I (my company) spent nearly $17,000 to get me to PM...

Ok, I've reached Silver yesterday. My understanding is I am now an FO for 2015 medallion year which will start March 1, 2015. Does it mean I won't get the benefits, if there is any, of an FO if I book and fly before March 1 2015?

Thanks,

You're doing it wrong-I have seen many TPAC $7xx fares (return, inclusive of tax+YQ)

Multiple last minute flight changes and additional destinations, they add up.

I checked out of hotels 8 times in the last week and a half...

No no no...

You are FO as soon as DL posts it to your account and it continues until the end of Jan 2016.

However, remember that these FO benefits are worthless to you except when you are flying. If you don't fly until March, you won't have benefits to use until March.

The best part is ahead of you... You have these benefits that you want to use so your book a ticket to use these benefits. Using benefits is fun so you book more airfares. Before you know it, you are chasing that higher status to GM/PM/DM. Welcome to the crack cocaine world of status, SpeedAdvantage. :D

Do you find these fares by perusing the "Book Now" section of the Delta website or by using a travel agency CRS system?

Am going to Singapore for less than $1,200 RT next month which seems like an excellent fare considering 20,000 air miles RT.

Allanf

Contract GDS fare

Well my last trip on NYE will put me over the edge for GM with:

62,428 MQM
75 MQS
5022 MQD

Unless DL decides to pull some kind of unwritten rule like your MQD/S/M must post by 12/31/14 not just travel completed on that day....hahaha. Nothing surprises me with them anymore. I only traveled on NYE to hit the MQD threshold because I am traveling international next year and the discounted EC other benefits made the $218 I needed to spend to make it worth it.

Took my final flight of the year yesterday and ended with:

75,256 MQM
45 MQS
$14,731 MQD

First year I've hit GM or PM and am really going to use and enjoy my PM status to its full extent next year!

I thought discounts for EC were going away next year? Part of Delta's last minute "getting your back" changes to the product line. (It will be free for GM at T-72, IIRC.)

Apologies for the rookie question, but is there any way to put a dollar value on the lowest tier of medallion status? Basically, I'm wondering how much it's worth spending to complete the final MQS I would need for SM status. Is there a good guideline here (other than multiplying the checked bag fee by annual number of trips)?

Thanks so much.

You're headed in the right direction - What benefits will you use over the course of the status year and what is their value? Temper that by benefits you would still use even if you had to pay for them out of pocket.

So, say that with FO, you check 20 bags for free next year. But, if you had not had FO, you might only check 10 bags and decide to pack lighter/save money by carrying on for the other 10 trips. Your value then is only $250 since you wouldn't have spent more than that without FO.

Same goes for exit row/EC seats. Sure, you'll take them now that you can get them for free, but would you have paid for them if they required cash?

I choose to exclude things like upgrades from the equation, because they are not guaranteed and WFBF and all that.

That's good advice, @gooselee. I think you're right that I could probably buy the benefits that matter most to me and forgo the last-minute status-nabbing trip tomorrow. Thanks!

I'd be remiss if I didn't add -

In the same way I exclude certain benefits, I also include some that are harder to price, such as IRROPS treatment.

If you qualify on MQS (which I just noticed - sorry), that means you're taking many, many flights and increasing the likelihood of IRROPS, assuming you have the same travel pattern next year.

If your segment run is going to cost you $200, that might be worth it just for the one time you run into an issue and status gets you home instead of spending the night somewhere. OTOH, if you take mostly direct flights, tend to have good luck with IRROPS, and a segment run for FO is going to cost $600, that's a different equation.

Ultimately, you're the only one that can place any sort of value on those fuzzier things. :)

Finished last flight of the year - still waiting for it to post.
First flight was on May 30th. Had no status at the time on DL.
End of year totals:
MQM: 129056
MQS: 15
MQD: 4925 (Actual spend was probably 14k - most of my tickets earned 0 MQD because of how my corporate travel department issued the tickets).

Very glad for the AmEx waiver, so that I can finish the year as Diamond (instead of a Silver with 100k+ rollover MQM).