Originally Posted by
Christefan
Just remember that MQMs alone are meaningless without the MQD spend. That is what DL is focused on. I could have 500k MQMs rollover and without any MQDs, I would not re-qualify for DM. If you consider 2021 travel to start up again by 07/01, you would have 6 month to archive the MQD goal. Therefore cutting the requirements to 50% would make the most sense.
You are projecting as a DM and forgetting that there is likely a substantial cohort in the lower status levels that qualify for MQD Waiver via Amex spend and don't have to rely on making MQD spend levels. There is likely a large segment of flyers that DL simply can't entice to fly right now either to due to corporate restrictions or Covid fears. They may actually be trying to entice more flyers to hit Amex MQD Waiver as alternative because they can't generate much MQD spend for now. As far as "losing" DM's, I think people are overestimating the number of flyers who will defect in a huff simply because they can't re-earn DM. As a self-selecting population, FTer's likely tend to be more enamored of status than those who aren't on FT.