Recently Delta Airlines announced some major changes to their Delta SkyMiles Program that really pissed off a lot of people.
Essentially – Delta heard the outcry from the loyal masses regarding: too many elite members on flights resulting in limited/no First Class upgrades and the long waits to get into a Delta Sky Club due to overcrowding.
Delta responded to this by increasing status requirements and restricting lounge access. Win-win for the Delta flyer!
Not quite. Seems everyone wanted to cry about the situation but felt they were special enough to remain unscathed while those they deemed less worthy got the boot.
Surprise! Unless you’re willing to spend $6K/$12K/$18K/$35K for Silver/Gold/Platinum/Diamond – Delta doesn’t think you’re all that special either.
Yes – Delta did roll back the spend to $5K/$10K/$15K/$28K for the time being but we all know the end game. Better pony up $35K.
United is the same. Right now Premier 1K requires either 54 flight segments and $18K spend or $24K spend by itself. That can change in the future and probably will.
Here’s the reality. None of us are special to any of these programs UNLESS you’re spending enough to make you special. AKA = profitable. That’s the bottom line. Companies just want to cater to their profitable customers. They don’t care about how much you fly. They care about how much you spend when you fly. Buying the cheapest main cabin seat and banking on an upgrade isn’t what they’re looking for. They want the flyer ponying up for those premium seats.
As much as it sucks, these changes are a necessary evil folks. Whether it’s Delta or (INSERT COMPANY NAME) – status benefits don’t work when there are too many elites at the top. Plain and simple. If you want to reward the high end elites and keep them happy then ya gotta trim the fat. That’s right – ya gotta trim out the wannabes. Plain and simple.
I’m just squeaking by myself with United Premier1K. I’ll enjoy it while I can. But I know that the writing is on the wall. One day in the near future, I too, will probably be on the outside looking in.
And, at least for now, I’m OK with that.
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