Loyalty programs may be the single greatest scam pulled on the traveling public. Want to segment customers into castes of “haves” and “have-nots”? Create legions of blindly brand-loyal passengers? Lift your profits to avaricious new heights? Nothing does it like a clever frequent-flier program.
Yet as a consumer advocate, not a day goes by that I don’t receive a despondent email from a platinum card member who spent every travel dollar with a company, only to come up empty-handed, betrayed by a program’s vague promises.
Who wouldn’t be fatigued after hearing from thousands of unhappy passengers whose miles expired or were denied “elite” status or were banished to the back of the plane on a trans-Pacific flight? Who wouldn’t be furious at the travel companies whose adhesion contracts allow them to pull this barely legal bait-and-switch?
And that is why I love Delta Air Lines’ new loyalty program. The nation’s No. 3 air carrier recently announced it would restructure its SkyMiles program in 2015 so that awards travel would be earned based on ticket price instead of the number of miles flown. For the first time in decades, the cold reality of the SkyMiles program will send many of us into mileage-collecting rehab, where we can be weaned from our frequent-flier addiction and finally make a more informed and rational booking decision.
It’s about time.
Let me be clear: SkyMiles remains unfair to most air travelers. According to its terms, Delta can change its program rules at any time without notice, confiscate your miles, or terminate your membership whenever it wants to.
Delta, no doubt, is licking its chops at all the extra money you’re about to fork over in exchange for the possibility that you’ll be treated with just a little dignity on its flights. Studies suggest loyalty program members spend roughly 40 percent more than non-members.
Delta apparently believes it can move the goal posts on its program again and get away with it. Granted, the experience in the back of the plane is beyond awful today, from seats squeezed closer together to a “you-get-what-you-pay-for” attitude from flight attendants. I can’t blame anyone for playing the points game and trying to score an upgrade to an Economy “Comfort” seat, which has roughly the same amount of legroom as a pre-deregulation coach class seat. At the same time, in an unintentional moment of honesty, Delta admits the other seats in steerage class are “uncomfortable,” which they are. But something tells me a lot of Delta’s passengers aren’t going to fall for it this time.
As a major critic of travel industry loyalty programs, I’m truly grateful to Delta. The new SkyMiles effectively clamps down on many of the mileage-earning shenanigans, such as earning “free” flights by collecting the sides of pudding boxes or U.S. Mint coins. It could also curtail mileage runs, the foolish act of spending your employer’s money to fly nowhere at the end of the year, just to become a preferred customer and have access to scarce space-available upgrades. Also, and perhaps most important, it ensures the biggest spenders get the best perks — not the fanboys who learned to hack the system.
Maybe, just maybe, more customers will make a rational decision about their next flight itinerary — not one distorted by a pathological obsession with miles, but based on ticket price and convenience. A veil is slowly being lifted from the traveling public, and at last, they’re seeing loyalty programs for what they really are: habit-forming schemes that impair your ability to make a clear-headed decision about travel and that almost always benefit the travel company more than you.
Christopher Elliott is the author of “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler (And Save Time, Money and Hassle).”
