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Is Platinum Medallion Worth It? Or Change Airlines?
I have a dilemma.
I am on pace to make Platinum this year. Prior years and in the coming year, I travel about 55-60k miles a year (all local) @ 4-8 flights a month, but this year with international travel it seems I will be pushed into Plat. Is it worth it to go to Plat? Or switch carriers for the last 3 months and get about base/silver level on another carrier. I don't know if I will be traveling internationally as much going forward. Thanks. PS. I like having 5-10k miles that I can roll over at the end of the year and get Gold easily the following year. PSS. On the routes I travel, my upgrade % is about 60 - 75%. |
Is Platinum Medallion Worth It? Or Change Airlines?
Silver worthless on most us carriers
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are you getting a lot of UG as GM?
if yes then don't need PM are you planning on booking/changing/cancelling a lot of awards? if no then don't need PM do you find great value out of the choice benefits? if no then don't need PM it's not the silver status on other airlines, it's the rollover imo |
Is all your travel currently on Delta?
If so, then go for Platinum. There are definite benefits over Gold, especially if your travel is mostly domestic. |
Originally Posted by aubreyfromwheaton
(Post 19408154)
are you getting a lot of UG as GM?
if yes then don't need PM are you planning on booking/changing/cancelling a lot of awards? if no then don't need PM do you find great value out of the choice benefits? if no then don't need PM it's not the silver status on other airlines, it's the rollover imo |
If you actually fly 55 - 60K a year, then you will likely get Plat at some point due to rollover. I'd say you might as well go for Plat this year if you have a shot. It's sounds you should still be able to make Gold next year without the rollover with your typical flights.
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I've heard this but why? I haven't understood the concept
Originally Posted by Ti22
(Post 19408403)
Pretty much this but instead of earning meaningless status on another carrier some DL folks find this is a good time to burn Skymiles which earn no FF credit.
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Originally Posted by Teamstone
(Post 19408883)
I've heard this but why? I haven't understood the concept
If this is work travel and you're not concerned with cost, but you want to stop at/before 74,999 MQM to maximize rollover, you could also just not apply your SM # to some trips. But then I'm not sure if you'd have your GM benefits for those trips. |
I chose to go with another airline, rather than go for Platinum. Makes sense for me, as I have to do some flying on other airlines anyway, to markets not served by DL-So, for me, taking a status match challenge with Frontier got me Summit over there for the remainder of this year and 2013. Being DL Gold, and F9 Summit is better (in my humble opinion) than being PM on DL, and nothing on other airlines that I have to fly 6-8 times a year or so. I can easily keep Gold, and Summit on both, keep all my miles in 2 programs, and have cost options when booking. It's a win for me.
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Already discussed in this thread a few days ago: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...num-delta.html
My response: I would ask... What is your upgrade rate now? If you get upgraded on most flights (80%+) and are satisfied with that rate, then there is little extra benefit from higher priority. Moreover, you can only get upgraded if you actually fly, and if you don't expect to do a lot of that in the coming year then what's the point? Do you have a big award mileage balance that you expect to use in the coming year? If so, the ability to change and cancel award reservations without any fee will make those miles vastly more useful. Do you have a relative or good friend who could benefit from silver status? Gifting my daughter silver status eliminates some headaches and baggage fees for me when she travels back and forth from college. But you have to be platinum to make the gift. Do you travel internationally in coach? Free EC is a nice, but somewhat overrated, benefit. Not worth getting Platinum for that |
Platinum really does not get you much on Delta. Unless you get a free upgrade (which is getting rarer), you still board in the Sky zone along with Gold.
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The PM benefit that I use - award redeposit. Very useful when I'm not 100% sure if I need to travel a particular date but want to have an itinerary, just in case.
The way it works is to hopefully, grab a low tier award trip and watch the pricing game play out. If revenue fares remain low and 'still need the itinerary, PM/DM has until T72 hours to cancel and buy the seat. Otherwise, I just fly the award at a great return for the miles spent. I guess you can call it "hedging" fares? Particularly, summertime and popular travel holidays. Dunno your route but 60-70% UG is pretty good for GM. As PM my usual NYC-JFK, mostly off peak business days, I'm just shy of 80% UG for the year. When I was Gold a few years ago it was about 50% and by now with tighter inventory, I'm sure that figure would be much lower. |
Originally Posted by keeton
(Post 19408295)
Is all your travel currently on Delta?
If so, then go for Platinum. There are definite benefits over Gold, especially if your travel is mostly domestic. |
Originally Posted by OnYxHaWk
(Post 19410748)
Right now, 99.5% of my travel is on Delta or partners. They have direct flights to most of the locations I travel to. Or with 1 connection.
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If DL flights are convenient, you could credit to AS to avoid totally losing the miles, but you don't then get any DL elite benefits, just like not having a FF number on the itinerary.
My advice would be to take the PM and enjoy it. The DL FF program could change totally in the near future and your rollover MQMs might not be so valuable for future status as they are now. |
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