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Delta increasing Diamond MQD Waiver to $250,000

Old Sep 26, 2017, 1:09 pm
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Last edit by: Renes Points
On 26SEPT17 Delta changed the MQD AMEX exempt requirements. $25,000 only exempts you to Platinum or lower. $250,000 spend needed across ALL the DL AMEX cards you hold (personal and business in your name) for Diamond exemption for 2019 elite year.

If all you are interested in is the discussion starting when the announcement occurred on Tuesday, September 26, 2017, start here.

The Delta announcement is here https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/news-and-updates.html

There are many data points that Delta will allow a one time exception under the 2017 qualification rules if you request this for the 2019 Medallion year.
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Delta increasing Diamond MQD Waiver to $250,000

Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:42 pm
  #991  
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Originally Posted by davetravels
I'm currently at $1200~ MQDs with 123K MQMs.

I'm the

of this move.

I'm sure there are TONS more like me, particularly after reading this thread.
I am in shock and amazement. Please tell us your secrets. A round of applause for you!
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:43 pm
  #992  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SEA, NW/DL 1.6Million Miler
Programs: DL 1MM Annual Silver,AS 100K 22-24, AS 75K 15-21
Posts: 4,261
Unimaginable

Wow. That's like buying twelve $20833 car, or buying a cheap $250,000 house with a credit card once every year..... and it's only for the spend waiver....

I agree, DL should just eliminate DM waiver altogether rather than to suggest such a crazy waiver.

Jiburi
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:49 pm
  #993  
bzn
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Ottawa
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And just after everybody put a credit report freeze from the Equifax hack.

I imagine therell be lots of people shopping around for new cards now, including myself. Its been on my to-do list for years.

I always qualify with MQDs but for people chasing the Diamond bagtag, its not really worth it. Buy the seats you want. Youll be happier. And probably wealthier.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:50 pm
  #994  
 
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Location: ATL - DL DM/3MM - HH Lifetime Diamond - Marriott Lifetime Plat
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I've had 4 AmEx cards - Plat, DL Plat, Personal Reserve and Business Reserve for two of us. Now cancelling all but the Plat. Saving well over $1,000 in fees and moving $180,000 in spend over to Chase. Getting off the treadmill will be liberating.
Still not sure why DL made such a drastic move to reduce the number of Diamonds. With FCM, upgrades are worthless when needed.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:51 pm
  #995  
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I think maybe a lot of people are upset as they feel they are "losing" DM status. I guess another thing DL could have done is make Delta360 a level with official targets and then reallocate benefits across statuses. Perhaps in 2018 they will change 2019 benefits so PM gets a bit more than currently and DM gets even more lucrative, worth the effort for the highest loyalty fliers. Same effect using different strategies.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 7:52 pm
  #996  
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA - AA Plt 3mm/DL Dia 2mm, Hil/Dia Life, Bonvoy/Titanium Life, Spire
Posts: 3,261
Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
With these stats, which version of the email did you get?
Thank you for being a Diamond Medallion Member and for your continued loyalty. We are always looking for ways to improve the Medallion experience by listening to your feedback.

To ensure our most well-traveled Members like you can enjoy all the benefits of Diamond, a change is being made to how you qualify for 2019 Diamond Medallion Status. Based on your qualification history, we expect that this change will improve your overall Diamond Medallion experience because there will be fewer Diamond Medallion Members.


I, for one, am looking forward to more upgrades. Tired of being #1 on the UG list and FC is full. Also looking forward to less crowded SCs.

Disclaimer - former AMEX employee

Last edited by outoftown; Sep 26, 2017 at 8:00 pm
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:00 pm
  #997  
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Programs: DM life is over 2MM PM now & NW MillionAir Wyndham Rewards Plat -Hotels.com Silver -Accor Silver
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Originally Posted by readywhenyouare
I am in shock and amazement. Please tell us your secrets. A round of applause for you!
I really didn't even know, myself! Had to check it out! . . . . .

It's no big secret.

57K rollover

+

30K Amex MQMs (3x10K) 1 more to go for the year

That leaves 36K~ MQMs @ $1200 MQDs . . . .

I had a trip to PEK which netted me 19,206 MQMs for $580 in MQDs (and also put me over 2MM )

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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:06 pm
  #998  
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Originally Posted by Tomphot
I've had 4 AmEx cards - Plat, DL Plat, Personal Reserve and Business Reserve for two of us. Now cancelling all but the Plat. Saving well over $1,000 in fees and moving $180,000 in spend over to Chase. Getting off the treadmill will be liberating.
Still not sure why DL made such a drastic move to reduce the number of Diamonds. With FCM, upgrades are worthless when needed.
And in the case where I mentioned upthread where the husband of an employee of mine is going to drop to PM after this change and is going to start just buying FC fares on flights that matter to him, it is going to make upgrades for DM's even harder if the former DM's just do what he is doing and purchasing FC fares outright.

With the new international aircrafts that GU's aren't going to be as valuable if they can only be used to upgrade to C+ for the DM's flying those routes. For hub captives like me FC upgrades will probably also decrease since people buying the international C+ fare will be booked in F for their connection flights.

Hopefully Delta will start increasing the benefits for diamonds. For one they could bring back the old SDC policy as a diamond benefit.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:11 pm
  #999  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Pleasant Prairie, WI USA DL FO (until 2/04), NW silver '03, NW gold '04+'05 Plat '06+ (thanks, Leo!), DL SkyClub
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Originally Posted by ATOBTTR
I think that may well be my approach. Hit 75K MQMs with Delta and then put 25K-50K into another program and get low to mid level status there. What this moves says is Delta don't really want my business beyond 75K. Or go completely reversal and maybe go for higher level with AA or AS and just go for mid-tier at most with Delta. I'll be researching/analyzing all this over the next couple months prior to Jan 1 when all the counters reset.
This may be a wise strategy.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:12 pm
  #1000  
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I'm guessing that a lot of people will try to retain PM (for the change fee waiver) as they spend their RDMs.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:24 pm
  #1001  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I'm guessing that a lot of people will try to retain PM (for the change fee waiver) as they spend their RDMs.
Exactly. DM really has no real additional benefits, other than the DM Choice Benefits.

DM, PM, and even GM are all SkyTeam Gold Elite Plus : what really matters and makes a difference, and PM gets the award redeposit fee waiver, the other important thing.

Any other benefits are all marketing fluff in my eyes and have no real impact. But, of course that is just me. It may be different for others with different travel and redemption patterns.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:28 pm
  #1002  
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Originally Posted by RealHJ
Exactly. DM really has no real additional benefits, other than the DM Choice Benefits.

DM, PM, and even GM are all SkyTeam Gold Elite Plus : what really matters and makes a difference, and PM gets the award redeposit fee waiver, the other important thing.

Any other benefits are all marketing fluff in my eyes and have no real impact. But, of course that is just me. It may be different for others with different travel and redemption patterns.
Flying international the GU's are really nice but problem is they can be hard to use. If Delta is going to make DM so hard to achieve with such a higher MQD requirement they can at least make the GU's easier to use and open up a minimum number of eligible seats on every flight, there have been flights with no inventory I've tried to use them on with no occupied J seats.

One other benefit I like being a hub captive though is the co-terminal benefit and I will miss that if I drop to PM but with the new SDC policy that benefit isn't nearly as useful on coach fares as it was in the past.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:31 pm
  #1003  
 
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DM, 3 $200 vouchers have value as choice benefits, as do better upgrade chances. If you are going for the 250K, better make damn sure you get there.
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:34 pm
  #1004  
 
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Wonder how many people will now be registering foreign addresses to bypass the MQD req
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Old Sep 26, 2017, 8:38 pm
  #1005  
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Originally Posted by xolinlevh
Wonder how many people will now be registering foreign addresses to bypass the MQD req
How soon will we have a (mega)thread on "Changed address--account terminated"?
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