As usual, it depends. For the WHOLE medallion population is a huge net loss. FO/GM/PM are losing their chance for upgrades on the transcons ( as slim as the chances are there still WAS a chance ). We got Hawaii upgrades - cool but the trancons had 5 to 10 x more pax. Only net winners are DM's which are choosing global upgrade certs and use them on fares lower then YBM.

Your info says you are a PM. PMs got the royal screwing with these changes. Perhaps you didn't realize.

^^

No. But eating more fish or taking fish oil tablets/ capsules will definitely increase your memory, unless you have a blood-brain barrier blockade!

I am Diamond now - need to change profile

Click on the "my flyertalk" yellow balloon in the upper right corner of the page. The first choice on the list on the left should enable you to add or change details in your profile.

Agreed

I would not make that bet.

Delta is working hard to monetize seats and services, and I would not expect Delta to take that step backwards. They might do something like the old EP program where I believe the members got a couple of rulebuster waivers to get award tickets at the low price, or something like that. And maybe some extra upgrade certificates.

I think the 360s will get more personalized services (such as Porsche rides).

David

This board often has a US-based skewing, but these posts seem to demonstrate an international-based skew. There are many PM's who did not lose much with these changes, they either don't fly internationally anyway or they would never have bought a YBM fare to use an SWU on before. For me, living in the middle of the US, the change on transcon upgrades has no impact on me, Internationally I would buy a discount BE ticket before I bought a YBM fare and upgraded it with an SWU, and I do travel to Hawaii from time-to-time and may take advantage of the new Medallion upgrades, so from my perspective these changes are a net-positive.

I can certainly understand how international based PM's can see this as a negative, but to claim that it extends to all PM's is hyperbole.

Among the reasons that I see the change from SWUs to GMUs as a negative is that doing 6 to 8 international BE trips each year means my total airfare for the year will now be higher. After I do 2 trips with the GMUs (at whatever fare if I can find OP now competing with more DMs) then I must hope for a reasonable Z fare which is often not available for my trips (locations, dates).

My BE trips are a medical necessity (DVT, PE) and most fares above Z would be beyond my budget so I would not be able to purchase such tickets. This is a professional loss in addition to losing DM status with DL.

I will have enough SWUs to survive 2014 (I never 'throw away' any SWUs) but I will be watching closely how AA would address my particular concerns starting in 2015. I have already started comparing notes with the AA guru at our office.

I believe the point was that the 360's are most likely already buying F/J/BE... So upgrades are of no concer n to them... After all, this is the HVC that DL is seeking.

I keep forgetting to take mine.

Back on topic, as a NYC based PM this is not so good for me. Domestically I mostly fly JFK-SFO/LAS with a couple of short hops here and there. Most of my flights are international. I never took SWUs or fly to Hawaii so no impact on me. The only reason I fly DL internationally is to maintain status for upgrades domestically. Not sure it's worth keeping PM status for 4-5 JFK-LAS RTs per year. Maybe gold or maybe nothing. I have boat loads of miles so maybe I'll just get as much value from status in 2014 as I can and become a free agent, or maybe a go for a status match.

[QUOTE=baccarat_king;21967636or (b) typical high earners, this is of minimal worry. When you earn in excess of �1million/year+++ (most) people don't sit around analyzing such things, unless, it's a personal interest and hobby (of which, it is NOT for the vast majority of people who fly).[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily. As I mentioned earlier, I work in a firm with many highly paid people, but domestically, no matter the level, they are booked in coach. The policy for int'l is J. These are also people who will sometimes pay for J on their own leisure travel (more so for int'l trips). I have seen these folks already annoyed at previous DL changes (SDC was high among them), but the practical removal of upgrades on transcons seems to have been the last straw for many. If/when they leave, they will be taking with them (to AA) yes, their domestic coach business, but also their business int'l J and personal domestic (some coach, some J) and int'l J.

I would think that NY-based highly compensated fliers in a Fortune 100 company would be a fairly high target for DL (going with the assumption that NY is still a target market for DL). Yes, they are not celebrities/etc who always fly in paid J, but I can't imagine DL would want to lose these fliers. And with the transcon change, they are. It's been interesting to watch the reactions in my office to this last change.

Agree that PMs living overseas or flying internationally, and all medallions who regularly fly transcons, got a much bigger screwing than PMs who don't regularly fly internationally or live overseas. DL clearly doesn't want elites who are living outside the US.

It just extends to what must be the majority of PMs. The majority of income in the US is distributed to the east and west coasts. On the west coast the populations tightly cluster around LA/SF/Seattle.

So the same reason that there is all this premium hard product on the NYC<->California market is why I don't think it's a big leap to say that most people who earn enough to fly a lot, or work for companies that have them flying a lot, are getting shafted by this.

It's just as a PM that we don't even get the 4 GUs, so you REALLY have to fly to Hawaii a lot to be better off not just spending the extra $500/ticket for F...