And diemiles were my idea, even if I didn't originate the clever name!

It only makes sense, because a dead customer is, well, a dead customer.

David

Yes. It is hard to ask a dead customer "But, what are you going to do for me tomorrow?"

The details aren't out clearly, otherwise they'd be posted. But itsaboutthejourney is right. More program changes are coming....in the not so distant future.

Grab yourself by the bootstraps.

It is too early in the year for major changes to be announced.

Va Ave usually waits until about June or July for the really big changes... to ensure that folks don't have time to switch to another airline and still gain elite status there for the next year. The anchor is firmly set by about mid-year.

This is honest to God what I truly detest about Skymiles.

Once a year isn't enough, program changes are made (often without advance notice) at any old time. The 72 hour rule came out in August of 2011 and was effective immediately. By the way, is everybody enjoying that wide open availability for close-in bookings? Anybody? Anybody at all? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Even Hilton Honors only devalues once a year.

With a big enough hit, my temporAAry defection might become more permanent.

David

Dear SkyMilesTeam,

In another thread it's come to my attention that there is going to be a big conflict with the new GUC expiration/application policy and the gifted Gold Medallion status.

The system does not allow you to gift status to someone if they currently hold that same status or higher. So if my wife is currently gold through Feb 28, 2014 then I must wait until March 1, 2014 when the status drops off to re-gift her status. This really does not make sense because the choice benefit specifically states the period in which the gifted person will have their status:
The problem now is that DMs who gift the same person status each year will be required to wait until the March 1 following their qualification for DM before selecting both choice benefits. If they also take the new GUCs, then those GUCs would expire on March 1 the following year and any travel using them would also have to be completed by March 1. If they re-qualify for DM they'll again have to wait until march 1 the following year to select their GUCs, which prevents them from applying it to any future booked travel. If they had a trip planned for March/April/May, they'd probably book it well before March 1 and upgrade inventory may be available when they book. But they couldn't actually try to upgrade until March 1, and the UG inventory would probably be gone by then.

It's a very simple and logical fix really. It makes no sense why you can't just gift status to someone who is currently holding the same status. Have it add on to the following year. Either that, or allow DM's to select one choice benefit at a time.

It doesn't even need to "add on", it can just directly update their expiration date. Since this status is not like "1 year from date of earning" but instead is "it expires on this specific day" (a point you made in the post) you are absolutely correct that it should be simple to update the expiration prior to it actually expiring.

I wish it were one benefit at a time so I could gift GM to my SO now and wait as long as possible get to GUCs since the expiration rules are so strict.

FWIW, today several of my coworkers and I went to "XYZABC" in a city near Virginia Ave. We sat at what I call the "40 man" table(exaggerating a bit). The place is ALWAYS loaded with Delta employees and before I even sat down, one of my coworkers "asked"(quite loudly) what the "latest" was on the SkyMiles program. Take it with a grain of salt but two individuals obliged and actually sat with us after their other guests left. Their responses were NOT foreign as they have already been mentioned here on this forum.
1)Reduce(Max Carry Over 5,000/10,000 SkyMiles???)/Eliminate Rollover Miles - They said this has the greatest chance of passing DEPENDING on how "thin" the ranks get.
2)Reduce/Eliminate "Unlimited" Upgrades(This was mentioned about 1.5 years ago on FT)(They claim that DL posted that # of FC seats YTD is down 16%
3)Tie RDM to price/fare class
4)Increase "MQD's"/"MQM's" amounts(again depending on how "thin" the ranks get....Either removing "MQS's" all together or changing their #'s to earn status
5)PM's possibly loosing Choice benefit

Lastly, DL's "books" are still showing HUGE liabilities with people HOARDING SkyMiles, so they said DL is considering having "Weekend Getaways" for REDUCED amounts.........so that's a POSITIVE!

While it may already be too late, how about considering editing out some of the extraneous details of where and when in order to reduce the possibility that the parties involved can be ID'd?

"1)Reduce(Max Carry Over 5,000/10,000 SkyMiles???)/Eliminate Rollover Miles - ..."

What... no more Sextuple Diamonds?

If I was to speculate, and based on the 2012 posting from LedgeT here, I would seem like it may just about be time for another helping of sweet revenue-based pie!

Referencing the linked post, can we say "Revenue Based Mileage Accrual (RBMA), Release 1"? While the dates on that posting have obviously come and gone, the road map is there.

I think if Delta has taught us anything over the last year it's that it's never too early for another devaluation, nor too close to the previous one.

I can't see them eliminating free upgrades. They've already ticked off enough people by eliminating JFK routes to the west coast from upgrades. As a diamond not on a discount fare this weekend dtw/lax it doesn't look like I'll clear either way (only 1 seat in first on Friday), and it's not like the short haul upgrades are costing them anything. I could see them going with a sticker system like American has for silver and gold's.

I wouldn't be surprised to see MQM rollover's being limited. If that happens though I will consider using Amtrak or driving on my Chicago trips instead of using Delta

My bet for this year is:

1) Devaluations to earning rates for lower fare classes
2) Elimination of upgrades on lower fare classes (I'm on the fence about this one... If they push FCM and realign the Medallion ranks to what they believe are HVCs, I could see this not happening)
3) Reduction of Medallion bonuses for GM and PM to 50% and 75%, respectively

I also wouldn't be surprised to see further devaluations to the award charts.

I don't think DL will make the jump to revenue-based mileage accrual and redemption, at least not until UA or AA do.

This thread reminds me of the Arthur C. Clarke quote that BMW used in one of the Olympics commercials (one of my favorite authors, so it grabbed my attention).
Only, in this case, I would substitute another adjective for "fantastic."

Any suggestions?