Originally Posted by
sbm12
Yes, the RDMs have a direct redemption value but buying status does, too.
Oh, really? Quantify the direct redemptive value of status, please.
I have no status. I have 110,000 RDMs. I have 3500 FEQMs. Which is a bigger liability to CO (he asks rhetorically)?
Originally Posted by
entropy
FEQM cost something.... but remember, aside from MM status, unless you are close EQM don't mean anything. If you're at 73k, 2k FEQM have a cost to CO, if you're at 55k you'd need to spend 100k to get the FEQM to move up. If you're a plat anyways, they don't cost CO anything really... In fact I'd say the only time they make a material difference is if you're in the silver-gold space where they might have to provide more benefits and 100% RDM bonus.
Exactly. My FEQMs won't cost CO anything for years to come. But I can trade RDMs for seats on planes and upgrades to FC. So, the cost to CO is not getting cash for those seats.
But let's say after three years or so I finally accumulate 25,000 FEQMs and trade them in for Silver elite status. What is the cost to CO? Well, I might get upgraded to FC, but only if CO couldn't sell that seat anyway; I might get instant upgrades, if I pay a lot for a coach seat; RDM bonuses; priority phone line (when someone wants to answer); priority check-in; priority baggage handling; priority security screening, where offered; priority boarding privileges; "preferred" Economy Class seating, and other paltry benefits of little out-of-pocket consequence to CO.
All told, EQMs costs CO very little, which is why CO doesn't care that the ranks of the elite have swelled. Yes, eventually, the upper tier will complain, but CO will simply throw them a bone while it steadily makes EQMs worth less and less.
RDMs are a tangible liability to CO. Whereas EQMs are an empty promise. If I were CO, I would sell RDMs for more than EQMs, F or otherwise. If Chase is indeed paying more for EQMs than it is for RDMs, the joke's on Chase.