Hey everyone,
Over the last few months, I’ve talked about our plans to revamp the SkyMiles Award redemption structure, and if you’ve searched for Award Travel at delta.com recently, you’ve experienced firsthand the changes we’ve made.
I’m excited to announce that after months of strategizing, planning and testing, our new three-tiered Award structure has been implemented and is officially up and running at delta.com.
So what does this mean for you?
First, it means that we listen to your feedback. You tell us you want more redemption options. You want to be able to go where you want to go when you want to go there. So we’ve given you the ability to decide when you fly and how many miles you’ll pay to get to that final destination.
With our new Award structure, the tiers are 25,000, 40,000 and 60,000 miles for travel within the continental U.S. (48 states), Alaska and Canada – and you can mix and match prices and cabins to create your ideal itinerary. That means you now have more flexibility and more options when you redeem miles. And, with last-seat Award availability again at 60,000 miles, if there’s an open seat on the plane and you have enough miles, it’s yours!
So visit delta.com/awardticket and try it out. What do you think? We’re listening.
Thanks for your loyalty,
Jeff Robertson
Vice President - Loyalty Programs
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UPDATE 10/21: New comment from Jeff below. For an insiders view of the Award Ticket Calendar on delta.com check out Drew’s Award Ticket Calendar Demystified post here.
UPDATE 11/21: New comment from Jeff below. Thank you all for your feedback.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
This is great! it was a bummer not being able to use my miles when I actually needed them. Thank you for listening! I hope the miles program works now for what it is made: to fly!
October 15th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
This just means there will be very few flights at the minimum level. This happened when they tiered international. There are very few first class Delta flights for the minimum…only multi stop on other carriers…and this was 331 days ahead…..Just another way to make the number of miles needed for a decent flight out of reach.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey Jeff,
Now that you’ve brought back the open seat tickets, why not also bring back award calendars for destinations not originating in the United States? Also, now that oil’s back down, how about those surcharges (both the $25/$50 ones and the bogus international originating one)?
October 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Whoops, by “award calendar”, I meant award chart, like here
October 15th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I SOOOOO agree with Linda, above. I sure hope Delta is listening to feedback as as they say. I finally get to just over 50, 000 miles, wanting to go to Europe with them, and what do they do? Raise the amount under a disguise of a multi-tier program designed to give me more “options” . so now i need to earn another 10, 000. AND with the tiered program, i cannot feel confident that even THAT will be enough! But i am hesitant to use the airline again, because even when trying to book domestically with my miles, there is NEVER availability of a roundtrip on the lower teir. One leg seems to always require a higher teir, burning all my miles or requiring more. i have never had that problem with other airline programs, including Northwest, my favorite, which i am so afraid of being ruined, like this customer “LOYALTY” program was. Theirs is a truly a loyalty program, which rewards loyalty in BOTH directions. Loyalty for the airline is rewarded by a loyalty to the customer. Here at Skymiles, i feel nickel and dimed. What more can we take from our customers? Such a shame, Delta was my favorite for a long time. where will i go when they ruin NW? IT IS just another way to make the number of miles needed just out of reach, as Linda said. that was my first thought when i read the new policy, and through actual trial, i HAVE confirmed it.
Lastly, i AM very happy they have this blog, if they read it too. IT IS a very positve step, and a good tool that couild be used as a barometer as to what the travel wants. thank you
October 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Jeff,
I understand that things are tough in the airline industry and you feel you need to devalue the award tickets again. That doesn’t make me happy but I do understand. However, it’s insulting to the intelligence of your members when you present this as a bonus, or benefit or new and improved rather than a price increase. Same goes for your “oil surcharge” even though oil prices have dropped in HALF since you implemented it. If you need to raise the price, raise the price but stop the insulting game playing.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Jeff,
I’ve tried it out (as well as most users in FlyerTalk’s Delta SkyMiles forum) and the consensus is that nobody likes it.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=869337&page=13
You can find all of the feedback you need in that thread. With the implementation of the new three-tier award chart, devaluation of skymiles (only the Fed prints currency faster), unreasonable award fees and taxes, and major technical difficulties with the award calendar, you are driving away quite a bit of business (re: medallions who bring you the money). Not good, my friend.
But to stick to the purpose of your post and this comment, the award calendar does not work. Have you tried it yourself? You select “low” flights, you get higher mileage requirements. I often get select two low dates, and then get “no flights found”. It’s broken, Jeff. Instead of putting resources into updating the seat selection process (which didn’t need much improvement, in my opinion), get somebody to work on this calendar. It’s frustrating.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:11 am
I doubt delta will drop the surcharges, those charges tend to turn into permanent ones.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Jeff,
I hope you can address one of my biggest problems in conjunction with the 3 tiered system: the removal of waitlists for award tickets. Before this structure, any skymiles member could issue a ticket and then waitlist if their class of service or preferred flights (non-stop vs connecting) were not available. If revenue management released seats for the flight, then those on the waitlist would get them in order of the waitlist.
This new system removes the ability to waitlist for any flight options. I know now instead of having a ticket for my vacation next year issued and waitlisted, I am tying up valuable delta resources everyday by calling to see if any available routings have opened up. I must call because the Delta web search results are inferior and boreline embarrassing compared to what reservation agents can find.
When you multiply these calls by the potential of tens of thousands or more skymiles members potentially calling in to check on preferred routings, I think the DL costs incurred from the higher call volumes greatly outweigh the cost advantage (read a small percentage choosing a medium tier) from reduced mileage liability.
Waitlists are still a great way to reduce stress on your best customers and reduce call center overhead.
Lee
Skymiles PM
October 16th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Dear Jeff Robertson,
As President/ General Partner to my law firm and as Vice President of a Business, I wanted to share with you my opinions regarding your recent efforts to devalue my frequent flyer miles and to make them even harder to redeem than before.
You would think that in these difficult economic times, where competition to get dwwingdling dollars will be firerce, that your airline would try harder to keep its customers rather than making the freequent flyer maze more difficult. As for me. it definitely encourages me to switch from my Platimum Delta AX to another card that has no blackouts and just gives you money towards any carriers flights. As a lawyer, if I switched my fee schedule with a client midstream, it would not only probably lead to a fee dispute/ bar complaint, but it would certainly encourage any client to seek new counsel.
As frequent flyer programs are a profit source for airlines in this economy, and where you link with other businesses and offer reward programs as alternative revenue sources, you would think that it would make sense to make redemption easier for frequent flyers so that they would do more to ge tmore points, and not the other way around.
Your decision is just bad business sense especially in these poor economic times.
Sincerely,
Forrest Freedman
October 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I’d have to agree with Linda on the practical effects of this… if the new structure means that the ‘capacity controlled’ seats avail for miles redemption are spread across 2 tiers, it’ll mean that it’ll cost us more miles in the end.
And please pay attention to Lee’s suggestion to bring back waitlists; I’ve had to do exactly what he’s gone through… call and bother the SM rep’s day after day to see if i can get the flights i originally wanted; with all the technology Delta has deployed, this shouldn’t be difficult and will save labor costs and be customer valued.
Lastly… and perhaps along the lines Forrest intended.. right now US companies are putting in place travel restrictions due to the economy (ours just announced last week) and it would seem to me that a company would be going the extra mile to get what business there is to get right now (that’s certainly our attitude) rather than diminishing customer orientation; my sense is that with programs like this, Delta’s going in a different direction with the programs.
Thank you for reading,
patrick murray
October 16th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I have been trying for days to use the “new” calendar that shows the dates and levels of awards (high, medium, low) to book award travel and cannot get it to work. I have called and emailed to no avail. Only get non-english speaking customer service reps and the email I got back said to call to discuss the problem. Why can’t they just fix the web site like the ad on the home page says? I have checked the I am FLexible box and I am on of the passengers, but nothing works. What a great deal this is!
October 16th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I agree with the others that think that the new structure devalues the SKY Miles. What is needed is a better opportunity to get a flight with the minimum miles (25,000.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I spend most of my time over in the Flyertalk forum, Delta site. I am a PM with DL and work closely with the IT people at my company. If they had rolled out something like this award structure with all of its related problems, heads probably would have rolled. Jeff, I, along with many others, read your “soft launch” comment over in FT. This may have been a soft lauch for you and Delta, but for us, it was definitely was and continues to be a “hard launch” in many ways. If you have paid attention over there, you would see that many of your best and most loyal customers post there. Many of us would gladly have been “guinea pigs” for testing purposes for this new program. Your IT Department clearly blew it with whatever pre-launch testing (or lack there of) that occurred. And while we are on the IT topic, I am sure you are aware of how many of us, in spite of our best efforts, always seem to be fighting for our miles when it comes to your partner programs. Perhaps it is the poor computer interface between them and Delta, but that needs to be fixed so when we participate we don’t have to think twice about our miles showing up; i.e. any program that involves Budget and many that involve Avis, although for some reason Avis is a bit better. Best wishes. Walt
October 16th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Jeff, on Sept 30th you came to flyertalk and called this a soft launch. Has your team even tested all components before releasing this to mass public? When your calendar spits out a LOW - LOW fare at 62.5K instead of 40k obviously something is broke. As of my random testing today, it’s still broke! Are you truely listening to feedback? I guess I’m just wasting my bandwidth and your forum space by typing this since the issues have been going on way before the new calendar and nothing has been done to fix it.
I’ll support you on your decision to make a 3 tier award system, but how can I, if it doesn’t work, I have to call in and pay a phone booking fee because YOUR calendar is wrong?
Your Quote “As you also know, we’ve experienced a few glitches along the way. With new technology, it often takes time to ensure things are up and running exactly as they should be. Know that we value your business. We’re working quickly to resolve the issues we’ve encountered; and we’re listening to all of the feedback you’re sharing with us along the way. ”
Well here were we are day 16 from your post and no fixes.
Amps PM
October 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I meant 45K for the premium cabin, not 40K.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Dear Mr. Robertson,
After reading the comments I thought I would try the new calendar. I like the look and feel, but was disappointed when I selected a flight, moved my dates to “low” categories, and then looked at the resulting list of flights. None of the flights qualified as “low” on the three tiered chart. Why lead me to believe I can get a low mileage flight when I can’t. Actually it feels like bait and switch slimy tactics. My time is worth more than the hundreds of thousands of accumulated miles in my account.
Sincerely,
Chris Huntley
October 16th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I have over 55,000 miles to use and recently tried to use them to go to London - the choices were endless - however all the available flights took upwards of 26 hours ! because of multiple connections - hopeless - so l went to my Capital One miles - booked what l wanted, redeemed and went - easy - take a tip from them because l plan to stop using the Delta Skymiles card in favor of my Capital One no-hassle rewards card. Sorry - the Delta site was badly maintained too - kept crashing and throwing me out - in fact anything except letting me redeem all these miles !!
October 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I agree with all of the comments above, except the first one. First, the spin you put on the huge devaluation is amazing. You make it sound like an enhancement, instead of the punch in the gut that it really is. To add insult to injury the award calendar application is utterly and completely broke in every respect. As at Platinum Medallion, I find this kind of inept IT deployment downright insulting. As an IT professional, if I deployed such a broken application to a large global client I’d be fired on the spot. Shame on Delta!
I also find the removal of the award wait list completely unacceptable. As others have said, calling Delta daily for months on end 1) Costs Delta a large amount of money 2) highly frustrates the customer and 3) Shows that Delta doesn’t give a crap about their customers. Seriously, what does Delta lose by axing the wait list?
I’ve been a loyal Delta medallion customer for 10+ years, and find these changes revolting, insulting, and very disrespectful all in the name of saving a few pennies. If the award calendar does NOT get fixed in the next 30 - 60 days, in 2009 I will cease to fly Delta and take my business to another carrier that values their customers.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
What about people living in Hawaii what originate their trip from Hawaii how many miles are need… surely not the same as if your coming from the lower 48 states… whats up with that… I guess just another cost of living in paradise?
October 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Please bring back the one way award ticket.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Jeff,
This is lipstick on a pig. You are just jacking up the cost (in miles) of a ticket. I can’t find seats on certain flights at the lowest level even a YEAR out in the future. Looking out 6 months i only find medium and high. Why don’t you just do away with the whole fiction of low cost (in miles) seats and just be straightforward and truthful.
We would respect you more if you just were honest and said that the price is going up and here it is.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Like all of you I fly a great deal. Don’t post on these sites but read occassionally to see if I’m missing anything. As I read these comments a few things come to mind. Like all airlines, Delta has been under tremendous financial pressure; some of the problems might have been controlable some not, but they need to be profitable. Frequent flyer benefits are a perk, a bonus and are free to us (I know nothing’s free, we pay fares that support the free seats). I’ve never really had a problem using my points, although sometimes I’ve had to use more points than I would have liked, and I’ve used a lot of them for my family and friends.
To expect that we can few “free tickets” as our own charter airline to be able to fly anywhere we want anytime we want in any class we want, is just unrealistic. This is not to say that Delta can not improve service, and I think they do try. Living in Atlanta I am somewhat captive to Delta but I do fly many other airlines and my flying experience is overall very acceptable. To think that we should be treated much better than we are now, which again I don’t think is bad, just because we fly a lot or pay $400 or so for an elite credit card is dreaming. If you don’t get the value, fly someone else and get rid of the credit card.
Prices go up, so be it. Enjoy your trips. Don’t know what got me started on this but there’s my two cents worth.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:58 am
leeinatl hit the nail on the head. Your decision to eliminate wait lists for award tickets ranks right up there with the Edsel and “New Coke.” Do you lay awake at night and think of ways to alienate your best customers? If you are truly seriouis about customer loyalty, you will bring back the ability to wait list for award seats on flights. (To add insult to injury, you made the policy retroactive. I was wait listed on a couple of flights for a trip I booked 10 months in advance. You removed me from those waitlists and did not even have the decency to contact me.)
I also agree with the comments about the inability to book award travel on the web site. Your system is horribly broken. In those rare occaisions when you find an award seat for the destination and date you desire, you almost always run into technical difficulty trying to actually book it. When you call Special Membger Services, you are referred to the Internet Support Desk. You then wait 15 to 20 minutes to speak to someone who cannot speak a word of English and who is unable to help you in any event. Don’t advertise your product before it truly works.
October 17th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I am a Delta Million Miler with a Platinum SkyMiles AmEx card, but my new wife has a lot of miles on American Airlines and and AA Visa. We have been trying to decide which airline to focus on for our credit cards and our business and leisure travel so we could build miles we could use to travel together. Based on your recent changes, I think we may have to pick American!
October 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
As a platinum member and a loyal Delta customer for many years, I have to agree that this attempt to increase award costs is thinly veiled as a ‘benefit’ and is a big disappointment. I had an award trip I booked in January for this October - $50 in taxes and fees. I had to reschedule for next March - same trip resulted in $300 in taxes and fees (not award redeposit fees but taxes, partner airline surcharge, fuel surchage, etc). Since this was for 3 passengers, my ‘free’ tickets cost $900. International mileage costs went up and the the calendar is useless - 2 days that show ‘low’ can yield a ‘low’ cost of 200K miles one day, and ‘low’ cost of 100K miles another day. Delta - you asked us to stick by you when there was a takeover threat - now we are asking you to stand by us in these tough times and quit the nickel and diming.
October 17th, 2008 at 11:44 am
As a long time and loyal Delta flyer I must join the crowd here that this is clearly as way to “raise the cost” of using one’s hard earned Skymiles. I have had three experiences trying to use miles since the recent program change…and in every case it was a minimum of 40,000 to get a flight (despite some flexibility in day and time of travel). There was simply NO flights available at the (previously customary) 25K value level.
We have lost once again…and with fuel prices now back down and the cost of oil continuing to drop, I won’t be holding my breath that the surcharge will be going away (as promised) anytime soon.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
My issues with the skymiles program are the same as most others, that you cannot get a round trip/one stop flight for 25,000 miles. I’ve used the choice of paying for part of my ticket and using skymiles for the rest of it a couple of times. However, when you do this, you get no mileage credit, even though you’ve paid for a good portion of the ticket. I don’t think this is fair. Furthermore, I’ve noticed that if I use even a portion of skymiles, I get assigned to seating zones 7 through 9. This is ridiculous and insulting. Loyal customers are the ones who are using skymiles; yet when we do, we have to wait until last to get seated and then there’s no overhead storage left. I’ve also had real serious problems getting credit for miles from partners such as Avis and Hilton. Twice this has involved bonus miles promotions. I’ve had to make numerous phone calls and send many emails just to get the miles, even though I’m very careful to give the partner my skymiles number and impress on them how important it is that it’s credited. I just lost 5000 miles in a promotion because neither the hotel nor Delta will fix a problem that was not of my doing.
I also have an issue with having to pay $3 in cash just to check bags at curbside if I haven’t checked in online. Sometimes I can’t check in online and I find this insulting.
On a positive note, the employees at airports and in-flight are outstanding. I also appreciate the fact that Delta is still serving free beverages and snacks and that they’re a decent size. I recently flew from Philadelphia to California and purchased one of the Delta meals; it was really very good quality. If Delta could take this same level of customer service and put it into the skymiles program for its loyal customers, it would pay them back in a big way.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
DELTA- do you know how long it takes to acquire 50,000 mileage points?
even with a perk here and there, it takes me 18-24 months. So a jump from 50,000 to 60,000 is a 20% hike- unfortunately i didn’t get that “pay raise” or jackpot.
DELTA - why don’t you mail out a 10,000 mile mileage award coupon to us loyal members for the next couple of years so we can “absorb” to benevolence of your graciousness?
October 17th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Gridirons has hit the nail on the head. I wanted to transfer some AmEx mile into the program, but it is a losing proposition! The “improved” SkyMiles program is a (thinly) disguised effort to lower the value of miles earned.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I think Delta should go back the 25000 miles piont for US,Canada and Alaska. what about the Bahamas and Caribbean these is no mention of this area, Bahamas and the Caribbean should also be 25000 mileage points.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
IT DOESN’T WORK. IT JUST DOESN’T WORK. I’ve tried searching on any combination of low-low dates as far as 9 months out, in locations as diverse as Florida, Belize, and Greece, and have yet to find a returned option that met the advertised low-low 3-tier numbers (premium or coach).
I understand that SkyMiles are easier to get now more than ever, and that (just like inflation) the minimums need to go up as well. But predictability and level-setting customer expectations are essential, and the award calendar fails on both counts.
Never thought I would say this, but US Airways is far superior to Delta in this regard. Try it yourself — search on a date, select the award, book it — all for the advertised level. I’m Platinum on Delta, and Silver on USA, so I’ve used both.
Why is this such a difficult concept? Raise the minimums if you must, but then provide seats at those levels. Provide the service you advertise.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The lower 48, Alaska and Canada are being well cared for. What about those loyal Delta customers in Hawaii? Are we no longer part of the United States? Have we been replaced by Canada? My last Delta miles trip from Kona (KOA) to Atlanta (ATL) was 35,000 and that was a trip completed only last month. Now it’s going to be 60,000? Hmmmm, I don’t see the advantage. Please explain.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Delta skymiles use to be the best program. I can see the winds of change slowly eroding member benefits. This is not a positive change. Just be honest and up the milage costs and don’t waste our time and yours on silly lip service progams that make the whole process more time consuming and less sincere.
October 17th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Jeff, please explain why 48 states and Alaska and Canada, and Hawaii is left out? US has 50 states not 49. What tier do we belong to now (from 30,000 raised to 35,000), will it be 40k or 60k?
October 17th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I got this message when I tried to use the award calendar and emailed delta about the problem. I believe I saw the same quote from another customer.
We understand that you are experiencing some difficulty booking your
travel through delta.com. The site is currently operational, and no
similar reports have been recorded. We continuously strive to make our
site accessible for all users of the Internet.
This message appeared multiple times. I was shown flights for the base travel dates, but no calendar. I looked at the system some time earlier and did get the calendar.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I have flown Delta Airlines since 1983. I have seen the deterioration of the supposed ‘Loyalty’ from a program that actually rewarded the loyal customers to one that basically takes the view that we are all a bunch of idiots that can be duped into thinking we are being rewarded when in fact, we are being led, policy change by policy change down the road towards insignificance and mediocrity.
How refreshing it would be to see an announcement of a change to the program where by the change actually meant something positive. The reality is, when one sees that a change has been instituted, you ignore the comments such as those made by Jeff, and begin to peruse the detail to see how you have been scammed again. Some honesty as to the shafting would be such a breath of fresh air that it would actually get many of us to better understand and sympathize with the predicament you find yourself in mandating the change.
I am a Flying Colonel, 4.5MM mile flyer, and have been Platinum every year since the program has been in place. I see we now have a new Award process that has tiered the reward availability. Why not start to tier the loyal flyers in the system? Apologies to those that are reaching that first tier of reward travel for the first time, but how about creating a tier program for those that are actually the loyal flyers.
When I call in to work a free travel program, I am treated the same way the first year, just out of college rookie is treated. I have no additional standing, no priority awards, and no indication that anything of my past loyalty counts for beans.
A tier that you enter as a million miler with additional credit (since there are so many million milers now) for the number of years you were a Platinum would be the best way to go. That would truly create an award structure for loyalty and would incent those that are planning (rather than those that have actually flown) on years of loyalty to DAL.
I know this kind of program would be perceived as simply rewarding flyers like me and would do nothing for those starting out but so what - it’s supposed to be a loyalty program! If a program like this were used and if it were stable and consistent, it would create LOYALTY
October 19th, 2008 at 12:57 am
As a PM with over five million miles, I feel betrayed by the airline that I have been supporting (not just flying myself, but coercing my entire organization) for over 20 years. This is another thinly veiled attempt to further devalue the miles. There are hardly any award seats to be had, calendar requires many more miles than “low” and thus is misleading (perhaps intetionally designed to be that way), unjustified surcharges and fees (even to clarify the reservation issues) continue, lack of waiting lists makes for more hassles, and on and on. At this stage I am not sure Delta cares about their medallion travelers or deserves their continued support. I doubt anything will change because if there was a genuine interest in getting feedback, it would have been done BEFORE the program was announced.
October 19th, 2008 at 2:13 am
If Jeff is really reading this, I’d like him to put something in this blog to say what he thinks of all the feedback. I bet we don’t see anything. Good luck other weary travelers.
October 19th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I happened to visit the award site prior to knowing about the new changes and did not have any flights come up in the lowest tier. Then when I read Jeff Robertson’s announcement about more choices, I felt he was presenting a structure that was in place to use up more of our miles as many of you have mentioned. I add my voice to that chorus. I hope Jeff listens.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Dear “Jeff”,
Your clumsy attempt to portray the increase in mileage requirements as a favor to me is insulting.
You are not doing me any “favor.” I earned all of those miles, often flying Delta just to accrue mileage even when a cheaper flight on another airline was available.
The bottom line is that you have raised the minimum mileage requirements to redeem a ticket on every kind of flight except domestic ones. As a holder of 54,000 miles, yesterday I had enough for a ticket between Europe and North America. Today I am 6,000 miles short.
Do not send me any more folksy e-mails signed, “Jeff.” Do not address further correspondence to me as “Hey everyone.” We are not buddies and we are not on a first-name basis.
American Airlines still only requires 40,000 miles for a trans-Atlantic flight. Guess who will be getting my business in the future?
Kelly Thayer
Athens, Greece
October 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Platinum Upgrade Frustration
My wife and I are both platinum, I have flown more mikes this year but when we by a ticket on the same flight she often gets upgraded before me???
I was with a colleague who is Gold and he was upgraded before me???
I know you have some kind of rating system for upgrades that depends on the kind of ticket purchased and price paid but this is very frustrating to someone who is going to over the year spend much more and is bumped.
Please go to a fair system take takes into account miles flown and look after your most valuable frequent fliers.
October 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Jeff (and others)
I agree with most of the posters and am totally upset with delta for the way they pulled this off.. They are talking like Political Spinners who twist this to look like its really good for us when its not.
I have had many of the same experiences with this as the others had however the biggest complaints I have are this:
I also have been flying delta to get miles for a free trip to Europe and did all kinds of things including PAYING EXTRA SO ID BE ON DELTA- to get those miles, using my delta american express card to charge things to get miles and going for the promotions available again to get the miles.
Then with little or basically NO NOTICE OTHER THEN A SHORT EMAIL-LESS THEN A MONTH AWAY THEY CHANGE THE STRUCTURE MINIMUM TO TEN THOUSAND MILES MORE– just as Im getting what I needed!
This is total Bull and trying to tell me what delta did is good for us is insulting.
If they wanted to be good to those of us who have been loyal to delta then they should have done one of two things: which by the way they could still do! a. Anyone that reached a previous award level or was within 5,000 miles or something of what was an award-can still get it at the old rate for the next 6 or 12 months etc–since when they earned it that was the goal.
Or B give members some notice of more then one month which we may or may not have seen since it was on email and say that we had 6 months or 12 months or whatever notice that they were changing the required miles for trips.. so we at least could have booked it at the old level–rather then being totally pushed out just as we reached the goal mileage.
You just do not move the goalposts during the game! That is what they did and its totally unfair — I would not expect any business to treat their best customers this way and I assure Delta and Jeff that I will not forget this- as soon as my mileage is used on something– I plan from now on to use whatever airline has the best times, routes and fares– rather then being loyal to Delta since they care so little about me!
If Delta wanted to make this up to their FF Customers they could just give us miles to make this up on cases where this was the case–and it still wouldnt hurt them since you cant use the minimum miles for hardly anything anymore anyway so youd be flying on empty planes to begin with–not to mention that they are charging for the redemption if less then 3 weeks out and also still charging fuel surcharges when gas is down to where it was a year ago.
Delta has financial problems as do many of us and many businesses but trying to make it all up in one quick swoop of many different ways to raise more money is not the answer when it ticks off your best customers who have been loyal to you- in the process. That will cost you alot more in the long run.
Hoping one last time that Delta makes this right with us customers before I and others desert them, JJ
October 20th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
This is bad. I live in ATL and I fight with my company to use Delta over Air Tran nearly every trip I book and as most have mentioned this New & Improved deal is a simple “price hike” in terms of using miles. Two years ago, at my level, it was 80K miles, First Class, to Italy. Now it’s 150K (Medium Level) and I checked up to September of 2009 and it seems there are no award tickets available when I want to fly. How is that better for me? Maybe Air Tran needs an international partner?
October 20th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I’m sorry but there is no way you can sugarcoat this. This is a serious denigration of the program. I have already tried to book tickets under this program. There are no lower tier tickets available to any destination and the net cost of a ticket is now staggering. Once again you have backtracked on your promises you made to us when we comitted to your program and your airline. You continue to expect loyalty from your frequent flyers but fail to return the same respect. I am disappointed with the program but even more disappointed with your trying to make this look like an improvement. it would be much better if you just came out and said “look we just can’t give you what we promised you when you signed up”(and by the way, I am a 4.3 million miler and Platinum VIP member so I do hope you are listening)
October 20th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
This three tier program is not at all customer friendly and delta is trying to make the award travel more expensive.
I am sure this with this approach, new customers will have second thoughts and pick up a different airliner instead of Delta.
I am a platinum medalion for the past years and eventhough I have good number of miles, I do not want to spend 40K or 60K for a domestic ticket.
I tried to make a reservation for an international travel. I could not find any at the low level. I did not see waitlist option also.
Once again, this change is not customer friendly and I am sure, delta will loose lot of customers with this. I am very disappointed with changed and delta should seriouly think about this and revert the change.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Mr. Jeff Robertson, Vice-President, Loyalty Programs:
What does the new Sky Miles Structure mean for loyal customers? It means a massive increase in Frequent Flyer mileage for International (lower tier not low and effectively not available) and Round the World (no tiers, huge increase) award tickets. Many of us love to travel but do not have the opportunity to acquire vast blocks of business mileage or to fly on expense accounts. This would be a drastic blow for those of us in the process of saving and planning for trips. AND we had no prior notice! At the VERY least, please offer an extended start date for the new levels and provide a grandfathering or grace period for loyal Delta Frequent Flyers to book at the levels which we trusted would be there long enough to take a trip !!!
October 20th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Jeff:
As a valued American Express Centurion and Delta Sky Miles member with over 2 million points, I know what it takes to book travel with Delta using my Sky Miles. To be totally candid with you, it was bad before your change and now it’s beyond bad and it’s just not good business; and as they say on Wall Street, “Pigs Get Slaughtered”! Jeff, have you ever tried booking a Business Class seat using your Sky Miles? Probably not since you obtain your seats through Delta Corporate. Let me give you a few scenarios…. Try booking a Business Class to any city that Delta services in Brazil or Las Vegas over the next 12 months…. And of course Jeff, you will be flexible with your schedule like I was. The answer will be NO, NO and NO. The only way you can get to most popular destinations using your Sky Miles is to use double miles. BAM! Why should a loyal customer have to blow 180,000 miles to Vegas or 250,000 miles to Sau Palo if I am extremely flexible with dates and times and book my flight 12 months out? Your Frequent Flyer program should be renamed to “Infrequent Flyer Program” since availability is so infrequent. The other day I used 180,000 (I got suckered into the double miles) to Vegas Business Class. I wanted to change my ticket to come home a day earlier. Habib in India told me I could NOT change my seat since the only seat that was available was a Peak Miles seat. He said that’s your new top tier level. I even offered to pay the extra 10,000 miles for this one and only seat and he said so sorry, you can’t mix tiers. The point of all of this is that your frequent flyer program is now more complicated than ever and just wants to bag people for the most miles possible. Delta probably now has maybe only 1 seat per flight for Biz Class using the first tier. You guys are beginning to become crooks like the guys on Wall Street and I hope some day the FTC looks into your Freq. Flier Program and determines it is a sham!! If they do not look into it, ticked off loyal Delta customers like the ones posting here will sound the alarms with the FTC, every AG and of course put pressure on Amex to dump your broken program. Oh, by the way, when I called your Customer Service 800 number and asked Habib what was the farthest city West that Delta flies to outbound from Tampa, he said and I quote “I do not know any cities out West, you have to tell me what city you want to go to”. Great Customer Service and enough with the sweet talking marketing and You Tube videos expressing how you really listen to your customers!
October 21st, 2008 at 12:40 am
Not very long ago, I paid some fees to transfer miles out of my Skymiles account to several family members’ accounts to ensure that all of us had at least 25,000 Skymiles and could ALL fly via Skysaver flights together. From what so many of you are reporting, it seems like I probably only ensured that NONE of us would be able to schedule a decent flight.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:04 am
Does Jeff realize we are all waiting to hear an explantion now that this introduction has been implemented? Essentially, you put a program out there that has been thoroughly rebuked by those that are intended to use it. One would think that there would be some comment in defense or an acknowledgement that this is the way business is now to be conducted.
No response implies we were all right in the first place.
Bye the way, I just voted with my feet and booked my round trip to Rio on Northwest. I know it’s a ‘partial’ protest (considering the merger) but it’s the first time in years I have had a choice and chose another airline.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:19 pm
60,000 miles now… I’ve been traveling on Delta as at a Platnum level for 15 years and it just keeps getting harder to use this program. Over the last 3 years, I have not been able to use the 25k mile level once for free travel. It simply doesn’t exist for most folks. No mistake here- it will cost 60k miles in the future for one free ticket (plus the $ 150 for tax, etc.). Probably better just to buy a ticket and travel on whatever airline has the lower cost fairs. No loyality anymore on either side from what I can tell.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
i have worked hard to come up with enough miles for a trip and I looked at my time frame of next May and there is only one day in May that is 25,000 the rest are all higher. How is this improving things for us, it only improves things for you. Can you explian how this is better for the customer?
October 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Coach Choice seats
In case you missed this one. Last time I checked in for a flight, I found this listed on my check in. Seems a percentage of preferred seats are going to be available for purchase withing 24 hours of flight time.
This is so new, the people at ATL didn’t even know the program had started. I checked in in Oct.
According to the message, the seats are free for Medallions. I have been trying to get someone to tell me if the seats are blocked to Medallion level customers as well as non-Medallions until this final 24 hours.
Can anyone tell me if the seats are blocked to all levels of customer until the final 24 hours? I believe they are blocked to Delta Agents and must be selected on line.
Can someone let me know what is going on and how this will affect Medallion level customers
October 21st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Delta needs to offer a grace period to those who earned miles before this “change” to their program. I would definitely use my accumulated miles. At this point, the new program has added so many extra “miles required” that I won’t be able to redeem them for the flight I was counting on. Why is the new program so much better? From all I’ve seen it simply devalues the entire program.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hey everyone,
Thank you for taking the time to give our new Award redemption structure a try. Your feedback is invaluable, and we really do want to hear it – the positive and the negative. We’re listening.
I know some of you are worried that this change will make it harder to redeem Award Travel at the lowest mileage level. There have been no changes to our award seat allocation strategy due to the launch of our new Award structure. Since the launch of the new three-tiered Award Structure, we’ve seen an increase in the overall number of tickets redeemed and the average miles redeemed has remained consistent. This indicates that customers are taking advantage of the flexibility and choice available with the new levels.
We know it’s still a work in progress, but I truly believe this change will benefit our members. Ultimately, I hope you’ll find that the added flexibility of our three-tiered structure will allow you to go where you want when you want.
We also recognize that some of you have encountered technology issues while searching for or booking Award Travel. We’re working hard to make the delta.com experience customer-focused and customer-friendly. Our technology team is aware of the issues and is working quickly to correct them.
Please continue to share your feedback with us as we move forward with this process – and thank you for your comments.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Jeff/Katie:
It’s great to know that you do read these posts and comment on them as well. It would be beneficial to everyone here to specifically address some of our concerns so we can understand what is really going on. As I mentioned previously, my biggest concern is the unavailability of Business Class seats using the lowest tier on flights 12 months out even if I am being extremely flexible with dates and times…. Thanks for communicating with us and hopefully as valued Delta customers we can work together to assist you in becoming a stronger airline during these most difficult times.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Allanfl - Thanks for your comment. We absolutely read every post and value your feedback. Jeff and SkyMiles are working to address your concerns. Stay tuned…
October 21st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Jeff, are you “hearing” or are you “listening”?
October 21st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Hello Jeff
I’m wondering how should I interpret the recent increase in mileage for redeeming Round-The-World awards.
There are no added tiers, nor increased availability, otherwise I imagine you guys would have advertised that as yet another enhancement, rather than pass it under complete silence.
Please, show me what benefit for SkyMiles members is there: I want to believe.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Well I see that Jeff has posted something on the blog about some of the things that have been discussed. However the only thing I read that seems to be getting accomplished (maybe) is a complaint about the technology and computer workings. Dont see any answers to the real complaints that I and others posted as to the “unfairness” of it all in cases such as mine and others where we had just achieved or were about to achieve enough miles for Europe or other places in which the minimum miles was just raised with little or no warning and with apparently no consideration to us.
And also just as a second matter the fact that when most of us try to make a skymiles reservation no seats can be found at the new ( or old) minimum levels anyway. No matter how “flexible” we are.
So I guess what Im wondering is– if maybe we should take our discussion to another location also besides here where more people can read it rather then just Deltas present customers– I mean where we may get more attention. I know of several good sites that many travelers read that will certainly be read by alot more people- and possibly even “published”.
What do you think?
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 am
Just found the “Pay With Miles” option with a Delta credit card - great because I have a platinum Delta card issued in the UK. Oh dear, read the small print, just realised you must have a USA address and Social Security Number to apply to American Express - UK member restricted again - do you really want us??
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Jeff, I hear you say that you’re listening, but sadly I see no evidence of it in your response.
You aren’t reading “positive and negative” feedback on this blog, Jeff - the negative feedback outnumbers the positive 50 to 1. Further, with the use of terms like “bogus”, “nickel and dimed”, “bait and switch”, “insulting” in the angry responses you’re reading - “negative” is a serious understatement of the depth of revulsion with which your proposal has been received.
What is even more disappointing is that you’ve chosen to respond to this flood of protests with more marketing spin. Claiming that the “average miles redeemed has remained consistent” is meaningless: for one thing, the program hasn’t been introduced for long enough to have a meaningful statistical sample. Furthermore, it’s likely that you’ve had far fewer redemptions occur in this financially turbulent month: seeing one’s savings account drop a third in value doesn’t exactly prompt one to blow one’s FF miles on an optional free trip. The average mileage redemption should have gone down - if it’s stayed steady, it’s likely due to the increased mileage requirements.
This isn’t the best way to address the numerous requests you’ve had to stop touting this cheap marketing ploy a “benefit”. You ARE going to lose a significant proportion of your valued customers to this disastrous excuse for a program, and this blog will be the paper trail that will prove you were forewarned.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
A few simple questions for you, Jeff, that I think will address a large majority of the concerns you’re seeing here.
What change was made under your new proposal to the percentage of seats allocated to the LOWEST TIER?
In other words: What percentage of these were taken and moved to the MID tier?
And finally, given that what you now call the “mid” tier was formerly the “highest” tier, can you explain why you believe that your medallion customers are simple-minded enough to accept this move as a “benefit”?
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hi there!
I live in Greece, thus my flights originate internationally.
1. The mileage for flying to America from Europe is increased by 10K miles minimum. I collected 50K mileage for visiting Bahamas and the US on late 2008, now I need 125K for same trip..
2.Airlines like Air France, KLM, Lufthansa still require 50K mileage for transatlantic award travel.
3. Delta’s electronic system does not permit me to find out the dates and sky team airlines on which I can fly using Delta’s minimum required mileage for my destination. This fact indicates bad intention and is not compatible with long Delta’s transparency and quality practice.
4. It should have been foreseen an early notice and a certain amount of time for the transition period to facilitate passengers travel plans.
To my opinion, the new Delta’s skymiles approach needs to be reconsidered.
Maximum Respect,
Manolis Alifierakis Eng.D.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Hi everyone,
Again, thank you for all of your feedback. I’ve spent a good deal of time reviewing and thinking about your comments, and I want to respond to the issues that have received the most attention. So, here goes:
• Technology Glitches: Due to the technical complexity of launching a program change of this size and scope, we experienced problems with our Online Award Calendar when the system launched, and I apologize for this. We’ve worked to fix these glitches and, as a result, we’ve seen a drastic decrease in customer complaints. I hope you find that your user experience is much improved, and that you’ll continue to let us know when you run into issues.
• Award Ticket Allocation: I understand that you’re concerned about the availability of tickets at our 25,000-mile level. I want to assure you that we have not changed our inventory availability strategy in our lowest tier. Let me state that again for emphasis: The inventory allocated to the 25,000-mile level is the same as it was prior to the launch of our new Award structure.
• International and Hawaii Award Levels: Many of you have expressed concern that redemption levels have increased for Award Travel to Hawaii and Europe – and for Business Class Award Tickets. As you may know, our Award pricing structure mirrors actual ticket pricing, so as ticket prices increase (especially for the last few seats on a flight and around major events, holidays, etc.), so do mileage redemption levels. But with our new mid tier, you now have access to inventory at a level lower than what you would have previously redeemed for a SkyChoice ticket, and many of the Award Tickets previously available at the SkyChoice level have been allocated to this new mid tier. And you have access to last-seat inventory at times of peak demand. Since we launched our new structure, more than 65 percent of customers who previously chose the SkyChoice option have redeemed miles for Award Travel at that middle level.
• The New Structure Is Different but a Benefit: My goal as head of loyalty programs is to create the best program around, and I believe our new Award structure gives members more options and flexibility when redeeming miles. In the 30 days since we launched the program, the average number of redemptions is up by more than 3 percent; the average number of miles redeemed per redemption has remained flat; and, as I mentioned, 65 percent of SkyChoice customers have redeemed tickets for fewer miles than before.
• Waitlists: We discontinued our waitlist for Award Tickets because, with our new Award structure, you have access to the last seat on Delta planes anytime, anywhere – with no blackout dates. This change eliminates the need for waitlists because customers have more award ticket pricing options and ensures you get where you need to go when you need to be there – no question about it.
I hope I’ve addressed your concerns. Please know that we’re reading and listening even if you might not see us comment in the future. I firmly believe this is a win for both customers and Delta.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I agree with the Hawaii commenter. In the [distant] past, a true Hawaii resident was allowed the same award levels as the lower 48 states (altho I see you now include Canada and Alaska, but not Hawaii). The rules were simple and reasonable. It only allowed the lowest award level of 25,000 miles if you were truly a Hawaii resident (your address with Delta is a street address in Hawaii) AND the travel ORIGINATES in Hawaii. I can live with those stipulations. Why should we pay so much more for a 3,000 mile flight from Hawaii to Calif, than you pay for a 3,000 mi flight from LAX to NY?
Please reconsider reinstating this reasonable award travel for Hawaii residents. Yes, you may all laugh that it is the price for paradise, but it IS much more expensive to live here, and air fare to get ANYWHERE is certainly one of those expenses. We don’t have the option of driving.
Jeff, pls see what you can do about this. You would have ALL of Hawaii using Delta airlines and Delta credit cards if you made this change!
aloha~
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 am
Jeff - I have been Platinum medallion with Delta for quite some time. I have never been very lucky in getting award tickets on or around the dates I want and for the class (business). With the 3 tiered program I think availability situation has gotten worse. I was trying to book 2 tickets to Asia recently and checked calendar for entire months of August and September and did not see a single date with availability in the “Low” mileage category. Is the Low mileage needed category for real. I am disappointed to see even after spending so much time and money on board Delta, It is impossible for me to get award tickets that suit me
Your thoughts ??
Bhrigu Wadhwa
October 25th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Jeff, it’s getting harder and harder to take your assurances on faith.
Bottom line, it is IMPOSSIBLE to find seats at the lowest category. Even worse, even if you pick the mid tier seats on the calendar, they end up being the MOST EXPENSIVE. I challenge you to find BE seats at the lowest category for the NYC - BOM segment - for ANY DATE over the ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR. Go ahead, try.
You promised that the calendar would be fixed.
You promised that the inventory allocations wouldn’t be changed.
Your promises appear to be as empty as the claim that your 3-tier system is “industry leading”. Notice that no other airlines have cared to follow your alleged lead: you’re not leading if no one’s following. Unless you’re trying to take the lead in losing your elite flyers to competitors.
You’ve diluted the values of SkyMiles by anywhere between a half and two-thirds, and to claim this as a “benefit” is plain insulting. Please scrap this customer-shafting program if you wish to retain your customers.