Executive Briefing
The new rules of airline loyalty
Delta hoses its middle class. Also: The imminent iPhone-cable whinefest. Birks. And $5.6 billion for Twinkies in the age of Ozempic.
By Dan Frommer on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 8:00 am
Delta Air Lines, often considered the best of the major US airlines, is the latest to make dramatic changes to its loyalty program, increasingly rewarding its most profitable, highest spenders while downgrading everyone else.
It’s generating a lot of discussion, and many who proudly wore the Delta badge are now questioning their devotion: All those years for this?
And while Delta is not the first to make these types of changes, it’s a good opportunity to reflect on the business of loyalty: What actually matters in the brand-customer relationship? (Money.) Is airline loyalty worth it? (Sometimes.) What’s a loyalty program really for? (Money.)
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