CPMaverick

Nobody has said anything about inflation.

Flown miles don't change, but now RDM will increase with inflation. pretty much guaranteeing that we will get more award chart increases through the years too.

This is nice for me as I fly short expensive direct flights a lot. But as a program it is worse.

jamesteroh

Is the fare used for miles going to be before the discount with pay with miles and vouchers or before?

TheViking

I am with you Hipplewm I've got 10000 MQMs so far this year, for $5250 MQD... Even at the base rate of 5 I'd have 26000 MQMs if it was too based on revenue

But as a plat, this year I've earned 20000 RDMs, next year I would have earned 47250, so I am coming out ahead, but mostly what I fly is MSP->ORD, MSP->CID and MSP->IAH all that will come out way ahead on the fair I pay for them today. MSP->CID is the most obvious one, today I get 2000 RDM per trip, with an average ticket price of $860 I will start to earn 7740 RDM, thats almost 4x....

But I do feel sorry for the leisure travelers on LUT fares, I'll get hit on our yearly MSP->MCO vacations, but I can live with that

kitkat77

I follow the typical consultant schedule, as a weekly flyer on S-X fares, depending, and only east coast travel. I don't consider my tickets "cheap" but not super expensive either ($400-600/week in actual ticket price for roughly 2700 MQMs).

Just to see what my typical travel means, I took rollover and a cheap transcon out of the equation (as it's not typical travel), and did the math, and so far this year I would have earned $2500 MQD, 17K MQMs, but ~28K instead of ~38K RDMs. That's a roughly 35% drop in RDMs.

If they drop the redemption amounts, maybe, but otherwise, major blow.

chrisj85

As a HNL based GM who flies long mileage trips mostly on LUT fares (with some V and X mixed in) I am one of the big losers in the new RDM earning scheme.

Typical LUT HNL-ATL (~$1000) goes from 18K to 8K RDM
Break even price is about $2250.

Typical LUT HNL-LAX (~$500) goes from 10K to 4K RDM
Break even price is about $1300.

Basically I'm looking at a 50-60% reduction in RDMs. Basically this wipes out the GM mileage bonus and then some.

I'm guessing MQMs will do the same thing just a year later, at which point I'll be waving goodbye to DL.

I don't believe for a second that there will be any meaningful increase in availability for low mileage awards. Even if DL throws a new low tier out there they will just zero out the inventory for that level on 95% of flights.

nytracon

Ok...can someone just clear up 1 thing that seems to be confusing based on different replies here...

Assuming I don't care about "redemption miles", will this affect MQM earning or not?


The calculator tool is only dealing with RM not MQM, and boy do golds and to some degree plats get hosed. I took a JFK-LAX and kept playing with the numbers until it was even for plat. That number was $1100, and under the new system, golds really got screwed. Even a base member came out ahead, but gold lost 1100.

TTT

No, only RDM. MQMs are earned the same as before.

Hipplewm

I am speculating about 2016, so I am probably messing with people a bit, I will stop for sake of this discussion.

For 2015, nothing with MQM earning has been announced as of yet, everything is the same as 2014 as far as MQM earning

chrisj85

I'd bet that the change to dollar-based MQM earning in 2015 will be announced when they release the new award charts late this year. Gotta wait until folks have already booked their first quarter travel with DL.

HongKonger

You wouldn't think so, and yet they are punishing people who buy the most expensive international J tickets by capping the mileage that can be earned on it. In some cases almost half the dollars spent will not generate RDM.

RollsRoyceAndy

Just got an email and there are some interesting changes for 2015.

• Miles you earn toward Award Travel will be based on ticket price
• Diamond Medallion members will earn the most: 11 miles per dollar spent*
• New One-Way Awards
• New Miles + Cash Award options
• All-new Award Ticket search and shopping at delta.com


Maybe they are listening. At least a little.

N1003U

Trying new things is often refreshing--and liberating... UA has excellent service ex-ORD.

However, given that MQM earning rules are not (so far) changing, if Diamond status is a desirable thing (I find it quite beneficial, especially in IRROP situations), I would take a hard look at the recently changed MileagePlus earning AND redemption charts before doing anything rash. The grass is not necessarily greener (more like a different shade of brown).

UA and Star Alliance have made quite a few changes of their own recently that are gradually pushing the program to something that resembles a revenue based model.

I am now based in Germany and spend a lot more time *A (read LH, UA, OZ) metal these days, but my experience is that DL also treats me quite well as a DM.

For me the requirements for earning status is a higher priority (gives me benefits now) than the requirements for earning miles (which may give me benefits sometime in the future, if I have time/patience to use them).

SuperG1955

A voice of sanity in the thread.

DazeEnd

Has there been any word on how earning RDM through Delta Skymiles credit cards will be affected? Will RDM still be earned on every dollar spent, even non-Delta spending?

mfdii

Looking at my 2013 travel, this new scheme would get me 36,000 more miles. I fly lots of expense short trips so that seems to net me more miles than the average person. The people hurt most on this are those that fly long, cheap flights.

A good example is a trip to AMS I took last year. I netted 19980 miles on that trip. Under the new scheme it would have only been 11000. Now take a $1096 MQD ticket I had to MSP; Old: 2822, New:12056.

Maybe my math is wrong, but the new scheme helps me, for now.