baccarat_king

This was "sort of" the issue with my Y-fares BOS-AMS; nobody wanted to say what the fare actually was. It was just "unpublished," and did not earn any MQDs. But, I changed to a foreign address in September (and it was the MQD 2013 test period), so I didn't think much of it.

I'm guessing, that if Delta Vacations gave you MQDs, it would reveal what their pricing discount/matrix was with Delta. (be it good, or bad)

If you are going to keep fares "secret," it's going to be rather hard to "award" MQDs IMHO.

KevinDTW

This is similar to what I was told several months ago; see my earlier posts in this thread. But there are two problems with this response. First, the fares may be unpublished (the idea being they don't want to give MQDs because then they would be revealing the airfare component of the package), but if you book and fly a DV package you can see the airfare component in your receipt (IOW, it's not a secret). Second, it doesn't make sense to me to say "you got a cheaper fare, so you get zero MQD credit." That's like saying a flight was only 650 miles, so you shouldn't get MQM credit. However much the airfare was, you still transferred those dollars from your pocket to DL's and you should get credit for that.

jjmiller69

Hopefully everyone who it affects will post on Delta Points today. In my writing to DL/DV they said it could be a full fare and they would not give MQD's? Mine were coded X and L I knew if it was coded E no MQD's.
DL/DV could still keep it quiet and award $100 MQD's for over $1,000 spent, $200 for over $2,000 spent and etc. That way you would know what their policy is and if you want to use it.

HatAndJacket

^^^

Also a slap in the face how they advertise full MQM credit with AF, KL, AZ, etc but those don't count toward MQD unless you get them on a DL ticket, which usually costs more... also slap in the face how bonus MQM earned through credit card doesn't help you unless you hit the 25k waiver... also slap in the face how rollover MQM touted as one of the unique parts of skymiles, but also now don't help you unless you hit 25k credit card waiver or spend MQD...

sethb

Excluding actual taxes is fair, since the airlines don't get that money, they just collect it for the governments.

It isn't merely the name, it's the fact that it's part of Delta. Delta itself is directly selling those packages to the customer. Cruise ships (etc.) buy bulk fares at a discount, in part by getting fares that are not eligible for MQDs, MQMs, etc. More important, a cruise customer does not get to select the airline, so there's no benefit to Delta to providing anything to that customer.

I can see why Priceline wouldn't count, for their "bid" fares: the passenger has no choice of airline. Delta provides benefits to me because it wants to encourage me to choose Delta. When Priceline happens to get the lowest bid from Delta, there's no choice on my part.

matthew64832

I agree with this, the whole point of MQDs is that it is "baked in"; they don't have to worry about if I paid enough for them to justify the marginal cost of granting me the MQDs, since if I paid less, I just get less MQDs. Perfectly proportional in all cases.

But, I know that DL management aren't aren't reasonable or logical. So, the solution: DV packages earn 50% MQD credit on the airfare portion. This keeps the pricing agreements secret and I very much doubt that the airfare costs them less than half of what they are charging for it (I certainly hope this is not true, and if it is we are paying enough extra that they shouldn't care about MQD), so DL still gives out less MQD than they normally would. Plus it should be dead simple to implement.

The other problem I have with this policy is that even if the fare is not unpublished (i.e. even if I am paying full price for the ticket) I still get screwed by going through a TA.

archrr

Tangentially, does anyone know if you can credit flights part of a Delta Vacations Package to partner airlines (specifically, Alaska)?

On http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ers/delta.aspx Alaska says 'Some deeply-discounted and industry fares are ineligible to earn miles'. Has anyone had success with DL vacations flights (unpublished fares) crediting to partners?

Barbella7

I was just going through my account activity and noticed that for my DV booking to GCM in February, MQDs just posted. The miles had posted already, but had disappeared for a few days. It appears that they got posted again today, but this time with MQDs attached. Certainly not a huge deal to me as I am getting the AMEX waiver but thought that it was interesting.

lucycan

My DV vacation in Feb did NOT post MQDs.

Bagels

I've taken three trips with Delta Vacations over the past 7 months -- two to Hawaii and one to the Caribbean. Each trip included a bulk fare - Hawaii was nearly a 50% savings whereas the Caribbean yielded only a few dollars off. EVERY ticket yielded full MQD.

While I have no idea which tickets do and do not earn MDQ with DL, it's totally inaccurate to say all do not.

motytrah

Totally inaccurate? Perhaps, but exactly what the DL.com website says.

jjmiller69

That's not what DL said when I asked where my MQD's were. This policy started 1/1/2014. I booked on 10/2013 and flew 2/2014


In a message dated 2/23/2014 10:27:28 A.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
Dear Mr. XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting us through delta.com. We are sorry for the
delay in responding to your message.

We understand the disappointment with not earning Medallion Qualifying
Dollars (MQDs) on your trip that you booked through Delta Vacations. As
a means of explanation, and not as an excuse, Delta Vacations is a
travel agency (MLT, Inc.) that books vacation packages that use Delta
flights. In accordance with our contract with Delta Vacations, we permit
them to create discounted packages for our customers by discounting the
cost of the airfare. Since these tickets cost less than the regularly
published fare if it had been booked directly through Delta, MLT does
not publish the cost of the ticket on the ticket itself. Without having
this information, it is not possible for us to post MQDs to your
account. MLT can sell Delta tickets at the full published airfare, but
this negates some of the cost benefit that comes with booking a vacation
package.


As a gesture of goodwill for the problems you experienced, I have added
5,000 SkyMiles to each of your accounts with the hope that you will
continue to make Delta your airline of choice.

Thank you for your support as a Gold Medallion member and for trusting your
business to us. Be assured, we will make every attempt to serve you
well; we are focused on the future and look forward to our continued
business relationship.

Sincerely,

WWWWWW
Medallion Desk
www.delta.com

KevinDTW

The DL website is pretty clear on this (bolding mine):

"Certain tickets, including but not limited to bulk, consolidator, cruise, vacation packages (including Delta Vacations® packages), inclusive tour and other tickets where the fare is not disclosed, will not count toward MQDs. "

If anyone has received MQDs for DV-booked flights in 2014, I would be very interested to know if those MQDs end up staying in your account permanently.

jrmsp

Point of clarification -- Delta Vacations sells both published and unpublished fares. MQD will be earned on published but not on unpublished. If you're booking far enough out you can tell by how much deposit is required. Large deposit = published, small deposit = unpublished. Booking any ticket through a travel agency will count as well, with the exception of certain agreements that may be negotiated between your employer and the airline. And of course, none on the ever-popular "E" fare.

Renes Points

I can now confirm DV will earn MQDs, MQMs etc!

Here is a link to my post with a quote from DV


_______________________________
Per FT rules the above link is to my blog