MNAudiS4

Crazy, i saw on another thread you needed to have purchased your ticket with the DL reserve card to bump up to the highest within your fare class and status level.

Plat on a L fare beats other plats on an L fare with the reserve.

If that is not true i might get one just for that fact. i will wait for some good promo in 2011.

hockeystl

Last night, and today, I was the beneficiary of those intangible DM bennies that so many seem to undervalue during IRROP situations.

*DL comped me the Marriott while others were stuck in the former Radisson (which isnt even worthy of Radisson branding anymore).
*DL comped me $36 in meal vouchers. Most recd $6.
*DL spun the wheel and awarded me a healthy dose of bonus RDMs, without request, during a situation that was weather related.
*DL's DM desk forced me onto the oversold first flight to STL this AM while others were either relegated to flights later today or, gasp, tomorrow.

Some might place the value of DM over PM as $800 but if that's the case then I made almost all that back in this one trip between my freebies and time value of money....

But by all means please allow others to make the convincing case to hold short at PM. I don't need the competition for these extras.

fti

Hmm. Does the Marriott only have one room and it goes to the best DM?

Does DL only give $36 vouchers on an extremely limited basis?

Do only DM's get bonus RDM's? (repeatedly reported here that is not the case).

The only "competition" you might receive from anyone here is the booking onto an oversold flight. For the other benefits, whether one stays PM or strives for DM, competition is irrelevant.

stephem

After being a "charter" Diamond member, I'm not exactly convinced of the value of this level of DL status. I had planned to roll right up to the 120k mark and hold off just short, even stopped a PIT-SYD run in LAX to keep from getting the promo bonus on the return, but I miscalculated and am above 120k. I'm not really sure what Diamond status did for me this year, a few more domestic upgrades, but most of my travel is international anyway. International award availability, what I really care about, was as poor for me as for my Gold wife and daughter. I was planning to go Plat, rollover to near Gold and then part ways with DL at the end of 2012, now I guess it will be Diamond to nothing in 2012. Oh wait, there will be so many no-need-to-fly MQM offers next year that I'll probably pull down Gold anyway.

Stripe

I agree that they take care of you in IROP situations. I would have had a misconnect in MSP today and they booked me straight into F on an alternate routing without any question. But would they have treated me any differently if I was a Plat? That is the $64,000 (or the 125,000 MQM) question.

Coffeycans

I have flown 170,000 MQM'sthis year from ATL and SFO and have been upgraded a dozen times. Not worth the DM vs PM. Take the rollover.

b0nd0

i am mid trip ATL - SMF - ATL after deciding to hold back at PM and roll 40,000 mqm and stay PLAT. However, i am currently second guessing my decision as my last 2 trips have yielded me to not get the upgrade and i am currently 6 of 22 for 5 available seats on my second leg tomorrow (SLC - ATL). I thought flying mid week and mid day would be fewer competing medallions even hub to hub.

Next year I will not hold back and see if i can get a better upgrade %.

ahulett

Hard to say, but for a crappy comparison via my PM status, I had a connection at JFK several months ago that I was close to missing. After I made the sprint to the gate and found the inbound was late and still deplaning, I scanned at an 'IROP stand' and the slip showed my current flight (last of the day) where I was upgraded to business class days before, and the reserved seat on the first flight out in the morning, already cleared in business class.

I'm with what seems to be the chorus - I'm purposely holding short of 125k and rolling about 40k into next year.

SYRRDU

Me too, take the rollover and spend the miles in the marketplace. As a Charter Diamond I went 0 for 9 in FC U/Gs to start the year and now after 259,000 MQMs this year have gone 0 for 6 and probably with two more legs (not cleared yet within 48 hours) will go 0 for 8 to finish the year.

With my level and rollover this year, I will be sampling the waters of other airlines (except USA) in 2011. One other rant, what is the deal with the Baggage Priority tags, ... do they really benefit anyone? My rarely checked bag comes out last more often than not. Mostly SEA and RDU that doesn't understand the yellow tag.

yyliu88

I suggest u not taking Diamond because u will lose the opportunity of talking to Cincinnati and Hibbis call center, 99% of ur call will be route to Diamond call center in SLC, which are awful

RobertS975

This is probably the 40th thread started to discuss the dilemma that many of us have faced, that is whether to hold at approximately 120K MQMs and rollover a hefty chunk of MQMs vs. making DM status.

Although these repeated threads do begin to become very redundant, they do speak for another issue: that DL failed to make DM status perks compelling enough to make the issues raised in all these repetitive threads a no-brainer.

Some suggestions: increased bonus miles (150%), domestic upgrade at time of booking (any fare or at least K+), more liberal fare basis for international SWU usage, full day SDC instead of 3 hours etc.

keeton

It's not so much that DM isn't wonderful, but the fact that GM (which many of us could drop to without the rollover miles) has been watered down.

I would rather roll over miles and guarantee PM rather than doing a MR to just barely make DM and then fall way behind in the following year if my travel doesn't keep up.

The rollover plan was implemented so that people didn't play the game of just barely making elite status then immediately switch to another airline to just barely make another status. It was a good idea, but it created yet another game in the system.

andrewpartyman

I am in the same boat. As of now, Platinum + about 40k rollover. I could easily make Diamond by just doing that AMEX promo and getting another 25k MQMs. However, the only difference to me between Platinum and Diamond is SkyClub access, and I already have that from American Express. The only upgrades I have never made have been DTW-DCA, and that's fine with me. Lots of Diamonds don't get upgraded on that route as well. As most of my travel is overseas, almost all medallion status means nothing.

pdac1975

Exactly. A PM with a reserve card on an L fare is only going to be top of the list among other PMs on an L fare.

RobertS975

One idea that I have advocated from the very beginning of rollover MQMs was the concept of a soft landing if traveling patterns change drastically. Of course, a PM that stops at 120K and rolls over 45K MQMs will easily make PM the following year almost without flying assuming he/she is a big spending with the Reserve card and musters up 30K bonus MQMs for spending $60,000.

But my larger point is that if DL sweetened the benefits of DM status in some fairly dramatic fashion, it would make these discussions about whether to hold short of DM status in increase the rollover MQMs completely moot. The current benefits of DM status are simply not that compelling.