I'm part of the herd that DL is trying to thin out (always buy relatively low fares well in advance, usually checks a bag on flights, etc.) given that I'm a student and I'm pretty sure these programs were not designed to rope undergraduates into bringing all their business to one airline while in college.

That being said, I do a decent amount of paid travel (though rarely as much as I did last year) and if I consolidate at 1 airline, usually don't have issues hitting Silver. With the MQD requirement, I am still in the clear, though I would have fallen just short of Gold for the current year.

I don't spend nearly enough (or have the means to spend enough!) on the DL AmEx cards to waive the requirement, so it's not really an incentive for me to open up the AmEx. I see what they're getting at, and I think it's a great idea for them financially, but it's not convincing enough for me (let's exclude the bonus MQMs and such).

I've always joked to my friends that I'm about to leave DL for AA or UA, but then I realize I'm probably not leaving. I'll never say never, though, having come to DL from UA a few years ago.

I think that once one of the legacies goes to a revenue/fare based system, the others will soon follow. Maybe each will have their own twist on it, but the reality is that flying 25k/50k in a year isn't special anymore. However, as the rules of the game change, so does player strategy.

... The worries of future devaluation, combined with some great luck, is what caused me to cash out the majority of my SkyPesos balance recently for a trip later this year that I needed to take anyway. Hooray for O fares!