The good news is, this does not go "live" until next year. You have time to requalify for DL, or switch carriers.

I'll go over the top for PM soon on the ATL-MEX-PAR-MEX-ATL deal on AM, which would seem to be a prime candidate for not getting counted toward MQDs revenue-wise. Also did the KL/AF deal IAH-DXB-IAH, which is another one that probably would slip through. Those trips were rich in MQMs but might not count or be bookable for MQDs.

BTW, UA has the same problem, maybe even worse given the size of *A.

This whole switchover is going to have lots of UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES for DL and UA. It's hard to see it incentivizing MORE travel from those it favors, such as people who'll fly internationally and whose companies will pay for business class, or those who travel very heavily domestically (like regional salespeople), often last-minute. Are they going to travel any more or contribute more revenue because of it?

OTOH, it could cost dearly in the back, as they're basically destroying the entire flying-for-miles system. People here want to pay 4 cents and EQM and DL demands 10 cents, probably more in the future. In my own case I'd land somewhere between silver and gold IF all airline partner revenue were counted, but as an MMer I have the silver part anyway. They've ruined the incentive.

Maybe we need a FAQ for people considering jumping ship. Other carriers and status matches? Foreign addresses? LCCs? Giving up the travel lifestyle? (in reverse order of unthinkability...)

Maybe a service where I forward any elite cards/packages from my HK address?
(though this may take up to 3 months...)

You could be the Delaware of DL FFers!

Ha! :D

Most of the talk seems to be about MQDs but the M Class MQM reduction just hit me. M class is the lowest upgrade-able fare for systemwides to Europe.

A typical itinerary GSP-ATL-AMS/CDG/FRA-PRG and back is about $1200 in lowest economy and $3500 in M. Delta is now saying that a ticket at THREE TIMES the price should earn the same MQM is SCREWED!!

I'd love to see a FAQ for Plat/Dia to jump ship. I've been Diamond since it started except this year and I'll hit that again in 3 weeks but I spend 3-5x what others do for the same benefit.

Out of curiosity, what is the cheapest available BE ticket for that route? If it's close enough in price, why not just buy BE, get the class of service MQMs, and take another DM/PM choice benefit?

I must be missing something, but the MQDs seem quite low. e.g. GM of 50,000 miles and $5k. if you fly 50k miles, who doesnt spend $5k to get there?

I am DM and about to pass the threshold to get there again this year. the $12.5k MQDs is ridiculously easy to hit. I am flying BE to Europe and Asia this month for a total of $22k spend...

However, if this does reduce the # of PM and DMs, all the better to me. :)

:)

From what I am hearing, quite a few. It appears that the goal of the mileage runners is to achieve a 4 cent per mile goal per Q mile earned. That is quite difficult and most come in around 5 cents, but I personally know one UA flyer who claims to have earned 1K on less than $3500 spend and since I know him well, I believe him.

Although DL has much tighter routing rules than UA where IAD-ORD on a discount fare can occasionally include a stop in HNL, I would guess that 5-7 cents/MQM is achievable over here which means that there are DMs around who have spent as little as $6-7000 on airfares.

I'm sitting right at 200,000 MQMs right now for 2013. About 67,000 of that came from rollover and credit card. So I have 133,000 from actual flights, all on Delta. My MQDs are just below $8,000. I don't think that I'm all that unusual, and I'm really not a mileage runner.

Bruce

After looking further...the only way these new rules affect me are some details:

I need to be sure each ticket is a DL flight...e.g. I am flying back on KLM but it is a DL flight operated by KLM

On my flights to Asia, I normally use Skyteam partners, especially Korean. the fact those miles do not even count towards my medallion status basically removes them as a partner. I cannot justify a $7-$10k BE seat and not get credit for the miles. This has driven my behavior where I have to fly to ICN later this month and I am flying Delta ATL-DTW-ICN vs. Korean ATL-ICN. I am OK with it only because I just love the new 747 BE seats on the DTW-ICN route, especially upstairs.

Honestly, I wish the DM MQD was higher. or they had a higher level. Passengers that spend over $30k+/year on Delta should be rewarded more than someone that got DM with $7k as you mention above (I know, not possible now, but $12.5k is still fairly low). Again, a frequent flyer that doesnt spend money isnt the airlines favorite flyer. Similar to the person that goes to Starbucks everyday to buy a Tall standard coffee and sits in their store taking up a seat for 4 hrs.

I would hope that smithsonga realizes that this MQD thing is just a start toward a completely revenue-based FF plan on DL.

The ominous precursor of this is the much reviled (around here) Pay With Miles program which values each SkyPeso at 1 cent.

I'm at over 100K MQMs with just over 7K MQDs (year-to-date). That's with no mileage runs, only travel for getting places.

I'm coming up on 60k MQM and just broke 10k MQD. All domestic, and only one leisure FCM trip.

Some of routes I fly would end up around 1 DPM if it weren't for the 500-mile minimum.