My wife and I are both GM's. We've been gaming the FF system for a number of years and these changes mean absolutely nothing in terms of changing our status or gaming methodology.

We each have a DL AMEX and spend the required amounts to maximize MQM's from the two cards, 1 Reserve and 1 Platinum. 25 to 50K of the MQM's that the cards provide go to her SM account and I get the residual, if any. She's assured of continuing as GM without putting her BIS if she doesn't have to and I don't mind doing MR's to keep myself as a GM. In fact, I'll most likely move up to PM this year since I'll be at 52k MQM this month thanks to a 24k rollover. I just did an MR in A & I, 10,500 MQM for $480 (4.6 cpm) so you can do them at a reasonable cost - in comfort

The AMEX cards will take care of the MQD's and half of the MQM's we need so this is no big deal.

"Bubba - hope it raises your BP" :cool:

You should read the FAQs.

But the short answer is that neither are affected.

You keep the annual status but in order to roll over MQMs you need to meet the flying and spend requirements.

No and no. DL addresses this in the FAQs. Complimentary annual and gifted status are both exempt.

The most deceiving part of the this release is the "LOOK HERE AT THE NEW MQD REQUIREMENTS - WE MADE A CHART" while burying the HUGE CUTS in MQM's earned on partner airlines in two sentence of text below the chart.

What good choice does a SM person have now for SE Asia flights? I thought Delta's alliances for SE Asia were already weak, but this is brutal. Ready Fire Aim at it's finest.

And those are two good and fair points. Delta needed to make this decision, they know the swelling elite ranks were unsustainable and had potential to reach a very negative tipping point.

Both Horizons and rylan speak to loyalty and to a certain degree emotion. (Another friend addressed that on Facebook too.) There are a lot of people who are passionate about Delta and they carry a lot of goodwill, there is a polite and respectful way to treat them while shifting focus toward the bigger spenders.

Delta's loyalty and marketing groups would be wise to figure out a way to engage and keep these loyal customers in the family.

Feel free to adopt my signature line, from below.

Why? The minimum thresholds are so low that anyone that doesn't meet them is simply a money loser.

Marketing folks think that every customer is valuable and that you should never turn away business. They are wrong.

I doubt it'll have any impact. Paying 2-3k for domestic F run in order to earn 15k mqm doesn't make sense. Or worse, paying 14k for a full J and getting 36k mqm. If somebody is paying full F or J its because they absolutely HAVE to take the flight, and is almost guaranteed to have a company footing the bill.

I was just told that where the pie chart is on the dash there will be another option to see your dollars spent. He did confirm taxes will not count, VDB will count vouchers will count.

I also asked about the scenario that if I purchased a ticket, canceled the ticket due to illness, they said I could fly in the future using that credit would it count since I still purchased the ticket. Was told that the dollars count when purchased.

BINGO

The threshold is actually not that low once you take taxes out. In some instances taxes are more than the DL base fare, you only get credit for the base fare. So really to have DL spend = 12,500 you are going to have to spend in some cases double if you are going to London, Paris, heck even Canada.

One potential isssue is that elite levels are hierarchical, while sets of elite fliers are not.

Group 1: I have to fly on short notice, I'm flying K+ if not M+ fares, I can't do my job unless I know I can work in a comfortable space. Another free trip means that I have to get on yet another airplane.

Group 2: I fly somewhat for work but I can usually plan it out and thus can often fly L and K and even sometimes U and T. I also like to travel for vacations, and I'm going to align my work travel and my leisure travel to the carrier who gives me the best bundle of related perks in both scenarios (perhaps comfortable seats and SDC for work, lots of award availabilty for leisure).

Group 3: I don't have to travel, I like to travel. I'm willing to generate trips to fill up extra capacity, and in exchange I want to travel like a premium flier a percentage of the time.

I don't think that the FO/GM/PM/DM hierarchy fits this diversity, either on DL or on any of the legacies.

DL is telling Groups 2 and 3 that they can play, but that they can't play without a minimum contribution.

I think someday a carrier will rethink their entire model and build two or three different programs, and let customers pick which one they want to be in.

Gutting the ST Alliance
 

I can easily believe this is a well thought out plan, given the disdain DL MGMT has for the SM program.:( I wonder what the non JV ST members think about these changes, if they were even informed by DL, or even know:confused: Remember the DL MGMT mantra, "Nothing is too good for our 'Sky Teammates' and our Skymiles members, so that's what we should give them......NOTHING:D

If I was going to pay $2k for a domestic F run, I'd just pay US $4k and make CP and be done with it.