Whatever brings in more $$ - something which they're apparently doing at the moment.

Yes, really. That's a fact of life. The poster said it him/herself. "I took advantge". I don't blame the OP for it one bit. It was a great deal and under the current rules, made a lot of sense to take. In the future, it may not make as much sense, at least as far as using such trips to obtain status. His/her trip and status are not wasted; he/she will simply have to change his/her game plan to obtain status to fit within the new rules of the game - rules that instead of rewarding you for how far you fly instead reward you for how much you spend.

Now I fully agree with you. I buy tickets when I need, pay the price DL offers when I book, and don't pay more than I need to. I too am a "cheapskate" and put a price on being loyal. I will be loyal to DL within reason. It makes me laugh when some people will pay double or more the price of another comparable airline. Why pay $500 to fly Airline A when airline B is offering a ticket for $250 at the same time on a 1.5 hour flight? But for each person, "within reason" varies. That said, what some people can't seem to fathom is that their $2,00 a year of spend flying to Istanbul a few times at $500 and a couple $200 transcons isn't as valuable as someone else's $4,000 a year spend or someone else's $10,000 a year spend on short domestic hops. I recognize that DL sees its customers who spend $10,000 a year as far more valuable then the $2-3,000 a year I spend. And I don't blame DL one bit! In fact, I'm glad DL is finally adopting a system that takes into account how much money you spend rather than just how far you fly, because the former is a lot more valuable to DL. I'm perfectly fine being further down on the list than someone spending many times what I spend. Some of here can't seem to get that. "I spend $2,000 on T fares flying all over the world! Treat me the same as someone who spends $15,000! Waaaah!" Yea :rolleyes:

I've been wondering that, too--and have read all of this and yesterday's thread as well as the FAQs. I think MSPEconomist also asked. As far as I can tell there is no answer yet.

I'd imagine it would be easier on the bookkeeping side to make it the date of purchase, partially because trips straddling two years--especially multi-city itineraries--would be difficult to parse out into which segment costs what.

What makes sense to me might not make sense to DL, though.

Why is the dollars an employer spends on travel less important than the dollars one spends out of their own pocket? Both are finite and both have rules for use (employer paid travel usually has very specific rules while my pocket has rules about how much I spend on travel.)

Those who have made comments about employer paid travel dont show a good understanding of how corporate america travel has changed in the last couple of years.

I find it interesting that they chose 10 cents per MQM as the baseline. On at least one TCON route I fly regularly you can usually buy a P fare for under 10 cents per MQM ...

What do you mean? Are you referring to the application of the MQDs? If so, it sounds like, just as with MQMs and RDMs, they'll be applied to the person traveling, regardless of who paid. Or are you referring to putting travel expenses on the DL AmEx?

But how many here are 100% leisure? I would guess the majority (of active posters at least) have some business travel -- whether company paid or paid individually but deducted (as I do as a self employed person).

Even if Delta goes to a purely revenue based earning system (which they have not done yet) I think it will be quite a while before switch to a purely revenue based redemption program.

All the past uproars would pale in relation to what you'd see in the unlikely event they said whomever paid for the ticket got the points.

Really, the worst part of this for some is the major reduction in MQM earnings on partners. For those who travel internationally a lot, this will hurt and make it much harder to qualify.

All these folks who are discounting employer paid travelers as not being as frugal with their employers money.

Everyone I know in small and large companies has to either book through their travel agency or show a cost comparison as to why the airline they are flying is the cheapest option.

I was merely responding to your comment that "It gets especially dicey when the company is paying but the employee gets the rebate." I was noting that this was the only time you would have a potential tax liability. For leisure purchases it simply isn't dicey at all.

But as to your question, while I don't think a majority of elites are 100% leisure, I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of members of SkyMiles are 100% leisure or close to it.

Gotcha. Yea I will try to fly Delta when I can for gov't travel when possible, but only if it's at the same cost or reduced cost to my unit and the government (and the taxpayers). Otherwise I have to suck it up and fly another carrier. I'm sure the taxpayers appreciate that.

Agreed.

My travel is pretty locked in but I work and know folks who dont support the government (but still are employees of large corporations) but still follow travel rules like I mentioned above.

So how many are really exclusive? I don't really know if you are just down an elite tier. The second part of my original post indicates how hostile DL is to customers when it comes to DL-plate-or-codeshare with DL-issued eTicket to get the MDMs. So you are saying flying 125k with mixed itineraries of DL, AF, KL, CZ, CI are crap especially if it's not ticketed with DL number?

To all other posters, I echoed your argument. Why would I wanna get higher fare bucket when I can get a lower fare bucket to go to the same destination? This just doesn't make sense. I get LUTs when the routes and schedules make sense, and I do get P, I, S and Z when the prices are reasonable. I just don't see the point of sticking with high fares with all these lower-than-average aircrafts when better competitors are right at the corner. Mind you, you could get a lot of Z and P fares and jack up 200k but you can still be just a kettle if they are not DL-plate or not issued as DL eTicket Number, making you less than $2500 MQDs. I really don't think this means loyalty. This means self-isolation.

I was checking some MSP fares earlier today and the buy-up round trip to First was around $200 so this was on my mind.

MQD provides Delta the opportunity to go all-in with FCM with greatly reduced FFer program tail.

IMO Delta will go all-in with buy-ups to international J which is what the M fare MQM debasement is all about.