Many comments have flooded in about the Save SkyMiles campaign. Some of them are listed below.

*Some comments have been edited for content and/or brevity.

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Thomas R. - February 12, 2001

Program is degenerating to the point that it is time to start looking [to] Northwest and American to handle our company's travel domestically and overseas. On our last survey, the System Wide Upgrade Certificates were one of the main reasons that our employees have indicated that they wanted to stay with Delta. Numerous employees have indicated that they would just as soon start flying different carriers that have a better frequent flyer program. We currently fly groups of 120 to 220 people per trip with average of about 8 trips each per year. Delta has been our predominant carrier for the last 13 years, however......

Kerry Q. - February 2, 2001

May I offer a word to the Delta (and other airline) employees who have voiced their opinions here with rather unfriendly comments toward the Medallion members who are upset about the changes in the Skymiles program. As we all know, the airline industry has become extremely competitive. This gives passengers a choice as to who they fly with. Good businesses have always rewarded their best customers with special discounts, privileges, gifts during the holidays etc. This helps to keep them loyal to a company. Bad businesses overlook their best customers which can lead to disaster.

I live in Los Angeles, am a Silver Medallion member (47,000 miles in 2000) and fly strictly for pleasure. Delta has been my #1 choice for the last 10 years as I used to live overseas and was very happy with their service out of North Carolina. I, like a number of other passengers, have seen the steady decline in customer service at Delta during the past few years. Each and every airline employee is responsible for his or her actions while on the job. And the surly behavior that I have seen in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Dallas Ft. Worth and Atlanta is inexcusable.

I have three remaining SWU certificates that I have tried to make use of to go to both Paris and Vienna this year in business class. I tried from the 15th through the 31st of March 2001 for Vienna and from the 3rd through the 30th of May 2001. Although Air France has two flights from LAX-CDG daily, and one could connect through CVG, ATL and JFK for flights to Paris on Delta or Air France (the Vienna flights connect in Paris), not ONE upgradable seat was available - almost six months in advance. The reservations agent told me that I could buy the upgradable fare and be put on a waiting list for the upgrade. That would cost me about $600.00 for nothing if the upgrade turned out to be unavailable in the end. Bogus.

The airport in Los Angeles is home to many carriers who are as large or larger than Delta. One could easily use one of these airlines for practically all of an individual's airline travel needs. Choosing Delta for us on the west coast is just that - a choice. As of this year, I am no longer concerned with Medallion level status. It unfortunately doesn't mean that much to me anymore.

Delta is not making good choices when it comes to serving its best customers. The Delta employees who have bashed the Delta Medallion members on this website should look at the case of other fallen airlines (e.g. TWA - commonly known for years as "The Worst Airline" due to their years of terrible customer service) a little more closely. People do not like to be treated rudely and they certainly don't like to feel as though their business is unappreciated. One would think that Delta would understand this after so many years in business. If people turn away from Delta (as I will) it is completely understandable.

John R. - January 31, 2001

I have registered my 1895883 skymiles in your mileage protest. I am not at all pleased with Delta at this time and haven't been for several years. It began with the revocation of my Flying Colonel status (and gratis Crown Room entry) when Delta was earning more profit than ever!. Now it's the outrageous fares out of Atlanta coupled with the poor service. Therefore I have been flying Delta only enough to achieve Gold level status. The majority of my flights have been with AirTran Airways.

Delta states they don't have predator pricing, but they only offer low rates if another lower cost airline is in the same market. If I lived outside of Atlanta and used Delta, I would easily achieve Platinum level status due to the extra two segments I would receive by connecting through Atlanta, and probably at lower fares.

This week I have tried to use upgrade certificates from last year for two seats to Rome at the end of May. No seats are available and the best fare was @ $1100.00 for two coach tickets. I have gotten two seats for $580.00 each from NYC to Rome on Alitalia (I'll use two free tickets from AirTran to get to NYC).

I have contacted NW and American and they will give me their premier club status if I switch to one of them. I am considering doing so, as I will have more international travel this year.

Finally, I have been trying to arrange a visit with Delta's marketing director and all I get is a letter from some assistant. Is this customer-friendly service? I think not. They definitely treat us as cargo, not customers. We are the long-term business customers that have kept them going, but do they care? I think not.

Glad to see saveskymiles.com. Count me in.

Don S. - January 26, 2001

I am a seven year Platinum Level flyer with Delta and am Chairman Preferred with USAir. I don't know when I've encountered a bigger group of whining people in my life. I bet if the airlines knew the "Gift" they gave their frequent flyers would turn into this they would have never started it. And......I bet they wished they could end it right now. Stop your crying, take the gift they give you and shut up. If you don't like the program......DON'T FLY DELTA!! How hard is that?

I personally love the airline. It's Never Crashed with me on board. That is all I really require of an airline. In 1.5 Million miles they've rarely mis-placed my luggage and they've NEVER lost it. I very rarely had a flight cancelled and if it was it was because of mechanical problems. No problem there. Now if I'm satisfied after that many miles, what have you babies to cry about???

Michael W. - January 21, 2001

I have been doing what I consider heavy travelling for about four years. This involves getting on airplanes an average of 35 weeks per year. Delta has gouged me on pricing in Cincinnati and their service and attitude has gotten progressively worse. As a self employed person I have been forced to travel to Southwest Airline cities such as Louisvile to avoid Delta's pricing and overbooking. I had long been resigned at losing some of my upgrades but this Medallion policy change is the last straw. I will look first at Northwest out of Dayton, then Continental and the others, Delta will be considered last. If I don't achieve Silver Medallion status what will I really have lost? Besides, I prefer United or Northwest for my two to three Asian trips per year, and other than a 1.5 hour car trip, Southwest at least has low fares and great employees.

Finally, in reading the comments of some 'airline' employees, I believe they need lessons in the real world. First, many companies bonus their employees if they save money on travel budgets, this is next to imposossible if you live in Cincinnati or Atlanta thanks to Delta. Next, who are they to talk about passengers poaching upgrades and airlines losing money off of them; if Delta cannot come out on top when they charge $900 CVG - Dallas, or $1,400 CVG - LAX while I sit in first class on an upgrade, in what would have been an empty seat, they should sell their company. The meals in first or business class aren't that good to suggest that the cost offsets their profit.

I hold no hope of this movement meaning anything to Delta, but I look forward to handing out cards to illustrate the mutual discontent of Delta passengers.

Dolores L. - January 20, 2001

I work for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). There are 200 of us in the office who travel - and we only travel to Europe. So you can guess how angry all of us are at the 2001 upgrade changes. I will get everyone pumped up at the office about your web site and 'signing' the petition. Also, I will pass out AS MANY CARDS AS YOU CAN SEND ME!!!! If you send me tons, I can get the others at the office to do the same. Most of us average 6 trips to Europe a year. Also, since none of us fly domestic (except Norfolk-Atlanta and Norfolk-JFK to catch an international flight), all of us loose 50-100 800-mile segment points at the end of each year. Wouldn't it be great if Delta let us use those for upgrading to BC going overseas?!? Even if we had to do it 2-to-1 or 3-to-1. Everyone at the office agrees with this one.

Great web site ... I will pass the word.

Jay M. - January 17, 2001

Just a view from a 'lowly' Silver Medallion member. I, too believe that Delta does either not listen to its customers, or does, and just figures they'll get 15% of the market even ignoring what their BEST customers say they want and need.

I am a software developer & installer, and while the main office is located in Atlanta, I chose to locate in less-crowded Myrtle Beach. The only 'real' airline that services this locale is the now-threatened USAirways. They currently fly (6) Airbus/737 flights and (2) Dash-8 commuters daily. I don't consider Delta to be 'really' servicing this airport because it is actually Atlantic Southeast Air (what should be subtitled 'The Delta Mis-Connection'), a poorly run bastard stepchild that got swallowed by Delta. When I started traveling, I alternated flights, and found that within 6 months, I was delayed by more than 1 hour exactly once on USAir, never overnight. ASA, on the other hand, cancelled five Monday morning flights in that time, stranded me in Atlanta twice overnight, and delayed me until after midnight three times. Needless to say, the following year I went with USAirways when at all possible, regardless of schedule and have made Chairman's Preferred three years running. I have a lot of company here...there are at least 30 people who use this as their home and are almost ALL Chairman's with USAirways, and almost ALL have had horrible experiences with ASA.

I have written to Delta on three separate occasions, querying as to why they won't fly at least 2 REAL planes in here in this booming area with a growing group of business travelers, only to receive the standard 'sorry' form letter about how tough times are for Delta.

Chairman's Preferred on USAirways is a NICE deal. It's a lot like American's top tier - unlimited upgrades, immediate upgrades for full fare, and they put you 'on-queue' for an upgrade from ANY class and then to be confirmed that upgrade SEVEN DAYS in advance of flight time (not 72 hours)! Further, I have been able to be upgraded just 5 minutes before departure, and the hard-working folks at the desk have done that countless number of times. RARELY do you see empty seats in the front of a USAirways flight. Smart business, no?

I am very anxious and nervous about the United merger. If it goes through, I'm sure they will absolutely TRASH the upgrade program and 'dumb' it down to theirs. If that happens, I may switch to Delta/ASA as the lesser of two horrible evils, as making connections through Atlanta will allow me to make Platinum easily on Segments. But after a few inevitable strandings in Atlanta, and months of riding sardine-fashion in the back on $2100 tickets, I just may look for a non-traveling job. To hell with the miles, with Delta, United, all of them.

Brad B. - January 13, 2001

YES!!!!

That was my exclamation upon seeing the article in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

For SO LONG I have been irritated with the Delta Skymiles program. It is quite a relief to find others that share a common irritation.

I coin myself a consumer advocate. I have a background in marketing/customer service/sales. My feedback/concerns/confrontations with Delta Member Services have been over a number of issues. Allow me to share, (without exhaustive details):

I relied heavily on partnerships with other airlines to achieve rewards, i.e., Swiss Air, Austria Airlines, etc. When mistakes were made with updating my mileage, the only response from Delta was finger-pointing towards their partners. Please! Where is the responsibility. This mistake was costing me valuable miles and it was the 10th transatlantic flight for the year! This was to 'reward' me after much use of the Delta program.

The above situation took about 4-6 months to rectify! Why? I had to fax boarding passes to Atlanta..4-6 weeks to hear from that. I waited 6 weeks only to find that they didn't get the fax. So what is the remedy...fax it again! Then wait 6 weeks. Guess what? No word. After they finally received my boarding passes, I had to wait another 6 weeks for it to take effect. THEN, they tell me about Swiss Air ceasing to be a partner and they were having difficulty getting responses from them.

MOST IMPORTANT COMPLAINT: (I would really like to see your site take this on as an issue) 800-Segment Upgrades/System Wide Upgrades and there relationship to 'L-Class.' The ONLY difference between L-Class and the next level up, K-Class, is $$$ per ticket. And the ability to be upgraded. SO, one must PAY to use a 'REWARD.'

I can wrap all these items up with one word...RIGID. Delta is as inflexible as a disjointed knee. It disgusts me to be in my recent situation of 15 empty seats in First Class, I have 800-Segments expiring in 4 days and they REFUSE to upgrade because of L-Class. Obviously they have an algorithm for figuring out upgrade allocations. If Platinum and first on list and one seat available and class higher than L then upgrade. Why doesn't it extend down to L-Class!?!?!? I'll tell you why. Because they want to skim some money for people using the rewards. Well what kind of reward is that?!?!?!

Bottom Line. Good customer service says 'These are our most important passengers. Passengers that have spent thousands with us. If we have a seat available in first class, and they have EARNED some rewards that allow for upgrade, then lets take care of these people and let them ENJOY their reward.'

But no, L-Class says that I didn't pay $100+ to use a 'Reward.'

Hmmm, What is Delta's priority? This all makes me think of those TV commercials that offer GREAT REWARDS then stream a dictionaries worth of small print words across the screen which tell you a thousand reasons/situations where you will not be able to use them.

We keep spending, we keep flying, we keep getting 'Rewarded,' but RARELY use them.

Christine P. - January 9, 2001

What incentive do I have now to remain loyal to Delta when I purchase international flights, now that they are discontinuing SWU's and not allowing users to use segment upgrades on international flights? I flew seven times into Latin America last year and will do more this year, I might as well fly American or United which has better schedules and more flights to where I go, since there really isn't an incentive to remain loyal. And, if I earn elite status on American I can then get SWU's.

Robert W. - January 9, 2001

I have in the past considered myself a loyal Delta customer, although my accumulated miles do not nearly approach the amount claimed by other writers. Nevertheless, in recent years my travel has picked up and I have routinely achieved silver or gold medallion status based on international segments: My "standard" trip is FRA-ORF-FRA or FRA-VPS-FRA, about 7 or 8 times per year. Since my employer (government) only buys Y class tickets no matter who you are, I'm back in steerage unless I can get an upgrade. And not wishing to whine, but Delta's international economy class is particularly... small. Well, Delta pummels me with 800 mile segment upgrades which are absolutely worthless, since they can't be used on the transatlantic flights, and the domestic flights I get (JFK-ORF or ATL-VPS) are with small, single-class-of-service aircraft. The only upgrade that was any good to me at all was the SWU and now that's gone. I'll never be able to use the North American upgrade for the same reasons that I can't use the 800 mile segment upgrades.

Although Delta is the "contract partner" for the city pairs mentioned above, and the government is obliged to select that airline for that city pair, I do still have a choice: I can fly into PHF instead of ORF, and PNS instead of VPS, and suddenly I get a different airline as contract partner, in this case, US Air. I hear a lot of people badmouthing them, and of course they have their share of problems, but I get the feeling from them that they are at least trying, and that they consider the loyalty of international customers to be something worth keeping. That is something that is very clearly missing from Delta these days.

I simply cannot accept the argument that capacity-controlled upgrades that are also valid for transatlantic flights are going to break the bank. If inventory management would do their job, it wouldn't have an impact at all. Instead, Delta is now spreading ads everywhere for business elite to/from Europe. If the front ends are so full that they can't afford to give out upgrades, then why do they have to advertise for new customers? Why not just keep the ones they have?

So long, Delta. I'll take my business (and that of the 6 or so people who routinely travel with me) somewhere else, where I have at least an occasional chance of arriving with the circulation in my legs intact.

Dent W. - January 7, 2001

Thanks for the great web site. I look forward to helping spread the word.

Two other changes have occurred which I have not seen addressed.

1. When upgrading with miles (now requiring an M class fare), the entire ticket, including segments which are not upgraded, must all be purchased at the M class level. This is very irritating on domestic segments requiring commuter flights. It is outrageous on international flights connecting with the new sky team member Air France in Paris because:
2. The great new partner Air France does not allow upgrades.

James N. - January 6, 2001

Delta has just eliminated any advantages of flying on that airline. The 800 mile segment upgrades are useless, at least for those of us who fly from a hub like Cincinnati. The only advantage for flying with Delta was the system wide upgrades. I saved my most recent one for a pending trip to Nice, france scheduled for April, 2001. I understand that it is no longer valid.

Well my loyalty to Delta is gone. I thought that I might be a million miles since I already have 870,000 miles. Who cares. I will go for the cheapest fares.

Joe M. - January 6, 2001

In today's competitive airline environment, there's been one truly effective means of creating loyalty amongst flyers- miles. However, extended marketing on behalf of the airlines, such as offering miles for credit card purchases, long distance telephone usage, dining and the like have obviously caused a glut of frequent flyer miles. More people are getting FF miles by not flying. This all at the detriment of the person who's flying on a frequent basis.

I used to fly Delta exclusively, however while maintaining the silver medallion status, I've chosen to fly American, which for the past two years have earned the Executive Platinum status (150,000 miles alone this year- compared to 40,000 on Delta). One of the main reasons I decided to fly American a majority of the time is the upgrade policy. Delta's policy of calling in 24 hours in advance is ridiculous. There's nothing more frustrating than to set your alarm clock and call the Skymiles line at 7am on Sunday morning prior to you Monday flight only to be told that you'll be sitting in the back of the bus. Then to take away more benefits just doesn't make sense. I have a dozen 800 mile segment upgrades in my account that I can hardly use.

On American, I automatically upgrade on a full coach fare at the time of booking. I can upgrade to the next class of service on ANY fare- that "L" fare rule on Delta just doesn't make sense to me. I am notified of my upgrade via email 100 hours prior to my flight. As an Executive Platinum, I receive 4-roundtrip upgrades anywhere in the world that American flies. I'm guaranteed availability on sold out flights. I get 4 additional upgrades for every 10,000 miles flown. And, I'm never blacked out on travel or even award travel. I can also upgrade my travel companions with my segment upgrades.

I can understand that some people may think that those of us here might be whining. The fact of the matter is, as business travelers, we provide substantial revenue for the airlines. It is only fare to reward your best customers for their loyalty. Don't we do that in business ourselves? I've written to Delta and have received nothing but a form letter confirming they've received my comments. I guess my money's not that important to them. Unless Delta changes the way they treat their best customers, I just can't afford to make Delta my airline of choice. I'll continue to fly Delta to the market(s) they handle more efficiently than American from the Los Angeles area out of convenience alone. In 2000, I flew nearly 200,000 miles. Delta could get a more substantial percentage of my travel dollars, but not the way they do business today.

Daniel E. - January 5, 2001

I too have taken the opportunity to read the comments from both frequent flyers and airline employees. I have flown with Delta for the past 3 years only because I reside in Atlanta, and the choices for travel in the Southeastern United States are limited at best. Scott K's response provides an excellent perspective on the entire situation. The airline industry is a service industry. Airline employees, please note the term again: "service" industry. I have worked in public accounting and now work as a consultant in a firm based in Atlanta. I have been in the service industry since graduating college. Never, and I say this again for emphasis, never have I treated customers the way Delta treats its customers. If I did my firm would be out of business...period. I am more and more appalled every time I travel, to the point that I AM looking for an alternate airline this year. Despite the Medallion status, I will take my chances elsewhere. At this point the only perk of being Medallion is loading before everyone else. Everyone in my firm is at least silver, some gold, mostly platinum. These discussions mirror their opinions. They are shopping around as well.

Additionally, I am not interested in name calling, but after reading some of the postings from "airline" employees(Charlotte, Vanessa and Scott), I feel compelled to offer a rebuttal:

1. I understand you deal all day with unhappy people. Believe it or not, a good portion of your customers deal with unhappy clients every day as well. The difference is that we take the criticism as constructive, circumnavigate our frustration (because often times the customer is wrong, but we will never tell them that), and after they have handed us our head on a platter, we jump right back into the foray, regroup and try to mend what they perceive has been wronged. Perception is reality. Right now the perception of your airline is low and heading south. Perhaps you should be trying to mend that perception rather than provoking the situation.

2. This is your chosen profession. You tell us road warriors to find a different job, and I would like to rebut that by saying that if you can't treat your loyal customers with more respect, defend your employer in a way that doesn't provoke the masses even further, and show even the slightest iota of empathy for our situation, then maybe you should be looking for the job, not us. Although if I were offered a job where I had to go from place to place, offer people a drink and incredibly bland snacks, and then get to sit on my butt and gossip with my friends for a couple of hours, I would probably try to keep that job too. Maybe we should calculate the percentage of inflight time you are actually doing something. Talk about something for nothing. I work an average of 60 hours a week, and that's not counting the time in flight, which is more often than not MY time. Don't tell me I'm getting something for nothing, when all I am asking for is common courtesy. I recognize the value of my customers, never take what they say for granted, and most certainly would never speak to them the way you are speaking to us.

3. I am not one to make stereotypical comments, but I can say that I have encountered a much greater percentage of not-so-nice Delta employees than I have in the aggregate of all the other airlines I have flown. So take note, Vanessa, that in order to get respect you have to give respect. Flight attendants are the worst. It is no exaggeration when I say that in the past 3 years (150+ flights) the number of flight attendants I have encountered who I would not consider downright rude, I can count on one hand. We are frustrated with things like the now terrible and declining service and negative attitudes towards us, your loyal customers. You don't attempt to diffuse the frustration but rather feel the need to throw gasoline on the fire. I understand how you can take a defensive stand on this issue, but we ARE the customer with claims based on experience. If payment for services rendered situation were different, would we be treated differently? When I go to a restaurant, I don't pay full price for the meal including tip before I eat, and the waiter or waitress gets a tip based on my perception of their service. The meal has a base price, but the tip is variable. Maybe if the airborne waiters and waitresses received compensation commensurate with level of service, we would be treated with a certain degree of respect.

4. Regarding the upgrade situation, I find myself more and more appalled every day. The introduction of this new class ticket has rendered my upgrades all but useless. Now I hear about losing my SWU's, and I am devastated. I am both delighted and annoyed to hear that I am not the only frequent Delta traveler to be refused an upgrade only to see empty seats or available seats occupied by employees. In one instance of flying standby, I watched 6, yes 6 employees board the plane before they called paying passengers. And yes, the Medallion status is the one perk I get for flying. Getting something for nothing is a gross misinterpretation of the situation. I don't care who pays for the ticket, I am using MY time traveling. Time is my most valuable asset.

If I were to loan you a car, fill it with gas and provide you 3 meals a day while you were away from home, but you had to drive from Atlanta to Chicago and back every week, would you feel as though you deserved nothing for your time? Would you be OK with me treating you with the same respect as someone who only drove around Atlanta once a month? Does Delta offer incentives for Flight Attendants for length of flight and international vs. domestic flights? I would assume so. Why would you not think we expect to be treated differently as well? So at least attempt to be understanding if I am a little upset, when, for example, EVERY, again I emphasize EVERY, flight I have taken from Houston's Bush Intercontinental to Atlanta has been delayed a minimum of 2 hours. The last excuse was weather (actually that's THE excuse for delays). I called my girlfriend to tell her I was going to be late, just so she could tell me that it was sunny and clear in Atlanta. Do sunny, clear skies pose a threat to air travel?

I could go on with stories of delays, last minute cancellations, and the ridiculous prices for coast-to-coast travel (almost always 4 times higher than other airlines). I actually went to a discount fare site because I had to get to San Francisco, and I wanted to try to fly Delta because of my Medallion status. I found the ticket for around $550 (yes everyone that was on Delta), but the ticket had to be mailed. I recorded the flights and called Delta to try to see why there was such a huge discrepancy (on Delta.com the same segments were $2,100). The woman was VERY rude and said that if I got better rates then I should just continue to use that site. Talk about poor customer service and even poorer business decisions. The flight was half empty, and I would have gladly paid a little more for the e-ticket.

When a situation escalates to the point that this one has and a web site like this is created and receives this much attention, something is obviously wrong. If I were a Delta employee, I would be listening, attentively. I invite the Delta employees, especially management to read "The Cluetrain Manifesto". No, I am not spamming because I am not affiliated with the author or publisher (remember I am an accountant). This book provides an excellent perspective on what companies NEED to do to survive in the information age. Bottom line is this: Read the writing on the wall. We ARE the customer. Hear us out or watch us leave.

Jeanie B. - January 5, 2001

As a gold Medallion member, I am really upset by Delta's doing away with the system-wide upgrades. In fact, every time I get something from Delta, telling me how they have changed the frequent flyer program "to improve customer service," I wonder what I'm losing this time!

Another complaint I have is that I was a Delta Flying Colonel. Delta awarded that to me; I didn't ask for it. That award was mostly honorary but it did include Crown Room membership. They did away with the program and didn't even have the decency to write and tell me--just sent me a bill for the membership. This was done 4 or 5 or so years ago and to this day, they have never said 'Thank you for your loyalty.' (A ticket agent told me they had done away with the program after I asked about it.) I had to drive 100 miles each way to fly Delta, but I did it because they awarded me this honor. If Delta didn't fly there, I drove. Now because of their callous behavior, I fly other airlines. I'd go back to Delta exclusively if they honored their original initiative.

Robert O. - January 4, 2001

I have been and exclusive Delta for about the last 15 years and still have some old Frequent Flyer miles along with the SkyMiles left, and I'm not that far from being a Million Miler. I even still have coupons left from the Class Action lawsuit against Delta on the Frequent Flyer program. Delta is making it almost impossible to do anything with the FF and SkyMiles except site there Along with that I have earned many miles with the American Express Awards program which Delta has PROMOTED so heavily for many years. I normally don't upgrade because my clients pay for a FULL PRICE first class ticket, which that price is ridiculous, so I don't have that much of a change to use the miles. So that leaves little opportunity to use the miles but probably when I to get to use them they will probably have changed policies saying you have to use them within the year you earn them.

When I travel I usually fly Delta because of the direct route and the shortest time but if they keep up with these policy changes I will start using other airlines, which are CHEAPER, and spend more time with connecting flights.

Carsten T. - January 4, 2001

Thank God for your Web Site. After 10 years of loyalty to Delta, this is what I get.

This is the most dramatic retrenching of FF benefits I have ever seen. It is amazing how many people, including Delta agents who do not know that the new program is a significant downgrade!!! The Delta PR staff has managed to package it so it sounds like a benefit and improvement.

The following detail about Delta's new upgrade policy is not noted in your write up:

SkyMiles members can continue to use old systemwide upgrades for a year, I believe. However, the new systemwide upgrades, which are only issued to Platinum, require you first to qualify for Platinum to get them. Which in practice means that there will be a huge hole from the time I run out of the old Systemwides (late this winter) until I get some new ones when I again qualify for platinum (late in 2001). Effectively, for me Delta basically cuts out a 6 to 8 month period where I cannot get any upgrades internationally, and I cross the Atlantic once per month!

Best Regards and keep up the good work.

Todd B. - January 4, 2001

I appreciate your efforts. Delta has been taking advantage of its customers in the Greater Cincinnati area for many years with high airfares, but they always provided excellent service and great benefits to its elite Skymiles members. However, the level of service has been on a steady decline the last year and now they are reducing benefits to their most loyal customers. Poor management is the only explanation.

Jeffery M. - January 4, 2001

I've lived in Atlanta for the past 20 years and shopped at Kroger every week. Do you think I get any perks or freebies? Delta medallion flyers quit your whining and appreciate what has been given to you!

Jose T. - January 4, 2001

I'm a silver medallion and just realized that with the new 800-mile upgrade, I can't even make a round trip Atlanta-San Diego with a first class upgrade. I just don't have enough of the upgrades to cover the all the miles. It seems all my effort to reach medallion level during 2000 was not worth it, other for standing in line on the first class ticket counter.

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