Originally Posted by
LikeaGVI
Thank you. I assume you don’t work for Delta but you sound very knowledgeable so thought I’d at least get your thoughts. When it comes to FCM offers DL offers the ability to pay in $ or miles. Why does using miles earn you the bump in MQM/MQD/RDM but GUC’s don’t? I guess my thought process here is that miles can be earned and redeemed by basic SkyMiles members. GUC’s are only earned by Delta’s highest published tier Medallion’s. Why would DL reward using miles for FCM and not offer the same reward to DM’s using Certs who’ve spent thousands more each year?
I have no idea what Delta's rationale is, but an important distinction is that SkyMiles are essentially a version of Delta currency that shows up as a liability on their bottom line when they look at financials. Virtually any redemption of SkyMiles potentially requires either consumption of an asset that otherwise was available for cash (an airline seat) or, in many other uses, actual spend of money by the airline to procure goods/services for which the SkyMiles were redeemed. If you use miles on that bottle of SkyClub Dom Perignon, Delta still needs to pay for that bottle even though they didn't receive cash for it. As a result, while not as beneficial as cash, anyone (medallion or basic member) spending miles is a reduction in liabilities to Delta financially and has a net effect on the bottom line.
By comparison, a GUC really has no such benefit to them financially since it can only ever be utilized based on space/inventory availability, and unlike standard SkyMiles, simply expires if you don't succeed at using it.