Originally Posted by
JB1000
take this example. Two flyers who live in the same city and fly Delta.
Flyer 1:
23 round trips to San Francisco (46 MQS)
4,268 MQMs RT x 23 = 98,164 MQMs
$655 MQD per ticket (what I just paid) x 23 = $15,000 MQDs (6.54x MQM/MQD)
30,000 AMEX MQDs
MQMs + MQDs = Diamond
Flyer 2:
37 round trips domestically to various major MSAs (74 MQS)
1,543 MQM RT x 37 = 56,943 MQMs
$537 MQD per ticket x 37 = $19,871 MQDs (2.87x MQM/MQD)
30,000 AMEX MQDs
MQM + MQD = Platinum
so flyer 2 flies more frequently and spends more money but because of the destination they don’t accumulate enough MQMs to hit DM.
So does Flyer 1 have a higher multiplier because a $655 4,200 mile round trip flight is more profitable than a $537 1,600 mile round trip flight??
We can all come up with anecdotal examples that would best fit "our" case and what we think we should be most rewarded or why we should be the most rewarded to show show what we think are the flaws in the system. Many of us on FT play this "game", purposely taking advnatage of what you view as the flaws, by taking routings that offer more MQMs or add extra segments at no or little additional cost. I've SDC'ed SEA-DTW to SEA-JFK-DTW or to go via LAX on more than one ocassion. Why? More MQMs (especially if in F with the multiplier). But the reason for not giving away more remains the same - DL doesn't need to. It's as simple as that.
Originally Posted by
JB1000
All I am saying is that for the longest time status has been based on miles flown. After the uproar from travelers who didn’t buy budget tickets so were at a disadvantage did Delta add in the MQD qualifier. However, I think there is another step they could take. So maybe rather than a minimum MQM per segment they have a minimum MQD multiplier. I dunno but it feels like there’s room for them to improve to reward their biggest spenders.
But answer the question from DL's perspective (who makes the rules): "Why?" If you're willing to give me $19K in spend and only receive PM benefits to do it, what is my incentive to give you more benefits (thus incur additional expenses to myself and cut into my profit margins) when there's no guarantee that my doing so will result in an increase in revenue from you and when you're already giving me $19K in spend because per your own admission and recognition, see no option but to give me $19K in spend?
If you want to be better rewarded by an FF program, you could take that same spend and fly AA or UA out of ATL and connect. You would earn more segment and elite qualifying mile credit and move up to their top tier - you would be a higher tier than you are at DL. But you do so at another cost to yourself - your time. DL knows this. So DL knows they can incentivize you less.