flights are available, you just need to pay a multiple of competitors. At all levels of the program the benefits are same or worse than competitors, with the exception of Rollover MQMs for all members, and SkyClub membership for Diamond Medallions. I really liked the introduction of Rollover MQMs which brought flexibility to the program, useful for those with irregular travel patterns. It has been several years of eroding benefits since. Even systemwide upgrades that are so coveted by elites of other programs are worthless for many Delta elites because of fare class restrictions.

I am a Diamond Medallion with 153k MQMs this year which means I am already Diamond for 2014 as well. My travel is roughly 60% business (premium cabin international, economy domestic) and 40% personal (economy). I travel internationally a lot and often fly Delta’s SkyTeam partners, for which SkyMiles earning was seriously reduced for most airlines earlier this year. My wife is a Diamond Medallion as well. Our most convenient airport is currently Newark, and we have been quite tempted to make the switch to United and its Star Alliance partners. For the past year we have tolerated the premium we consistently must pay to stick with Delta/SkyTeam. I have not had a single business or personal trip the past year from LGA, JFK or EWR where Delta/SkyTeam was the cheapest option, which is especially challenging for business travel compliance.

Delta’s Same-Day Confirmed policy is the one thing that has kept us loyal. Any time the day of travel we could switch to earlier or later flights within 3 hours of departure as long as cabin (economy or first) was available. A simple phone call, seat confirmed, go to the airport. This allows flexibility and helped compensate for Delta’s uncompetitive pricing. We could change routing, or from connections to nonstop. And as Diamonds we could switch among the co-terminals of LGA, JFK and EWR. The unofficial co-terminal benefit was the ‘killer app’ for us to deal with the inconvenience of NYC travel.

Now comes an ‘enhancement’ which is MBA-code for ‘idiot idea.’ The new policy is effective April 23, a Delta representatives has posted on FlyerTalk and the follow-on fury is rapidly growing. See Points, Miles & Martinis and Delta Points for further analysis.

There are nuances to all this, but the crux of the policy is that same fare class as booking must be available. Unless you are booking the most expensive tickets, fat chance of ever coming across that fare class on day of departure. If you do somehow find that fare class, it must be within 3 hours of the original departure or even elites get dinged with a $50 fee.

If the fare class is not available you can Same-Day Standby for $50, with a fee waiver for Gold and above. Standby means having to go the airport and wait at the gate in the hope of getting a seat.

Delta obviously is doing this to increase revenue in three ways:

1. Pressure ‘gamers’ to pay extra to buy the flights they originally intend to fly, rather than cheaper alternatives that they will later SDC.
2. Pressure business travelers and premium travelers to pay for higher fare classes.
3. Collect $50 SDC fees.

#1 seems the most viable. In my personal travel I am most certainly a ‘gamer’ in this way. There is probably a significant population that will shift their bookings.

#2 I am skeptical. Not every business traveler can book more expensive fare classes. My wife and I both work at companies that require booking the lowest fare class and require justifications for any deviation.

#3 I am most skeptical. Collecting $50 SDC fees means that fare classes must be available and I do not think that will happen much under current practices. Delta might collect a fair number of $50 Same-Day Standby fees, though.

How does this look for travelers and Delta employees?

For travelers this creates complexity and frustration. How angry do you think someone who purposely buys a much higher fare class in the hope of having same-day flexibility only to find that fare class not high enough? How frustrated will every traveler who must now Standby be who has to shlep to the airport and possibly not make it on the flight?

And why must customers be worrying about fare class codes at time of booking? Many websites and corporate travel tools obscure fare class. Then on day of travel travelers must be hunting around for fare class of available flights. The slow-loading, buggy new Delta website is difficult enough to search for a trip without having to look for fare class.

Delta’s employees must be dreading this. Call center agents must now deal with fare classes and explanations to confused and irate passengers. I called the Diamond line today with a few questions and the agent confided that “they are not looking forward to this.”

At the airport, the last thing gate agents want is more people pacing around the gate trying to standby for flights. Each standby passenger generally means time-consuming interactions as the passenger checks, rechecks, tries to sweet talk, gets angry, tries the “Do you know who I am?” tack, etc.

Reading various analyses’ the only passengers it seems this will consistently benefit are  low-level elites who book the flights they intend to take and will have a better shot at upgrades. Anyone who uses SDC loses.

The conventional wisdom on these kind of revenue-enhancing, customer-unfriendly policies is that they maximize revenue from the premium/business traveler. This assumes that travelers are uni-dimensional. Many business travelers though, like myself, are also leisure travelers with families. We tend to stick with the same primary airline for business and leisure. Business earns the status and miles, leisure enjoys the benefits and awards. For every $50 fee that I may be able to expense on business, there is a $50 fee that will infuriate me on leisure. By spiting the ‘leisure me’ you lose the ‘business me.’

I hope Delta will have second-thoughts when they see the customer and operational results. Probably they won’t. I have a few months before targeting a United 1k status match challenge in July to earn status through 2014.

I have been stupidly loyal against my current interests. Delta, do you really want to fire a dupe like me?