MSPeconomist

Not quite. Lifetime SPG Gold requires five years of earned Gold or Plat status and 250 nights credit, which is a lot more nights than five years of Gold. Indeed, someone could have five years of Plat rather than Gold and only 125 nights if the person qualified on exactly 25 stays per year.

MSPeconomist

It won't double point or miles in the sense that DMs already receive 225% miles for DL flights in most coach fares, which is a lot more than a dollar per mile. SPG elites without SPG credit cards normally receive three points per dollar on eligible spending, which includes restaurant and bar bills, room service, etc., even when using an award stay.

Based on MQDs, a normal DM (not someone who has been achieveing status by MRs) might earn about one free night per year in a Category 5 property (very nice but not true luxury unless in a cheap location; think most Ws in fairly expensive cities) and a typical SPG Plat (estimate 50 nights at $200 for a rough benchmark) earns an additional low domestic coach ticket every two or three years. The benefits are not overwhelming, but they are appreciated as a little bit extra.

Now if my DM status would just move me up the priority list for suite upgrades to SPG Plats or if my SPG Plat would be an additional criterion for DL's upgrade waitlist. As it is, it looks like the only double elites who gain are SPG Golds who are also DM or PM on DL as they get free internet from crossover and can still claim their 250 points or welcome drink amenity. Unfortunately, those of us who are SPG Plat and also DM or PM get nothing additional except a few extra miles and points.

woody125

You're both right. My bad. I've got 4 down and and am working on year #5 right now. Had 4 on the brain for some reason.

Now back to normal programming...

roknroll

Wonder if we will see some cross platform promotions. SPG has their quarterly promos for bonus points, so wonder if they might work in flights with DL sometime in the future as part of it.

jamesteroh

Hilton does promos with Deltas. In Q4 they typically do a promo that gets you MQM's on Delta. I'm hoping Delta doesn't partner with SPG on this promo in the future instead of Hilton, it is nice combing the Q4 regular promo with the Delta MQM promo.

MSPeconomist

Since Crossover apparently depends on registration before flying rather then before ticketing, this is a weak indication that DL plans to count MQDs in the year that the flights were flown rather than when the ticket was purchased.

sethb

Do the years have to be "earned"? The web site said "elite status" with no reference to how it was achieved. (E.g. Amex Platinum giving Gold, plus 20 nights/year for 13 years.)

MSPeconomist

Emphatically the AmEx Plat Gold years and Centurion Plat years do not count for lifetime status.

sethb

Starwood says that some AmEx Gold years do count

7.4.a. In order to obtain SPG Lifetime Gold status, an SPG Member must have: (i) a minimum of 5 Eligible Status Years; and (ii) 250 Eligible Nights, during the SPG Member's participation in the SPG Program. An "Eligible Status Year" is a year during which an SPG Member obtained elite membership status (Gold Preferred Guest or Platinum Preferred Guest) by: (A) achieving the Gold Minimum Requirement or the Platinum Minimum Requirement during the prior year's Qualifying Period; (B) meeting certain requirements associated with an applicable Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express;

The AmEx clause is explicitly missing from the Lifetime Platinum qualifications (which requires 500 nights and 10 years of earned Platinum).

MSPeconomist

This is different. Your quote is about the SPG AmEx credit card. I was talking about the regular nonaffiliated AmEx Plat charge card and Centurion charge card that have given SPG Gold and Plat status. Those years do not count as elite years unless the person met the stays/nights requirement for the status. Part(B) refers only to the SPG credit card.

kitkat77

Argh! I wish they had done this at this time last year.

Although, once I do the math, my 100ish nights at SPG between Sept 2012 and March 2013 and probably 18Kish spend on DL (before taxes/fees) only really cost me 13K SPG points and 18K miles, so I guess not the end of the world.

As an SPG plat I've been upgraded probably 2 out of every 3 stays, and I stay in a Sheraton weekly. The club lounge and free internet are also fairly nice perks. I also got upgraded to a *nice* suite at the WDW Dolphin when I booked 2 free nights.

GUWonder

That is to be expected. DL SkyMiles management is a master in fleecing its customers, so it is natural that they are concerned about "gamers" fleecing them back .... as would otherwise happen with refundable tickets. They certainly aren't stupid.

ijgordon

Which makes sense, because the SPG Amex credit card requires you to earn Gold status through spend ($25k or $30k/year, I forget exactly).

ijgordon

Me too. This part was confusing.

SJC ORD LDR

It's $30k. That's how I got SPG gold status last year.