A slightly eclectic and tongue in cheek look at SkyMiles’ latest enhancement – I’m not an accountant, but I work with a lot of them. They’re kind of like lawyers in that they are difficult to love until you need one, but I digress. One thing about accountants is that they love to count things. Most of the accountants I know are really good people, but sometimes struggle with “the big picture” or seeing beyond “the audit trail.” You could be forgiven for asking what my pontification on accountants has to do with Delta SkyMiles eliminating around-the-world mileage redemptions come January 1, 2015?
Well, Delta, like all airlines nowadays, is run by finance people and bean counters accountants, and that’s not necessarily bad news…with some exceptions. They’ve been doing a little counting, and I’d bet you a dollar to a donut that the number of redemptions for RTW itineraries is in the hundreds (not even thousands) out of ever how many million SkyMiles members there are….or how many hundreds of thousands of awards are redeemed every year.
I have no idea what problem SkyMiles was trying to solve by eliminating RTW award on January 1, 2015. Apparently the cost of a SkyMiles RTW redemption compared favorably to others. It seems you’d solve that by raising the cost in miles, but I’m just a guy who writes things on the internet. My guess is that these redemptions had a real dollar cost that needed to be controlled, and the accountants saw this as an easy hit. I don’t really care, as the likelihood I’d ever book a RTW award is about the same as MrsMJ joining me on a cruise to Alaska. There’s a bit of griping online about the change, but not that much which may be telling. On the other hand, a RTW redemption could be seen as an aspirational redemption….something someone does everything they can to show some semblance of loyalty to amass the miles needed for that one award they really want. The trouble with aspiring for a redemption and a “semblance of loyalty” is that both are hard to quantify. In other words, the accountants counted the numbers and they did what comes natural. YMMV.
-MJ, October 7, 2014
What’s an outrage to me, is they didn’t NOTIFY anyone of this change. People noticed the change on a web page. Have they even publicly commented on it yet?
Bean counters running a customer service business does not seem like a good thing. But I think they dont get into the weeds enough to make cuts like this. I suspect the bean counters just set tough financial goals and leave it up to relatively low-level management to meet them. It is hard. For me, to see a coherent strategy in all of these changes. Maybe there is one other than a manager making an incentive goal and getting a bonus.
One other thing. Given that the RTW itinerary has to follow specific rules, the option of booking single one-way legs gives much more flexibility in ambling around the globe.
It might also be possible to use fewer miles to book an RTW-style trip using one-way legs than the RTW award.
A few years ago, I had my wife book an RTW trip in Business Class on SkyTeam for real money (company gave me a travel allowance and this is how I used a portion of it).
Here’s how the money compared back in 2006:
R/T from Origin to Shanghai = $7,000 (approx)
RTW from Origin-Frankfurt-Geneva-Amsterdam-Singapore-Tokyo-Shanghai-San Francisco-Origin = $7,700
Not much of a difference in costs. They probably figured that since so few people would be booking these (historical basis), why bother. Not a big deal.
I think you’re right DC.
About that Alaska cruise thing, it was never really high on my list of things to do but we went this summer with extended family. Our of 1/2 dozen cruises, it was by FAR my favorite & that includes a Med cruise last summer. Talk her into it, she’ll thank you.