RealHJ

Never going to happen. The normal award level, that is now scarce, will be practically non-existant (like looking for a believed-to-be-extinct species in the wild). What is now at normal level will go to Level 2 and Level 3 (higher than normal mileage), and DL will claim that there is more availability at the "lowest levels," which means Level 1 once in 10 years, some in Level 2 and more in Level 3 (which will have what is now at the double mileage level still and so combination of that and L2 will allow DL to make this ludricous claim (i.e., lie)).

gooselee

It doesn't really matter what any of us thinks, the requirements for medallion levels are clear, and it's quite apparent that DL doesn't give out status just for getting close to the requirements (ignoring things like DPJ cardholders, true VIPs & ultra-HVCs, status challenges, and corporate partnerships).

To become GM, you must have 50k MQM, some of which may have been rolled over from the previous year. You must also have $5k MQD, none of which will have rolled over from the previous year, as there is no MQD rollover (or meet the Amex waiver).

We saw that this year, with 2014 DMs rolling over enough MQMs to already requalify for status, but needing to wait until they met either the MQD or Amex thresholds before their 2015 status actually took hold.

Winkdaddy

Has it been said one way or another if FO/GM/PM/DM retains the 25/100/100/125% bonus miles in 2015... in addition to the miles earned due to spend?

gooselee

Yes it has been said. The current RDM medallion bonus structure is gone.

You earn RDMs based on spend, and medallions earn at a higher RDM per dollar rate depending on status level. So there is still a medallion bonus, but it is not the 25/100/100/125% structure anymore. On my phone right now so I won't quote the exact numbers under the new scheme.

BusTrav8yrs

That is correct, it is 7,8,9 and 11 times what you paid only (excluding taxes like MQD).

It looks like GM's get the biggest shaft on this from the existing for example a 1000 mile rt tkt costing $300.

Level Miles $ 2014 2015 Diff
FO 2000 300 2500 2100 -400
GM 2000 300 4000 2400 -1600
PM 2000 300 4000 2700 -1300
DM 2000 300 4500 3300 -1200

Looking at my current year travel, even though my MQD is over 18K, I would lose about 30K miles of RDM's if it were 2015.

Winkdaddy

OOOF! A $400 fare JFK-LAX nets me 9,900 miles now as a GM...but in 2015 it only gets me 3200!? There is going to be a huge drop off in award bookings towards the end of 2015 when people's miles start clearing out.

I wonder if Delta will actually sell all those BE seats that would have gone to awards or if they will just stick non-revs in them

GRALISTAIR

I am not saying this because I am DM now , but the bonus structure never made sense to me in the first place. The reverse way of looking at it is that Golds did very well under the old structure. The most sense would have been 25%/50%/75%/125% RDM bonus for FO/GM/PM/DM. Where the old system did a jump from 25 -100% - very generous IMHO.

Dovster

Are you certain about the first answer?

It was my understanding that MQMs do not roll over if you are not at least Silver Medallion. Hence, you could have 50,000 MQMs but if you don't have $2500 MQDs, sufficient Amex spend, or live overseas you would lose the MQMs.

alrvd83

Found my answer to my question lol:

So I just passed 125k MQM's for this yr thus achieving Diamond for a 2nd yr...so it's valid now through jan 31 2016. As a choice benefit, I'm thinking 25k miles and 4 global upgrades.

Anyone have experience with the global upgrades yet?

ULDB65

Try this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l#post23552054

alrvd83

Oops. Thx!

kulflyer

I'm a little baffled by the MQD qualifications. If the whole point is to identify more profitable customers, why don't they include purchases of Economy Comfort/Preferred seating and baggage fees? Including baggage fees may incentivize people to check their luggage instead of dragging them onboard and risk not having space for it. Definitely reduces delays and arguments onboard too.

TrojanTraveler

It looks like we're going to need to also keep an eye on how RDMs are calculated.

I bought two tickets today for May, 2015. As my wife and I have gone over the $25,000 on the Amex cards (the waiver), we started using our non-DL Amex for the rest of the year. I forgot about this, and bought the tickets on my non-DL Amex. I noticed that the calculation for RDMs (or whatever they are called) was only 11X. It should have been 13X. So I had Mrs. TrojanTraveler book them (and I cancelled mine)...I didn't have my DL Amex card with me.

She booked, and she only got 9X. I realized that for some reason she still hasn't been upgraded to DM for 2015...but she does have the Amex. So it should have been 11X, based on her current 2015 PM status.

Add to this, the reservation only showed one RDM calculation. But since we have different statuses (for today), and thus have different calculations, shouldn't it show for each pax?

So two things: First, the calculation isn't necessarily correct. Second, what happens when your status changes between when you book a ticket and when you fly? I assume that the calculation is based on your status when you take the flight...so will DL's systems automatically recalculate these when a pax' status changes? Given DL IT, this is one more thing that will have to be micromanaged.

Bowgie

In marketing their new scheme, Delta counts the 2x Amex on the ticket purchase as part of 11x for plat and 13x for Diamond. In reality, it is 9x for plat and 11x for Diamond, while the 2x for the Delta purchases on Amex remains unchanged. Plat (and anyone else) gets 2x purchase price from Amex for the Delta purchase AND 9x price minus taxes from Delta when the flight is flown. If status changes, then the RDM's are per current status when the flight is flown.

jayenoh

Does it make sense to rack up Skymiles on low cost/long distance flights before the change next year? I'm GM right now so I can get the earning bonus while it lasts.