Originally Posted by
JTbeatsNYC
Between this thread and my "trial and error" today, I am feeling much better by the hour. Two questions though, and perhaps they belong on a different thread or forum :
1. As a standard SkyMiles member at this point (no Elite status), which economy fare classes on DL give me the best chance to upgrade?
Without elite status, you can't get a complimentary upgrade. You can upgrade with miles, see here
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/use_mi...ards/index.jsp , from any economy fare class except L, U, T and E. You probably have some sort of discounted fare, which means you'll pay 12,500 each way to upgrade.
Originally Posted by
JTbeatsNYC
2. Besides Delta hubs, does anyone know of possible stopover airports which will create "more than standard" amount of MQM on a NY-LA-NY round-trip?
The purpose of a hub is to route flights through, to increase efficiency. They aren't going to route through non-hubs.
To answer your earlier question, you will probably most easily make status based on miles. The NY-London trips will bump you up considerably, almost 7k miles per trip. So right there, with 3 r/ts, you're looking at 20k miles, just about Silver (even though you're only at 6 segments). With 5 transcons, you're up to another 25k, and your NY-to-the-southeast trips should give a few thousand more, which all told should put you within striking distance of Gold, if not over the threshold.