6 segments needed to make FO, is it worth it?
 

Hi,

I am new to the board, have been lurking for the past few weeks. I am a non-elite and all my flights are leisure travel. I tend to take 5 - 6 trips a year. This year I found myself with 24 MQS and 13000 MQMs. I was thinking of making a quick single day run with a bunch of short hops. I found the following flights all on Tuesday 12/20

SAN-LAX-LAS DL4568/DL4626
LAS-SLC-PHX DL170/DL1795
PHX-LAX-SAN DL4408/DL4440
Total fare $336.

But is being FO worth it? My partner just made GM. He has gotten me upgraded twice last year as being a companion but most of the time I seem to pull him down on upgrades.

Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

I would say for me it would be. I wouldn't expect many upgrades but being able to pick exit rows and that odd upgrade here or there makes it nice.

If you usually travel with your GM partner, you will get little additional benefits than you would by travel on a GM reservation. If you are FO and partner is GM, then you can seperate you reservations and both try to get the upgrades independtly. You would have slightly higher chance of both you getting upgraded.

If you travel solo most of the time, then FO would give you enough bennies to probably make it worthwhile.

Happy Flying
Swinster

The 24 MQS you did this year included selecting 24 seat assignments and standing in 24 boarding lines.

FO gives you ability to select preferred seats online and board in Zone 2.

Without Medallion status, or your GM partner, you are relegated to the back of the plane and the back of the line.

Domestic upgrades are icing on the cake, but are getting harder to come by for FO.

Many of the FO benefits you could get by having a DL AmEx card, with the exception of the possibility of upgrades when you travel without your partner and the 25% bonus miles.

I've been about 1.3k short of FO since October, and was prepared to bite the bullet and pay 300 to buy the MQM or 450 for the skyclub and get the 1500 MQM. I'll be starting a new job next year and wont be traveling a lot, but I'll have at least one intl trip on DL that pushed me to get the last few MQM (incidentally, also on the 20th)...

If you need 2 suitcases at 70lb each, then fo is worth it. Otherwise, if you have a delta Amex gold or plat or reserve, the benefits of fo aren't much more.
Upgrades vary, but from cvg, jfk, fll, dtw, and ewr, I got upgraded always even when I was fo. My last flight from dtw-lga didn't get ug even though im a gm now. So it really depends on ur routs and times.
But if u always travel with ur gm partner, then there's really not much benefit being fo (a little, like 25% extra miles and irrop, but not much)

FO has been worth it for me
 

I am based in ATL and most of my flights are leisure...delta offered me a promo in May and I hustled to keep the status for next year.

I have been upgraded on most of my flights, including one with mom during thanksgiving. Next year, I plan to take at least one trip to asia and will shoot for GM.

I found an ATL-MSP flight 1807 miles for 199.00, someone flamed me (11cpm) for it but hey, it sure beats buying MQMs and it put me over the top. :)

Thanks
 

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll book the flights to gain FO status next year. I'll see how things go over the next year.

Thanks again