Originally Posted by
Gargoyle
Those are considered your total BIS miles (butt-in-seat), the lifetime total for actually flying. Actually, they are your lifetime total MQM's/EQM's. Therefore it includes bonus MQM's from YBM and F fares, from AMEX bonuses, etc. There are some benefits and recognition for hitting milestones; in particular 1MM, 2MM and 4MM). Million Miler miles simply serve for keeping a running tally as you attain those milestones.
Some other airlines calculate lifetime miles towards Million Miler status in very different ways; for example some include total RDM's (redeemable miles) earned. In the past IIRC, DL did that too, so it was easier to become a DL million miler 15 years ago than it is now.
I believe the top current customer is somewhere between 7 and 11 MM.
well see then this isn't fair...NWA did keep track of total BIS miles but they never added any bonus miles into those...no high fare bonus nothing other than BIS miles...since the WP database goes back to it's creation I think DL needs to go back and add in the bonus miles DL has granted to make things fair