Reaching Gold
Sep 3, 2015, 12:50 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 111
Reaching Gold
Hi folks,
I currently have 16,700 miles to go to reach gold. I'm in TLV now, so after flying back to JFK I should have 4500 more miles in the bag, bringing me to 12,200 to gold.
I'm booking an other return flight form JFK - TLV for November. I usually fly direct, but will flying through CDG earn me extra miles? If so, does anyone know how many extra? I'm not sure if I'll be taking any other flights this year, so I want to do my best to ensure I reach gold.
Thanks so Much!
Ari
I currently have 16,700 miles to go to reach gold. I'm in TLV now, so after flying back to JFK I should have 4500 more miles in the bag, bringing me to 12,200 to gold.
I'm booking an other return flight form JFK - TLV for November. I usually fly direct, but will flying through CDG earn me extra miles? If so, does anyone know how many extra? I'm not sure if I'll be taking any other flights this year, so I want to do my best to ensure I reach gold.
Thanks so Much!
Ari
Sep 3, 2015, 1:22 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 111
Hi WhiskeyBravo,
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Sep 3, 2015, 2:02 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,989
Hi WhiskeyBravo,
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
You could be flying a "direct" flight even if you were in reality routed through another airport. Also, the tool and Delta's numbers are not always an exact match.
Best way is to do a dummy booking on Delta site and see the miles that you would get. You have to login to see the MQM quote at the results page.
Sep 3, 2015, 2:46 am
#5
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,630
Hi WhiskeyBravo,
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Sep 3, 2015, 5:38 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Posts: 937
I guess my question is, is does stopping in CDG really add much distance to the trip? Just thinking about geography i'd imagine a flight JFK->TLV probably goes right through France. Maybe you'd get a few extra miles, but presumably not enough to warrant a stop.
Sep 3, 2015, 6:19 am
#7
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=j...YLE=&ETOPS=180
Sep 3, 2015, 7:39 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,151
Hi WhiskeyBravo,
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
Thanks for the quick reply. That's a cool tool. I never heard of it before.
I'm a bit confused though. The total miles that it tells me for the round trip is about 5600 miles. However, my flights on Delta show a base miles of 4660 for an identical trip I did in April.
And to further complicate things in my mind, I'm receiving more base miles for the trip I'm currently on then I did in April. 2,330 for 1 way in April vs. 3,215 last week.
Any ideas why the discrepancy? I imagine it has to do with fare of based on when I booked. All were in economy.
Thanks!
The "base miles" refers to Delta's new system where the amount of award miles you receive is not based on distown flown, but USD spent on the ticket.
Sep 3, 2015, 8:55 am
#9
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, DL MM
Posts: 4,246
What gcmap shows you is equivalent to what Delta will show as "MQMs". If you are flying business, Delta will show MQMs = 1.5*gcmap.
The "base miles" refers to Delta's new system where the amount of award miles you receive is not based on distown flown, but USD spent on the ticket.
The "base miles" refers to Delta's new system where the amount of award miles you receive is not based on distown flown, but USD spent on the ticket.
The only thing you can do is fly JFK-SVO-TLV for an extra 700 MQM. Both DL & Aeroflot flight JFK-Moscow so couple options
Sep 3, 2015, 9:35 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: YTO/DEL/BOM/GAU
Programs: A few airlines, hotel programs and car rentals
Posts: 1,238
These are my rough estimates:
JFK-TLV-JFK on a discounted coach fare: 11354 MQMs
JFK-TLV-JFK on a Y/B fare: 17032 MQMs
JFK-CDG-TLV-CDG-JFK on a discounted coach fare: 11356 MQMs
JFK-CDG-TLV-CDG-JFK on a Y/B fare: 17036 MQMs
Happy to be corrected though!
JFK-TLV-JFK on a discounted coach fare: 11354 MQMs
JFK-TLV-JFK on a Y/B fare: 17032 MQMs
JFK-CDG-TLV-CDG-JFK on a discounted coach fare: 11356 MQMs
JFK-CDG-TLV-CDG-JFK on a Y/B fare: 17036 MQMs
Happy to be corrected though!
Sep 3, 2015, 12:19 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, MM, NR; HH Diamond, Bonvoy LT Gold, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Diamond, others
Posts: 12,159
Sep 3, 2015, 12:24 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
Programs: DL PM 1MM, AA PLAT, UA Silver, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 10,349
Different airports though. 
Per GC Map, routing JFK-DTW-SFO over JFK-SFO should net you a whole 1 mile extra (2587 vs. 2586).
But SEA-DTW versus SEA-MSP-DTW is an example where stopping adds nothing mileage wise.
SEA-DTW: 1927
SEA-MSP-DTW: 1927 (1399 + 528).
Of course, DL always uses slightly different distances (Example: I'm flying SEA-DTW and it shows as 1920 on delta.com, or 7 miles less than GC Map. I think Delta's cheating me out of MQMs. ).
Per GC Map, routing JFK-DTW-SFO over JFK-SFO should net you a whole 1 mile extra (2587 vs. 2586). But SEA-DTW versus SEA-MSP-DTW is an example where stopping adds nothing mileage wise.
SEA-DTW: 1927
SEA-MSP-DTW: 1927 (1399 + 528).
Of course, DL always uses slightly different distances (Example: I'm flying SEA-DTW and it shows as 1920 on delta.com, or 7 miles less than GC Map. I think Delta's cheating me out of MQMs.
).
Sep 3, 2015, 1:43 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 111
Hi guys. This is all amazingly helpful.
If my calculations are correct, after tonight's return flight from TLV to JFK, I should be at 39,085, meaning the JFK-TLV-JFK in Novermber with its 11,354 MQMs should put me right where is need to be!
If my calculations are correct, after tonight's return flight from TLV to JFK, I should be at 39,085, meaning the JFK-TLV-JFK in Novermber with its 11,354 MQMs should put me right where is need to be!
Sep 3, 2015, 4:56 pm
#14
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
For TVL, you might be able to get a few extra miles by connecting through AMS using KLM. There might be a FCO connection on AZ to consider too. Are there legal routings such as NYC-BOS/ATL-CDG-TLV?
I often find a nice way to add a few hundred extra miles is to use a short leg that earns the minimum of 500 MQM rather than actual miles. The classic would be an ORD connection from MSP, with that leg getting 500 rather than about 338 miles IIRC. Another one would be RDU-ATL-XXX rather than RDU-XXX nonstop. If you can avoid small planes, PHL-NYC-YYY should be good too. However, do not assume that the 500 minimum applies to partner flights.
I often find a nice way to add a few hundred extra miles is to use a short leg that earns the minimum of 500 MQM rather than actual miles. The classic would be an ORD connection from MSP, with that leg getting 500 rather than about 338 miles IIRC. Another one would be RDU-ATL-XXX rather than RDU-XXX nonstop. If you can avoid small planes, PHL-NYC-YYY should be good too. However, do not assume that the 500 minimum applies to partner flights.