Delta Dealing with Backlash Over Skymiles Limitation – Now What?

If you have Delta Skymiles, you were probably a bit perturbed by the announcement last month that Delta would be limiting your perks.  Basically taking away some of the perks that you have been enjoying because you weren't buying enough.

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Not buying enough?  How does that work?

How the Skymiles works is this:

You get the Delta Skymiles credit card, which is an American Express card.  And by the way, not everyone (businesses) take American Express.  But anyway, you can absolutely book your flights with this card, and use it for some other expenses as well.  What then happens is that after a certain level of spending, you become more of an elite member.  And with that, comes some perks.

Just to name a few:

Extra Flight Assistance, more expansive menu selections, complimentary WiFi, visit the Bar at the Delta Sky Club, showers on specific flights like Delta 1 and others.  You can always opt to pay the $78 for TSA Pre-Check.  That way you don't have to remove your shoes, labtop, belts, jackets and even some liquids. The $78 gets you that perk for 5 years.  That's worth it.

What was Delta changing?

Delta announced that they would no longer allow the Delta perks people to use a few of the perks that they were previously using. One of those things was the Bar at the Delta Sky Club.  That is, unless you purchased one of the premium seats  Like you wouldn't be able to use that perk if you only purchased a coach ticket.

This didn't sit well with passengers who already had the perk.  So, there was a ton of backlash.  One thing was that people were threatening to leave and go to another airline, and those airlines were making it very attractive for them to do so.  For instance - stating that they would be able to keep whatever status they were at with Delta with their airline, without having to start at square one.  That's attractive.

Now, Delta is walking back that limitation saying that maybe they acted a bit too quickly.

From KARE 11:

“No question we probably went too far in doing that,” CEO Ed Bastian told the Atlanta Rotary Club. “I think we moved too fast, and we are looking at it now.”

Bastian promised “modifications” that the airline will announce “sometime over the next few weeks.” He didn’t give details.

So, sounds like there will still be a change, but as to what, stay tuned.