Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
What will your travel patterns be next year? How much is DM status (and the associated choice benefits) worth to you versus the value of converting all of your MQMs to RDMs? For instance, is there some award ticket available now that you can use that would require some of the RDMs that you would get by converting all of your MQMs to RDMs?
Converting 120K Rollover MQMs to 60K Skymiles as RDMs would be an absolute waste in OP's situation because OP could select 25K Miles as their PM Choice Benefit and 35K Miles as one of their DM Choice Benefits and then get the same 60K RDMs plus two more choice benefits plus DM status for the year. The only way this doesn't become a "waste" is if OP ends up flying enough MQDs to earn DM status by the end of the year without actually having needed to convert the rollover MQMs to MQDs but OP said she won't get there.
Originally Posted by
mridley2
Another option is to extend your current status for 1 year per 100K MQM's. I have 200k + rollover MQM's and will extend my 2024 PM status for two years until Jan 31, 2027.
OP only has enough Rollover MQMs to extend for 1 year. It makes more sense to convert that 120K MQMs to the MQDs necessary for DM and have DM for the year instead of using 100K MQMs to extend status PM status and have 20K MQMs leftover to convert to 10K miles.
Originally Posted by
LynniePP
Hi all, is it a no-brainer, in your humble opinions, that I should convert my 122,585 MQM's now (which would convert to $12,259) and enjoy Diamond status thru Jan '26? I will not make Diamond on my own, given my travel plans for the balance of the year. Is there something I should be thinking about or considering before proceeding with the conversion?
Thanks all! Lynne
The only reason not to convert now is if you think you may get another $3K or $6K or $9K in MQDs across the rest of the year, since you can convert split your Rollover MQMs between MQDs and Skymiles in 25% blocks and you'd get a handful of extra miles. MQDs don't rollover so any MQDs above the 28K MQD requirement are basically wasted. . Your options are 12K MQDs, 9K MQDs and 15K miles, 6K MQDs and 30K miles, 3K MQDs and 45K miles, or just 60K miles. As noted above, it's silly to convert to straight miles unless you have no other value for MQDs since you can get 60K Skymiles just out of Choice Benefits from being a PM and DM. But if you convert your Rollover MQMs to MQDs now, you immediately start enjoying DM benefits and many of the benefits would also last longer (you'd have a longer window to use upgrade certificates for example, since the expiration date is tied to the status expiration date, which would be January 2026).
So in other words, unless you actually plan to spend a few thousand more dollars flying over the course of the rest of the year, it makes sense to convert now.