Segments Needed for Gold...HELP!
 

Ok, so I started my job in April and really didn't start flying on a regular basis until June. Since then I have amassed 35 segments and 22,0000 MQMs. Obviously, most of my flights have been miniature 500 mile segments and my only hope for Gold is via segments. With 25 segments needed by December 31st to reach my goal, I already have 13 scheduled, leaving me needing 12 more and not a lot of time. I also probably have 4-5 more in the works, so really 7-8 needed.

Are there any good, cheap, trips I can take that would pile on segments and not cost a lot of $$$?

Has anyone had success calling Delta in a similar situation asking to be moved up to Gold for the next year or getting segments to roll over?

Any help appreciated.

-Andy

Is your location ATL ?

Why not take flight to PIT and take advantage of the doube MQM from that location, you must register though.

If you make a long miles run from PIT either to Europe or ASIA you will only need 1 flight to become GM.

That will not happen. You will need to fly. The DMQM promo is exactly what you need but it still costs $$.

However, if the OP earns GM by MQMs, he/she won't have any rollover, whereas if GM is earned by segments, all MQMs over 25K will rollover. This could matter a lot if status next year will be earned by MQMs, so that it could still be worthwhile to do the segment run(s) from one of the four magic airports to get the double MQMs, ideally to just under 50K by the end of the year to maximize rollover.

If the OP has SC access, RDU would be a better city for DMQMs because their SC and airport in general are so nice. There are lots of ATL flights, although it's rumored to be a tough upgrade. I suspect ATL-PIT would be the easiest of the four for upgrades, assuming that DL doesn't use RJs without FC.

Is there any hope of using SDC or even creative original routings on the business travel to pick up a few more segments?

Yes.

So lets say I sign up for the double MQM and I had around 28k MQMs. Are there any good flights from Nashville BNA to an international destination? I see BNA to CDG is only $750 and would definitely get me well over gold. Any other good ideas? I could use a vacation I guess. My target departure date would be November 19/20 and return November 24/25.

It's BNA, PIT (which IIRC has a nonstop to CDG on a 757), RDU or STL. For travel around Thanksgiving, there had been some extremely good I fare (discounted BE) deals from these cities, but availability is likely to be limited now. Remember that an I fare (or, in fact, anything M or above, so M/B/Y in expensive but upgradable coach or any business class fare) earns triple MQMs because the 50% MQM bonus for class of service is doubled too, and any BE fare (not including upgrades with miles or SWUs) gets 50K instead of 25K bonus miles from the four magic cities.

If you decide to do this, be sure to sign up first and read the rules on delta.dumb, the big FT thread, and the wiki referenced in the FT thread very carefully. It's better--and maybe cheaper--if the positioning flights are on separate tickets, but allow enough connecting time.

ADDED: If you do the promo from BNA, can you drive to that airport easily? If so, this would help to avoid problems with Thanksgiving time domestic availability and fares.

Yes, I would likely drive to Nashville then and fly somewhere because I need to go to Cincinnati for the day of Thanksgiving anyway and that is about halfway between ATL and Cincinnati.

So I've signed up for the promotion from BNA. I will drive up there for the flight. What is a good international destination that will get me the 25k miles plus double MQMs? I'm open to travelling anywhere and have never been outside of the country bar the tourist areas of Canada and Mexico. Would a Caribbean flight to, say, Aruba count? The flight to Aruba is only $480.

ADDED: Also, it says that it adds 6-8 weeks after the flight to my account. Would this then count towards my 2010 MQMs? I tried to find it in the other thread but couldn't see a definitive answer.

In practive, even though DL says 6-8 weeks, all of the miles have been posting almost instantly, almost at the same time as the flights post.

I'm not sure Aruba is far enough to give you enough miles. You should carefully calculate your MQM balance from all booked and anticipated business trips and then compare the needed miles to distances from BNA to possible foreign destinations using the routing and connections you would use.

If you plan to drive to BNA, fly to CVG and stay more than 24 hours, and then fly from CVG to the overseas destination (and back to BNA), be sure to check the promo rules carefully to see whether a domestic stopover is allowed on an international RT without losing all of the extra miles, including double MQMs.

An alternative would be to first fly BNA-CVG-BNA RT on one ticket and then BNA-international gateway1-foreign destination-international gateway2-BNA RT on a separate ticket for double MQMs on all DL and DL Connection flights and 5K (domestic hub) plus 25K/50K (international RT) extra bonus miles. However, BNA-CVG-BNA isn't likely to be cheap if purchased now for Thanksgiving unless you find unpopular times and connections.

Aruba flight would be BNA-ATL-AUA-ATL-BNA which is 4400 MQMs according to the calculator, but 25,000 MQM bonus is really all I need anyway to get to Gold. If the new goal would be Platinum, then I need 53k miles - 25k bonus = 28k miles / 2 = 14k miles - projected 7k miles planned = 7k miles needed base. However, the jump from Platinum to Gold isn't as important to me though.

That is, if Aruba counts?

EDIT: I now see that the bonus miles are actually bonus miles and not MQMs. Is that accurate?

Correct, the 25,000 bonus miles are only redeemable miles, NOT MQM's.

Whether Aruba counts might depend on whether it offers BE service or just international business. Read the find print carefully; what DL considers "international" depends on the purpose and doesn't necessarily agree with what wwe would call international.

Yes, the 25,000 are bonus (spendable) miles only, not MQMs. The MQMs you get for this exercise are double the actual MQMs, where 500 is doubled for short flights. As I pointed out above, an I (deep discount BE) or A (discount A) or higher fare results in 50,000 bonus miles RT instead of 25,000, but these are NOT MQMs. You need a longer trip to get the MQMs you need.

I'd get yourself up to BNA and do two BNA-ATL-SFO same-day turns back to back. At $219 each, each one would get you 10,556 MQM and 4 segments, plus 16,598 RDMs. Looks like it would get you to Gold by MQMs or segments either way. I prefer not to do quick-turn MRs overseas, as the last thing I want is to be stuck on the wrong side of the Atlantic on Sunday when I have to be at work on Monday... but I guess if you're looking for a vacation anyway it's not too bad. And there's always the chance of an upgrade if you stay domestic, which makes the experience a little more tolerable.

That's the big reason why when Mileage Running, I prefer same-day domestics - I'm pretty much always in F, which is a lot more enjoyable than spending 10 hours each way in coach on a TATL.

This is what I thought too. I spoke with two reps when I called the Diamond Desk. Both told me that if you reach GM via segments (or being gifted GM status) you will rollover only those MQMs in excess of 50K. As it was explained to me twice, 49K MQMs with 60 segments rolls over ZERO MQMs. While 49K MQMs with 59 segments rolls over 24K MQMs.

I was surprised... and didn't like the answer. An email from customer service told me the same thing. That's three times. If they are all wrong so be it. But I wouldn't count on it. Too risky. Luckily the family member to whom I gave GM status is not worried about what he will roll over into 2011 and greatly appreciated the UGs and extra RMDs that GM status got him this year. However I will always check with a recipient in the future before gifting status. They might have their own plan and I wouldn't want to screw that up.

To get 8 segments he needs, at minimum, 2 r/t domestic itins from ATL to XXX with a connection each way. That's two trips to the airport and 8 possible IROP situations that could send him back to ATL on a non-stop. Don't know if original route credit works for segments. He could very well knock the whole thing out with 1 international itin from PIT, RDU, or BNA.

Now if he found a domestic double-connection itin both ways from ATL I would be impressed. Do those even exist? But he would still need one more r/t to reach 8 segs. The OP might want to drive to BHM to guarantee 4 legs on a domestic itin. Skip SDF... it's too expensive. ATL to BNA is no short drive. But there is the DMQM promo out of BNA.

This is getting complicated.

Sounds like the OP has a lot of biz trips planned out and possibly more to be slated before Dec 31. Taking a bunch of domestic MRs (SRs?...segment runs?) might not be logistically possible. There are just so many weekends left in 2010 and those weekends would have to be free from already scheduled biz trips.

OP, with your current MQMs and scheduled biz trips I am guessing you'll have a some rollover MQMs by staying Silver. Let's estimate 18 more segments at the 500 min each. That's 9K plus your current 22K = 31K which would give you 6K to start with on Jan 1. Since you recent biz travel life started in June am I to assume you will be continuing to travel a lot in the beginning of 2011? If so, you could reach GM status by April or May with your paid-for-by-someone-else biz trips and 6K rollover MQMs. Then you would get GM through Feb 28, 2013.

Reach GM in April/May 2011 you get GM for the remainder of 2011 plus GM through all of 2012 and THEN an additional grace period of the first two months of 2013.

Right now, calculated out I have 35 segments planned and 22,000 miles, 21 segments and 12,500 miles planned, with the potential for 1 more business trip and an unknown number of segments and miles. This would mean that I just need 1 RT from ATL to CVG or CMH, easy. I have the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas open but those are not cheap weeks to fly. I will likely try to fill up my weekends before and after then with some fun trips like Vegas or LA. Luckily my schedule filled up and I am travelling every single week the rest of the year and I will make it.

The reason I want to hit Gold now is because segments do not roll over and I have been taking a lot of short 500-700 MQM trips. I want to earn the 100% bonus on travel rather than 25% you get with Silver.