Both Delta and Northwest unveiled similar promotions on Friday, offering up to 5,000 or 10,000 bonus miles per roundtrip, with a maximum of ten bonuses. Unfortunately for me (and many, many others) the promotions are targeted, and I’m not one of the “chosen” ones. Based on those posting on FlyerTalk, the targeting seems pretty random. Those Northwest flyers that were targeted report seeing the following on their promotions page:
CO Campaign 10000 Bonus Miles
That seems to suggest that Northwest is trying to retain their passengers that flew Continental quite a bit, given that the relationship is ending in October.
Now, it’s time for some grade-A whining. I understand that the airlines use certain private metrics for determining who’s targeted and who isn’t (blah, blah, blah, yeah right), but why the hell am I not one of them? I mean, seriously! 😀
I’m a Northwest Platinum that has about 15,000 EQM’s with them for the year. That means I’m not flying a whole lot with them. I flew Continental this year and credited to Northwest, so (theoretically) I’m one of the passengers they want to convince to not jump ship. Anyway, not that it’s necessarily in Northwest’s best interest, but I’d do ten roundtrips with them in a heartbeat if I had received the 10,000 bonus miles offer. Sometimes I get the feeling that some over-paid guys at WHQ throw darts to determine who’s targeted and who isn’t.
I really have to wonder whether these types of targeted promotion create goodwill in the internet age, where everything is instantly posted online. Those that weren’t targeted are pissed and those that received the 5,000 mile offer feel short changed.
By the way, I expect we’ll see similar promotions from other airlines later in the year. Maybe not quite as good, but they’re coming.
And that’s my gripe to get the week off to a great start! 😉
@Sam - Yeah, I kind of went overboard. :) Lucky is sometimes much too honest in his posts. Nothing I hate more than whining.
When I was a tour guide, and I'd take bus loads of New Yorkers through the Canadian Rockies, staying at 'classic' (read: sometimes old and creaky) hotels such as Chateau Lake Louise and the Banff Springs Hotel. After a night at one of these properties, I'd often have some woman complain...
@Sam - Yeah, I kind of went overboard. :) Lucky is sometimes much too honest in his posts. Nothing I hate more than whining.
When I was a tour guide, and I'd take bus loads of New Yorkers through the Canadian Rockies, staying at 'classic' (read: sometimes old and creaky) hotels such as Chateau Lake Louise and the Banff Springs Hotel. After a night at one of these properties, I'd often have some woman complain to me that the leaky toilet kept her up all night; she go on whining about it.
I'd turn to her, and tell her that if she had let me know about it WHEN I COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, I would have happily done whatever was necessary to resolve the issue.
I guess lucky's post triggered the part of me that has no respect for whiners.
@Oliver: I got a status match with NWA since they will no longer be an independent airline by the end of the year. I figured, why not? If I use it great, if not--no big deal. I have yet to fly them this year, though I do plan on trying them at some point.
I didn't get this promo. And I haven't flown Delta/NW/CO this year.
@Bschaff1 -- I assume you're not flying NWA anymore because you already have status elsewhere? Because why else would one get status (NW in this case), if not to use it.
I didn't get this promo. To date I've had on RT M class and 2 one ways with about 70k EQM to date. I have another TATL RT booked and two one ways. Simply put, Delta/Northwest won't be getting any more business from me this year. I'm already set to requalify for NWA Platinum, so I see so reason to fly any further reason to deal with NWA. However, if I had this promo, I would take another few trips.
not alot of the non-targeted people would acturally know about the promo, i'm one of the targeted people with 5000 bonus per flight, but i do agree its incrediblly unfair, DL is essentially paying nothing for this promo, and the people paying the bill are the ones who didn't get the promo and stupid or ignorent enought to still fly DL/NW.
@ Eric: Calm down buddy.
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I unfortunately did not get the e-mail either. :(
Enough with this entitlement mentality. Christ! Wahhhhhhh! Cry me a river.It's a targeted promotion, it could be part of a more sophisticated marketing test - who knows!
Jesus, if it's so bad, just walk across the street to the competition.
You're right, your post showed a spoiled, bratty side of you. Get over it. You are way too addicted to the flying/mileage thing....take a break. :)
From the FT group at the DL DO this weekend I'd say that very few of us were targeted.
I'm @ 125K MQM's but only had one trip booked for the rest of the year and, because of the T&C of the 3x MQM offer, have booked K+ almost all year so they figure I'm a high revenue customer they need to keep.
Others who fly less than me weren't targeted but some who fly more were.
cheap delta flights? Cheapest I'm aware of are the shuttle flights, LGA-DCA. if you time it right, they are as little as $39 o/w
Ben -- I don't think this has anything to do with CO. Neither my +1 nor I have flown them in 2009, and we both got the 10k/100k. OK, we did fly them a decent amount in 2008, but that seems like a stretch.
Now, onto more important matters:
Should I/we MR to get the 10k miles? I guess you would!
The cheapest / easiest regular fare for us is DEN-SLC I think. $100 or...
Ben -- I don't think this has anything to do with CO. Neither my +1 nor I have flown them in 2009, and we both got the 10k/100k. OK, we did fly them a decent amount in 2008, but that seems like a stretch.
Now, onto more important matters:
Should I/we MR to get the 10k miles? I guess you would!
The cheapest / easiest regular fare for us is DEN-SLC I think. $100 or so. So this would basically boil down to 1cpm. Not bad, but these are (future) SkyPiles we're talking about! And 10 trips on BOS-SLC won't even gain us status for next year, as the base miles aren't enough, and we, like you, have barely flown SkyTeam this year.
Delta seems willing to sell miles at 1cpm willy-nilly, so is it really worth it for me to fly to earn them? I'm sort of on the fence here, but looking for a justification.
Does anyone know of any routes within the DL/NW network for under $100? I'd be willing to reposition for a weekend to knock it out quickly.....
My NW and Delta accounts are 'linked'.
I'm a comped NW plat with about 45k eqm's so far this year in that account.
I received the bonus offer... for my Delta account. Argh.
Gee, I wonder why I haven't been crediting my flights to my non-status DL account???
lucky,
it did not let me register, 39k EQM so far up to date...
But they also know how much/little you paid for your flights, so maybe just maybe they'd rather you go to CO :)