It means that if you don't meet the spend for at least Silver, then you don't get to roll over MQMs.

Explain. That doesn't make sense.

First, status and (redeemable) miles are semi-independent.

Second, both status and redeemable miles are currently non-taxable; why would that change?

I can be all of those, and as a DM, KM, and Amex Platinum Card holder I get into the SkyClub multiple ways. They certainly do answer.

I received an e-mail about two hours ago. Subject: Changing The Way You Earn Medallion Status

David

I haven't received the email, either. I imagine DL has to send it out in bunches.

Nothing DL has done nor said makes me think M fares will drop... they've been steadily increasing for years. I'd love to be proven wrong here, but I have no faith in getting any 'carrots' out of the program changes. The safe bet is to be cynical when it comes to DL's program.

This seems to take one of the benefits of the Reserve card away. I'm able to gift my MQMs to anyone, but as it stands, that would likely be a waste of very valuable MQMs if that person doesn't spend enough through DL or doesn't also have a DL AMEX card.

I just don't think the changes will do it. I think the majority of those folks are getting the MQM boost using DL Amex, and since they bail on the spend requirements at $25K affinity I suspect they'll continue to maintain similar status. I can see this program having a lot of unintended consequences.

I am a long time lurker here... love the site and use it regularly, mostly for luxe hotel info...

Anyway, I am unhappy with this change to skymiles. I know I'm not a big fish, but the airfare is coming out of my pocket, not from a corporate account. As I see it, I have been loyal to Delta, using them for ALL of my travel. They get 100% of my air travel business. They are essentially saying "that's nice, but so what." I would think the point of FF programs is to induce loyalty to a carrier.

For me, I don't really care about bonus miles. I have more miles than I can shake a stick at. I am, however, interested in elite status, and really just for seat selection and skypriority.

As I see it, two things have happened.

One, ROLLOVER miles are now essentially worthless as MQM. I specifically chose to not top off or add a flight last year in order to have a headstart on this year. I am starting this year at 22k, and already have 2 trips in the next 3 weeks planned, getting me to Silver almost immediately this year. My intent was to lock up some status by June/July and then either go for more or start using some of the ridiculous amount of miles I have for some award travel, or both. Either way, I was looking forward to having at least Gold for at least 1.5 years.

However, afaik, you will still be required to spend $5k in MQD to reach Gold. In other words, I would have to spend $5k on 28k worth of flights. A bit excessive, imo, for that amount of miles. In fact, the only way I see that happening is if I buy full fare coach(transcontinental) or business class tickets. The idea of OVERSPENDING on 28k miles worth of flights just doesn't make sense to me at all.

So, by the new changes, I would only make Silver status, even with 50k MQM, because of the MQD requirement. In other words, rollover miles have essentially become simple miles, not MQM.

Yes, I know these changes don't take effect till next year, so I should be ok this year and next. But I am looking forward.

Second, it states that not all money spent on Delta actually counts as MQD. Only actual airfare. No economy comfort upgrades, no meals, no change fees, no baggage fees. None of those count. In fact, it states that not even the whole airfare counts, ie. taxes and fees do NOT count.

Finally, yes, I know that Delta is pushing their card, and these changes give an additional incentive to get it. I hate it(mostly the multiple mailings and trying to sell it to me EVERY time I talk to them). I have amex plat, and have ZERO interest in another card from Amex. IMO, the bonuses given to cardholders is what has cheapened and swelled the elite numbers. I have to say that I am annoyed that I achieve status purely by buying actual airfares, yet am going to be penalized for it. They could have easily addressed the CC issue buy simply raising the status requirements in miles. I actually would be ok with something like 27.5k, 55k, 85k, and 120k, for example.

Now I understand that for a lot of people, like those who travel for free on a company's dime, or with very deep pockets, most likely do not care. But from my perspective, this is pretty bad.

Ultimately, I would be ok with these changes, because they seem to be trying to address all of the people achieving status through the CC. I get that. But I think the MQD levels are ridiculous. IMO, ~$1750, $3500, $6k, $8k seem far more realistic and reasonable. And not being able to apply various spends like change fees or economy comfort upgrades is absurd. That money is going directly to Delta, just like the airfare.

Sadly, I will have to reevaluate my choice of carriers. I will be looking closely at Alaska Air. I am sure Delta doesn't care about me, a little fish. But it is still money lost for them. Sad, because I am actually quite happy with Delta in terms of service.

Which accomplishes what? How exactly do cheaters infringe on your benefits if they're not flying.

Like you say "semi"-independent.

Non-taxable because it's based on miles not on dollar spend. DL's lawyers have probably told them the semi-independent argument will work in the U.S. but may be more risky in some foreign countries.

I received the email at 12:55pm EST.

When I read mspreh's post, I asked myself, "who are these people"?

Prolly Delta Amex holders and therefore exempt from the changes.

Thinking about the hue and cry when WN changed their earning structure, I think they're missing something here, which is that a lot of people at those levels have very regular travel patterns and can easily buy T fares when sales hit.

When I was a EXP on AA back in the day, it's because I had a ton of very regular flights on a five week rotation, so I was picking up 11-12k MQM every 5 weeks but flying almost all in the lowest fare class. I didn't have to do pure MRs, I just had to do the the occasional odd routing on a Thursday night (say BDL-DFW-ORD). And people who are regular Mon/Thu commuters can do the same thing.

Once your travel patterns become more sporadic, being able to land all those T fares becomes more difficult because of the change fee. That's why I fly WN about 60% of the time these days, because my work travel plans are not as routine as they were as when I was in full-time large-scale project management.

The plans for the streets of Rome were laid out over the paths of drunken farm animals, as best I can tell. Some may correctly compare this to the design of delta.com and/or changes to SM.

Seriously, I'm 17 pages behind on this thread and the posting rate is > than my read speed... I'll never catch up!

You may be right, but....I just have to believe that SM is such an awful program for VFIFs that it's really hurting DL's numbers internationally. Cutting M fares is the easy way to fix the problem. (Why else would DL cut the MQM - $5k for international RT economy is probably the most lucrative business they have).

First post here but am a long time lurker. I am afraid this is only the first shoe to drop here. I sat in a focus group last year that was obviously targeted at a few times a year flyers with a few elite members present. I was the only Diamond in the room. You could have scraped my butt off the ceiling when they were rolling out some of the changes to how miles were redeemed. That's going to be the next shoe. Essentially your banked miles are going to be devalued by about 75- 50 percent as they are going to roll out a penny per mile value on purchase price of ticket. In other words a Thousand dollar fare will be a 100,000 miles. sucks for someone like me that has a 1.5 million miles banked and thought at least it was a travel fund for retirement.