I have received numerous PMs about the Skyteam elite + comment I made a while back. Instead of answering each individually, I'll just post it here.

Areolineas Argentinas recently joined Skyteam. They are offering a very simple status match. Not a challenge, just a match. All you have to do is email them, include a pdf of your status elsewhere (AA etc) and voila you are STE+.

It is valid for 12 months

http://www.aerolineas.com.ar/arg/mai...44&idIdioma=en

Easy way to get STE+. This won't get you upgrades on DL flights, but several other benefits.

Good summary, I would just add the part that seems to go secondary, though it should be primary for this membership year-

changes in MQM earning on partner's flights flown or on after March/1/2013. For that, you'll have to go through the earning charts and check it out. It is a big ticket for those who fly on partner's airlines or purchase a ticket on the airlines' partner number and not the DL codeshare number

Not really with a lot of hotel programs.

With Hilton you can be gold by just getting a credit card and diamond by only charging $40K a year on it. So someone that has a Hilton credit card and only stays in their property a few times a year is going to get better treatment than someone who stays 14 1-night stays a year with no credit card.

I believe it is all DL coded flights PLUS 006 stock, excluding government-imposed taxes and fees.

You get Gold Status with your Platinum Amex card without requiring any stays.
Marriott has the "taste of Platinum" going on right now where you get PLT status instantly.

So the hotel example is not a good one.

Well I think that for these people the new deal is a good one. You are certainly allowed to take advantage of cheap fares when you can just so long as your total spend makes you valuable to DL. This is much better imho than a system where your cheap LUT trips are penalized by gaining, say, only 50% MQM so that your total miles suffer. With this scheme, your total miles are your total miles, and you just need enough non-cheapo trips to make you "elite".

Hopefully Hilton and other hotel programs will follow Delta's changes It's absurd that someone gets the same benefits for simpling having a credit card as someone who spends 60+ nights a year with the chain.I am sure some of the people on this thread applauding the changes by Delta have no probelm being elite with a hotel program through ways other than earned status.

Hotel benefits do not devalue other travelers experiences in general.
(stay credit, a breakfast, free internet)
The only competition is for upgrades and >60% of my SPG upgrades clear which is good for Plat Light and I still have SNAs that I can use if I really care about an upgrade.

I've absolutely no quarrel with that reasoning. Wanna play, put some skin in the game first. I posted what I did, in the way I did, because I've a decision I could make right now. For my travels, I can connect just as easily in SLC as I do in DEN. So I took a look at the changes DL is making.

Since my travels could also take me to California more often in the future, the partner-earning changes and how those tickets qualify towards MQDs could also affect me directly if I credited AS flights to DL.

Let's remember that this isn't the "How elite does your spend make you" thread to advance agendas, it's the Medallion Qualification Update thread, where we're able to discuss all of the changes.

Outside of set dates for conferences or training sessions, I fly on B-fares mainly for business. If DL wants to sell me some tickets, they need to sell me on these changes, and how flying DL would be my best choice.

I don't see where they've done so, so for the time being I've chosen to stick with the devil that I do know, rather than the devil that I don't know. Honestly, I don't see how thinning the ranks is suddenly going to change either the experience in First nor rid it of the riff-raff, as so many here are making claims about. All DL has said is that they're introducing MQDs as of 1/1/14 and lowering MQM-earning potential beginning 3/1/13, without telling us the direct benefits of this for those who choose to earn status with DL.

So no, I don't agree with that any elite needs to make the case for why they're valuable to DL, as the person I originally quoted wants, DL needs to tell us why they're worth the investment of our travel dollars vs. other choices. Let DL sell the seat they could sell me for a B-fare most of the time to someone on a T-fare+ancillaries. I don't see how that's going to suddenly transform the front cabin or increase their revenue, but bubbashow and others seem to have that part all worked out, amazing as that may seem on the surface.

I don't think you're missing anything - in fact I think you understand exactly the situation. You're correct that it's not that difficult to average over $0.10/mile. But the problem is that it has to be $0.10 spent with Delta (with some rather convoluted rules as to what actually counts). So throw a couple of long-haul J segments into the mix that are on partners which you can't get on 006 stock, and you're effectively not getting credit for those flights. I certainly can't see how the alliance partners would be happy. And now customers have to think awfully hard about where and with whom they book their tickets. It's really kind of a mess I think.

Between this, M+ for longhaul upgrades, the 72 hour rule and SkyPesos, it's beyond me why anyone who values a FFP and isn't captive to a hub would choose to fly DL. But then again, maybe few of them do.

I'd meet the spending for my level if I was a Delta flyer (which I am not), but I have to admit, it's been a LONG TIME since I've seen some of the outrageous displays of hubris and arrogance that I have seen in this thread. (And I'm probably remembering and comparing to theatrical satire rather than real life.) I wonder if most of these posters are aware that to most casual viewers their drivel translates as, "let me go online and feed my fragile ego since I'm not getting that in my real life." Seriously, why else would you brag about your travel budget (and the drink you are currently sipping on the beach :rolleyes:) to a bunch of strangers you've never met?

Technically Delta doesn't call these people "elite". I believe that was an old NWA thing, Silver Elite, Gold Elite, etc. Delta only references them as "Medallions".

So all the talk about nobody is elite if everyone is elite, well, in fact, none of us are elite.

Shhhh... you're going to crush someone's ego.

Let's not forget the drop in MQMs earned on M class fares from 150% to 100%. This is huge for people who use SWUs to upgrade on international, which requires the expensive M fares.

Exactly. That is half the equation. The other half is DL outlined the eligibility parameters for medallion status for the Feb 2015 to Feb 2016 period. DL has through those parameters defined upon whom it will bestow certain perks. It is, as you say, up to each individual to then take the information DL has provided, look at other options available and decide which program offered best fulfills the individual's needs and wants.

Those who are getting emotionally upset about the changes are missing both points. DL's obligation is to do what it thinks will maximize profits and the consumer's individual obligation is to choose which program is best for him/her. None of us are married or related to DL. We have a business relationship. In that type of relationship, loyalties are always portable and conditions are subject to change. (That's even clearly stated in the T&Cs.)

When Leo was running DL, I decided what DL was offering wasn't best for me and flew FL for a couple years. Later, when things changed both for me and at DL, DL once again became the best option for me. DL's program changes, my needs change and my loyalty shifts to what is best for me at the time.