bsagator

Phew, saved by Amex.

Edit: nevermind, i should be good anyway.

StayingHomeIsBetter

If a member has enough Rollover MQMs to qualify for 2015 Medallion status, he or she must still meet the MQDs threshold by spending on Delta flights in 2014 to qualify for status in the 2015 Medallion year.

I guess there will be fewer "I'm DM through 2020" or "I'm Double Diamond" posts around here in the future.

FlyDeltaJets87

It's the end of mileage runs being the sole method for obtaining status. You can still use a MR to bump you over a threshold (MQD/MQM/MQS), but this new system prevents people from running back and forth to Istanbul a few times on $500 round trip tickets and obtaining Platinum or Diamond Status.

dcsnowwake

time to start paying my mortgage my CC then pay off the CC right away.

reef58

Even under the new plan there will be no shortage of FO's and Golds.

Since they seem to be going towards a $$$ system it seems if I spend well above FO $$, for instance this year will likely be in excess of $15K maybe I get bumped to platinum or some such.

That being said I wil likely make Gold this year on my own due to rollover.

ATL787

The gutting of MQM earning on SkyTeam partners is absolutely incredible. I would be seriously ticked if I had any flights booked already for after March 1st, and found out that I would only earn 50% of what I expected.

Flew KE on an S fare in coach a few years ago and earned 150% MQMs. Have a similar trip planned for July, and will sadly now only earn 1/3 of what I earned back then. Hope there is a serious backlash on this SkyTeam devaluation, and they reverse this decision.

I guess heads get big down there in Hapeville when your stock runs from $9.33 up to $13.92 in 2 short months. (yes, I know this has been in the works for a while, but still)

DCAproducer

We knew something like this was coming for a while.

First impressions: The plan is going to just complicate things for many low tier medallions.

Several people pointed out the obvious that this makes MOST rollover useless. Unless you buy a couple of pricey tickets a DM who rolls over 100k MQM would still need to fly to take advantage of those rollover MQMs.

With that said, AMEX saves many of us. I also did a quick tally of my $$ spent on DL last year and I would have hit the $7500 to make PM. You basically have to spend $.10/per MQM to qualify for status. Bye Bye MR.

If you read the details it won't effect us this year, just next year.

Losing the 50% bump on F, J and M fares sucks, but we knew that was coming.

timmy83

I think FO/GM members who will requalify will see a net increase in the benefits of mediallion. This will likely drag some people down a step or two and eliminate some flyers from the ranks, leading to a net increase in upgrades and a more tangible sense of "elite" status.

Although I am not one of them, those who have been saying that FO is worthless should be satisfied by these changes.

c_d

For *ALL* of 2012? All my KLM/AF booked flights (>10) show up as 074/057 with my last non-DL.com flown flight in late November. What is the eTix receipt saying?

exwannabe

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medallion Qualification Dollars: Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) are the sum total of the SkyMiles member’s spend on Delta-marketed flights (flight numbers that include the “DL” airline code), inclusive of the base fare and applicable surcharges, but exclusive of government-imposed taxes and fees.

Flight spend for travel on other airlines ticketed through a Delta channel (featuring a ticket number beginning with “006”) will also be included in MQDs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is clearly DL-xxx flights or 006 tickets that get MQDs.

timmy83

I've been thinking about this a bit. I don't know that MRs are going away. Just changing based on this. We may see the birth of the FC MR - more MQM in F and the SM Amex exemption mean that those $0.10/mile FC fares are now extra attractive.

hazelrah

Credit card tie-ins trump elites appears to be the trend. I guess it should not surprise us that airlines
want to be extra cozy with and close to their food source.

StayingHomeIsBetter

Ancillary purchases or fees including but not limited to checked baggage fees, Economy Comfort™ seat purchases, Priority Boarding, Delta Sky Club® memberships, Wi-Fi passes, in-flight food and beverage purchases, in-flight entertainment, unaccompanied minor fees, pet travel fees, Mileage Booster™, ticket change fees, Direct Ticketing Charge (DTC), Same Day Confirmed Fee, Administrative Service Charge (ASC), External Reissue Charge (ERC), and Standby Upgrades purchased at the gate, do not count toward earning MQDs.

The extraneous fees that moved DL from the red to the black do not produce MQD credit for the consumer. Hmmmm...

I guess this makes sense. There are trying to incentive the one area where they have not figured out how to make money... putting butts in seats and flying them from point A to point B.

mooper

This is a non-event if you:

A) Average $0.10/MQM or greater already.

B) Spend $25K+/year on a DL-branded credit card.

C) Average $0.06-$0.09/MQM, earn beyond the bare minimum for your tier (e.g., 65K MQMs for GM), and have a few fares that earn the 50% MQM bonus *or* you sign up for a DL-branded credit card that earns an MQM signup bonus (even if you don't spend much on it) *or* you utilize a few other MQM promos like DMQM specials, MQMs for hotel stays or lounge access, or similar.

Only those at $0.05/MQM and below who don't spend $25K+ on a DL CC might face some challenges. Getting a DL CC and utilizing the many easy tricks to hit thresholds at little cost would be the easiest out for this crowd. You wouldn't even need to do it every year. You could get the card in Jan, meet the spend in a few months, then be qualified for almost two full years.

javabytes