Originally Posted by FlyDeltaJets87

That may be true but will the new start-ups have the size to compete? We've seen LCCs enter a lot of markets and seen the fares drop, but the passengers (Elite or not) go "Yay for the low fares!" but still fly the legacy carrier that's matching those low fares and offering other perks too (Bonus Elite Miles, Bonus Miles, etc.) as well as often offering an expanded schedule. During the time of the LCC presence, the legacy carriers are bleeding cash but they have the resources to ride out the storm and wait for the LCC to call it quits and withdraw, and then raise the fares and reduce the perks.

Originally Posted by orca15

The "complaint," if you even call it that, is that the people with status that year, who don't renew at the same level, get a month's less status than they normally would.

And EVERYONE will eventually be one of those people, unless you plan on dying without dipping any lower on the Medallion ladder. You just lost a month on your 2025 Medallion year Diamond status, or whenever. Mine will hopefully come earlier.

So every single person with status (except the dead ones and we know what happens to them) just lost a month.

Isn't that worth at least a small sigh from the crowd?

Originally Posted by Sez_Who

No small sigh from this Diamond. True, we will 'lose' a month somewhere in the future -- unless the rules change again -- but IMO, that is a small tradeoff for knowing that for one additional month every year, there won't be pseudo elites competing for UG's. I will gladly take that tradeoff for the next 10 yrs.

Originally Posted by javabytes

If I was a DL elite, I'd rather have many years of fewer medallions competing during the bloated Jan/Feb months than one extra month of status when I've cut or quit flying DL anymore.