There is no way the waiver is going away.

The benefit to Delta's gross margin/net sales (sales less cost of goods sold) from people meeting the waiver instead of MQD is probably equal to or better than if you meet the status requirement through MQD. Plus you still have to meet the MQM requirement regardless of whether you make MQD or earn the waiver. So in the end, it costs Delta nothing to offer the option of meeting the waiver versus MQD.

Individual is just you, no free guests (can bring in up to 2 at $29/per). Executive is what we used to have with guesting privileges.

The margin may be better for Silver's, but I doubt it for any of the other levels. Assuming DL is getting .01/mile from AMEX, the waiver is only generating $250 for DL. Plus it adds a liability of 25K miles (or more) to the books. I believe the waiver is likely due to the total value of the AMEX relationship and has little to do with the amount of income it actually generates from individual Medallions. Given that DL and AMEX just recently renewed their relationship, I'm going to bet that AMEX has contractually embedded the MQD waiver and agree that it is unlikely to go away.

In making the comparison, you should also ask what profit margin DL earns when a FO spends $2500 on airfares that qualify for MQDs. I very much doubt that it's 10% (consistently) on fares that average ten cents per mile.

It's actually $3000 this year. I'm sure DL is probably fine with a Silver with $2000 in MQD and $25K in AMEX spend vs. a Silver with $3000 in MQD. However, I doubt a Diamond with only $5000 in MQD makes up the difference in margin with $25K AMEX spend vs. a Diamond with $15000 in MQD.

I know. I used last year's MQD requirement (for status this year) to make the numbers easy.

"Only?" $250 is a lot when you consider there's little to no cost involved. An FO making exactly the $3K MQD for next year probably made DL on average $150 in profit. Now suppose that somehow the FO qualified on MQM but spent $0 MQD and qualified on the waiver instead. DL still made $250 in almost pure profit. Now consider the most realistic scenario, that the FO missed and made say only $2K MQD but qualifies on the waiver. That's (on average, roughly) $200 in flying profit and $250 from the waiver. That "only" $250 means a lot in context.

I could see the required waiver amount going up, or being set higher for higher medallion levels, but it makes DL $$$ hand over fist and isn't going anywhere.

Hmm, I could have saved myself some typing. :)

Already done with Delta for the year, taking my $$$ to the best fare for the rest of the year. All flights from now till May are on AS and AA. We shall see after that. Already Diamond till end of 2016 with roll over and spend. Not happy with changes already but what can you do. Spend your money where it bests fits your schedule.

^ Smart choice.

There is very little reason for anyone (unless hub captive or similar, and even then - be adventurous vs. be stuck on the same ol' DL!) to keep giving any recurring, consistent business to DL, which only serves to enable DL to keep lying and screwing over its pax over and over again.

Has there been any info on how a DM can upgrade their SC membership to Executive w/o having to use a choice benefit?

There was a $145 upgrade option, but that ended on March 1st. There was a recent post about someone who tried to do it prior to the deadline. Can't recall if he was successful, I just remember he had great difficulty finding anyone who knew about it. Edit to add that a recent post indicates that they found someone at Delta who says you can upgrade for $245 now (the current price difference between an Individual and Exec membership).

The MQD wavier does not appear to fit in their overall path of where qualification for status comes in. The December contract/reup/negotiation was one more in favor of DL - not AMX. I suspect the give was DL dropping the MR point transfer cap, as that hurt AMX with a much larger customer base than just those with DL branded cards. We'll have to wait and see who gets this one correct.

The so-called $145 upgrade option was never an option, just DL false speak. Agents never knew about it or how to process it. Its difficult enough to find somebody to process paying for an individual to exec upgrade.

I'll repeat the question: What information do you have access to that has led to this statement? Or is it just pure speculation? (No problem if it is, just curious)