fti

There are no "blackout dates" just dates with little or no award availability. Without having status, it is tough finding award availability. I assume with 100K miles you are looking at J award to Europe? When do you want to fly, how flexible would your dates be and are you willing to book less than a month in advance? Are you willing to call DL vs. trying to use their website? Are you willing to call several times before you get a cooperative phone rep? Summer and holidays is especially tough for Europe awards.

If you are willing to put effort into it, I could see transferring 45K miles to get 67,500 RDM's (added to your 33K gives over 100K). If you don't fly DL anyway, FO status is worthless for one J award. So why transfer the other 5K?

Just some thoughts.

mlad1101

Or the fact that your post is nonsense. You are making an assumption based upon the experiences of a select few. I registered yesterday, still no MQM or Bonus miles.(There goes your theory down the drain.) I'll stick to Delta's T&C's over your opposite uniformed "0%" chances of it happening.

That being said the question asked was how long does the status last if granted in January as opposed to December, which your response was of worthless value to. Next time just read and keep it moving if you can't contribute anything positive.

turkeyRIOO

Thanks OP- I owe you a few beers at the SC! I was not targeted and signed up through the OPs link. I received the transfer amount amount last night- just over 50k MRewards to SM. The bonus RDMs and MQMs showed up this afternoon. The MQM bonus showed up as 50000 in the account activity part but the correct amount, 25000, in the top of the page annual MQM total. I am now a GM for the first time since 2000 and will gladly use it on my BNA-SFO MRun on the 11th. I have PM in my sights for the first time.

fti

Let me know when you get MQM's credited in 2011. I won't hold my breath for your post of that happening though

Found right on delta.com

twoner32

$3K and 75,000 MQM in Jan/Feb? Really? From MSP?

Show me how, please. thanks

fti

I didn't say from MSP, you did . You need a positioning flight if you are going to get the most bang for your buck.

One example - wait for cheap coast-to-coast fares. Just looked and saw a $200 PHL-SEA all-in fare in MR forum. Figure min 4,800 miles RT (say 5K to make the math easy). That was UA but if you are looking months in advance, you can find something similar with DL.

5K miles for $200
or
50K miles for $2,000
or
75K miles for $3,000

So for 15 round trips, you get PM status for two years if you do that early in the year. Time it right with red eyes from west coast to east coast and you can do that in 7-8 days. You might need to spend another couple hundred to get into position, or just "miss" the last leg if you transit MSP. Or if the $200 fare mentioned above ends up being $150, even with the positioning flight you would be well under $3K

Wanaflyforless did something like this with AA several years ago (he actually earned 100K EQM). I did a DXB-YYZ MR x 3 a couple of years ago in J that didn't cost too much more than $3K and earned me 75K EQM and 150K RDM (not including the choice benefit). Since I did it in January, PM status was basically for more than two years (through Feb 2 years later).

Definitely possible if you put your mind to it.

ma91pmh

And you have time in your life for 7 days of mileage running.. i.e. flying just for the miles.

With a family, a busy job, and playing around on here all day, I don't

MinnesotaFlyer

I am at 45K points on an AmEx corporate card that doesn't allow points to be advanced, with another 3K to be added next month. Is there any way to get the additional points?

TheMadBrewer

And you sir, are still my all time FT hero for that marathon

turkeyRIOO

Welcome to Flyertalk!

There is a thread in the MilesBuzz area that deals with $1 coin purchases from the US Mint at no cost.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-shipping.html

fti

My feat paled in comparison to some of the stories I heard at the Chicago Seminar DO. And being in J, it was less of a marathon than it could have been! But I would definitely consider something like that again if the timing and price were right.

PRWeezer

It's funny to me that so many folks in this thread have scoffed at the idea of boosting status via a partner promo, but they think nothing of a one-day, 6-city mileage run solely to take advantage of a MQM promotion from a focus city. Which is just another way of working the system. And now I'm pondering a MR myself to get to the next level since I'm going to fall just short of Gold. See what you people have done to me!

I've flown gold-level BIS this year already, just not all of it was paid (darn that provision!).

fti

A one-day, 6-city MR is not working the system, it is cheating (no quotes!!).

ljderm

Could someone take a minute to explain what is meant by the 20k plat benefit?

davevt98

It is an option to choose if you become Platinum. Delta gives you a few options to choose from once you reach that tier as a bonus - 20,000 bonus miles is one of them.