Before Intl taxes...we are looking at 11-12 CPM necessary for status.

Since it is inevitable that very cheap fares in the 3 -5 CPM range will continue to exist to fill up planes (On DL and others)...I will not be able to justify that extra expense for my vacation runs to maintain status. I will also not be able to justify spending more $$ to fly DL for my 1 or 2 short business hops per year.

My company pays all of my expenses...so AMEX spend is out for me.

My vacation run hobby comes from being a smart consumer and capturing VDB's (not gaming the system with fuel dumps or anything like that). Just sad that part of the fun was killed today.