A coworker is a Diamond, but is usually flying L and T fares for work, for three reasons:

1. He lives near a Delta hub, but his base (office) is several hundred miles away at a United hub. He is reimbursed based upon our negotiated fares from the United hub to his destination -- if it costs him more to fly from his Delta hub, then he has to eat the difference. (This works for him because he can usually plan his travel months in advance.)
2. When he is not in travel status, he has to fund his own travel from the Delta hub (his home) to the United hub (his office).
3. His retired wife often travels with him, so they are usually taking multiple connections in order to lower their out-of-pocket costs. I think she typically reaches plat on segments by herself.

The SM program had been really good to him - he has never paid for lounge access and the MQM rollover was probably going to keep him as Plat for the first few years after he retired. My guess is that the MQD requirements will cause him to drop to GM (or possibly even FO) and he'll lose status entirely after he retires.

I don't know about that. I have paid for my upgrades already with SWUs and there is one segment (ATL-JFK) which still has me in EC. If I do get the upgrade there will not be another SWU taken from me so there should be no reason to reissue the ticket.

When can we expect that info from you?

You might want to scan this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...n-m-fares.html

Thanks -- it was a good idea to open a separate thread about it.

LAX-JFK last night, 14 J seats available a few hours out; 13 still available when they started clearing.

The only time I've seen them selling at the gate, they don't lower the price so much as the fare classes allowed to buy the upgrade.

Flew JFK-SFO not too long ago and even AFTER all upgrades had cleared, there were only 8 seats occupied up front (and only about 40 in the back). Pretty sure everyone had their own row to themselves if they wanted it.

Last time I flew JFK-SFO, I didn't clear (Diamond on a K fare). I did on the return flight using an SWU.

I'm flying there again in a couple of weeks; I hope I clear this time.

For those that care, I got e-mailed confirmation (keeping the e-mail, just in case) that the MQDs are given to the passenger. So, if you're work (or anyone else) buys you a ticket, YOU earn the MQDs because you are the passenger.

Nice to know.

Hmm, thought this was pretty well understood just like pax get the MQM/MQS and elite bonus RDM's regardless of who pays. Then again, it is not stated specifically in the FAQ so perhaps well to keep that email if this ever becomes an issue.

I'll keep this in mind when I buy tickets for others - especially those who don't have or expect to have status on Delta.

Now if we just knew if the MQDs are earned when the ticket is purchased or only after the flights are flown. It seems logical that the MQDs would come after the flight(s), along with the miles. Doing anything else would allow gaming.

It's gone pretty quiet in here. I was enjoying the dust up between Bubba & Tupolev.

What's the latest??

Not sure - glad it has gone quiet. All I know is that I love PM status so much that come 2014 I think I may be making a paid F trip to MAN to get the MQDs up just in case I do not make the 25K Plat Amex spend

Mission accomplished.