+1, although the MQD requirement is generally not a problem for us segmentfolk.

I agree I think MQD may cause some PR problems, where someone has 100 segments and 20k MQD and barely makes Platinum.

That would be me... 100 segments and probably 16K MQD in 6 months last year. Segment qualifying rather sucks.

OP, I can at least verify that you aren't crazy, or that if you are, you have plenty of company here. I squeezed 4 extra segments in last year to get to the 100, one by doing RDU-ATL-DCA-DTW-YYZ.

To me, it was worth it. Platinum is much better than Gold, especially with the redeposit of award miles with no fee, better accommodations in IRROPS, better upgrades. I also believe that Silver is better than no status.

However, I don't think I'd squeeze in more than about 4-6 extra segments.

Ah! Okay, this makes sense, thank you for explaining. I have read about Y fares being upgraded before, but I thought those people were always just buying Y fares.

Syrgul - interesting idea. Those weren't options when I was looking at possible tickets - is there a way to force the system to do this? Would I have to just do multi city destinations and choose flights close to each other?

Thank you kitkat77, ha. I know that everyone keeps saying miles miles miles but with the way I have to fly out of Nevada it really is about the segments for me. Flying my ideal flights this year I would only be 1 or 2 segments off, so I can either try to mess around with an extra layover or two or do that quick EKO>SLC run and I think that would set me.

Thank you for the thread link, RRDD. If I had to do something really crazy to get my segments I wouldn't be considering it, it's just that I'm on the bubble with the way I normally fly.

BusTrav8yrs - hmmm, I hadn't heard any of that before. So I have to fly my segments AND spend 2500 on travel or 25k on the card in 2014 to get status for 2015? If it's one or the other I easily spend 2500 on tickets... I could probably do 25k on a card as well if I transfered all my spending to it.

I have never understood why DL doesn't do MQS rollover, given how much harder it is to get status by segments & how much more money you have to spend to do it. If one of the goals of the program is to increase revenue you would think Delta would be giving lots of love to us segment flyers.

My typical year involves 2-4 trips a month, nearly all from one regional through a hub to another regional, all getting the 500 mile min. So, if I hit 100 segments that means 25 trips at average spend $600+ a ticket. Spending $15k to get 50k miles? Compared to someone who can get to PM with much less spend on a few TATL flights on MQMs? Diamond would come a lot sooner for me this year if I got MQS rollover.

You are comparing the two extremes. If you look at the average flyer it favors the segment qualifier much more. A sample I looked at was if I was flying LGA-MSP weekly. The most common fare available right now is L.

For segment flyer if going LGA-DTW-MSP it is $520 and 4 MQS, for a nonstop LGA-MSP it is $509 and 2040 MQMs.

So for segment quallification you would be Silver within 8 triips (halfway in 8th trip 4 X 7 + 2) while spending $4160. For mileage qualification you would have to take 13 trips (halfway in 12th trip 12.5 x 2040) and spend $6617. The segment qualifier has spent 60% less time and money to qualify.

So thats 15 trips vs 25 for Gold (and 5200 less) and 25 trips vs 38 for PM etc.

There are many examples. One with two 500 mile segments each way will of course favor a segment flyer. This is an extreme as much as the example you quoted.

I flew DTW-NRT-SIN and back last year for $660; 6 segments. 19,442 miles. Try that example.

I don't have any hard numbers but I suspect the average flyer segment is a lot more than 528 miles which is the longest segment in your example. I do a LOT of domestic travel too but my average segment distance is 1550 miles.

It seems pretty obvious on here that segment qualification is a lot more rare.

My example might be one of the in-between ones. 80%-90% of my trips are ATL-NYC and back. On a business schedule, I must always fly nonstop, as adding in segments generally costs more and adds 1-2 hours of travel time. ATL-LGA is 761 MQM, and my average segment price is probably around $200.

Just on that route, 30 MQS gets me 22,830 MQM for $6k. Last year, I had some shorter last-minute trips in there, too, and ended up with 28k MQM on 40 MQS for just shy of $10k. On segments, I'd already be 1/3 of the way back to FO to start 2013, but instead I'm only 3k MQM in, which doesn't really do much for me.

Extend that same travel pattern out, and in my 4th year, I'll still be FO and start with 9k MQMs, not even halfway to requalifying. With MQS rollover, I would have earned GM by MQS and MQD.

While I agree that the two qualifying routes are mostly fair in terms of providing two different ways to qualify for status, and the MQD requirements will equalize this even more to some extent (except for that darn Amex trump card), the lack of MQS rollover is what makes segment qualifying the far less favorable route.

I can answer this one - I had to force the system to do it. I just checked a few multi-city routes until I found one that was reasonably priced and had the segments I wanted. Two of my two-layover options were shown as options, though, but the three-layover route above took some doing.

I would suggest using kayak.com as I find it shows both more options and is a lot quicker than delta.com can be.

I've been doing the same weekly round trip since last June, and I'll be honest, I could take a direct flight on a different airline. I'd get ~550 miles each way. That would get me nowhere. Plus, the schedule is very limited and NOT favorable to my travel needs, and the pricing was not really within my company's travel policy (double to triple the fare prices).

However, I chose DL and the segment route on purpose in order to get miles and status. They have a lot of different ways to get where I want to go, so I've been very lucky with getting re-routed and still getting to work or home more or less when I wanted to be there.

PM was therefore 100 segments and 24 round-trips, for ~65K miles, and about $19K in actual spend, although not sure where that would wind up in the MQD world.

All of the trips were 500-750 mile segments except for 1.

So far this year, I am at ~30K miles and already at 52 segments, for an actual spend around $8500.

However, my travel will change drastically after this week (moving to a project in South America), so this is just my little anecdote for today. :p

Purchase of MQM's
 

Keep in mind that for the past few years, Delta has offered their FF members the opportunity to purchase MQM's at the end of the year. This can come in handy to bridge the gap to achieve elite status. The most MQM's you can purchase is 10,000 MQM's. The ability to earn MQM's via the AMEX Platinum Skymiles card is also very helpful. 10,000 MQM's for $25K in purchases; another 10,000 MQM's after reaching $50K in purchases.

My $0.02 for the OP:

If you have the Delta Amex, you already get most of the real benefits of being an FO (free bags and priority 2 seating). You don't get priority seating (exit rows) option or discounted econ comfort; if you're tall this could be a downside.

I was 0/22 on upgrades as an FO last year and only sniffed an upgrade once, being 1 of 1 who didn't get an upgrade. By sniffing, I mean there was typically 20-30 people ahead of me [!!!!]) after first class checked in full, even on 757 routes w/ 24 first class seats. The IRROPs upgrade factor is there, but it seems like the IRROPs regularity is less than 1 in 100? Your chance of upgrades between SLC, MSP, and DTW is very low. The EKO and GRR routes are short so the benefit seems pretty minimal, especially as there is no first class or EC on the EMB120.

In short: how much do you value exit row seats, as that's probably all you're going to get over having the Delta Amex.

I can tell you though that sometimes segments are the only way to qualify. 8 years now of DTW-NYC (mostly) for 2 MQS, 1000 MQM per RT. At year end I'm usually about 70-80 MQS (so GM), 35-40k MGM (so no rollover). If they had MQS rollover I could at least sneak up to PM every 2-3 years but for now I'll be stuck at GM for the foreseeable future. MQDs aren't a concern as that route tends to be $600-700 per week buying at the required travel policy window, so easily over the 12k limit for DM.

This is not an on-going (year to year) solution, but for this year, your upgrade from Amex Gold to Plat may get you bonus MQMs. When I upgraded a few years back, I was awarded 5,000 MQMs, and about a year ago, my mother UG'd to Plat at an airport kiosk (the friendly folks who walk up to you at every DL hub) and was awarded 10,000 MQMs.

I don't see the offer available on the Amex site right now, but I didn't do a full search. You could call Amex & check. ...or check at the kiosk on your next hub connection. If it's not available now, it may be before year end. Offers change with the weather.

Just in case anyone was hoping for an update (ha) I've booked a few more flights this year so I started a spreadsheet... after I fly all currently booked flights I will be at 20 segments and 13418 miles, with a guaranteed 12+ segments left in September and October, so it looks like I'll be hitting it (with no worry about Amex offering any MQM bonuses or anything)!

Grats and yeah I have a spreadsheet for my travel to watch and log, sad but oh so much fun. Looking forward to making gold in 12k more MQM's or June.

Too bad you can't fly Delta from Elko to Winnemucca and back that would be an easy trip.