CalebMCO

I would draw the opposite conclusion. Reaction has been muted, considering that this is a major change to the program.

dinanm3atl

Initial social media/blog outrage. Knew that is all it would be. Why? There is nothing anyone can actually do. It wasn't going to change.

MSPeconomist

Maybe one tenth of one percent of those SkyMiles members (BTW, 74,000,000 is low--it was over 80,000,000 around the time of the DL ATL DO, so maybe your number is "active" members defined very liberally?) are DMs. No one else has reason to care about the change for now.

MSPeconomist

When DM started, there were about two million elites and supposedly 2% of the elites, or about 40,000 individuals, had DM status as charter members. There are certainly more DMs now, but I doubt it would be significantly over 100,000.

shukar

Happen to call the DM line for an upgrade request and at the end of call I mentioned that if they are taking notes, I would like to express my displeasure at the MQM waiver change from $25k to $250k. She said that they are getting a lot of calls and now have created a list of members who have expressed dissatisfaction with this change. People on this will list will get a phone call from a Delta representative to discuss/explain this matter. She mentioned that it will be two to three weeks before someone calls me. Not sure if anything new/useful will come out of the call but good to know that DL is taking the effort to affected folks.

CommentatusMaximus

Funny, sometimes it feels like everybody is DM when lining up at the gates. Too bad the programs don't break out their membership numbers, would be very informative.

dinanm3atl

It is likely pretty low and not what we think. Maybe 100K is accurate? ATL-LAX for instance on the triple 7 flight daily. There are a good number of seats in FC and it boards with about 40-60 people in PREM. That means what? DMs and their party make up a small part of that? Or even half?

Wish they did share the numbers.

CO-PLAT

The new policy will benefit me so I love it. I spend $35K - $40K per year and alternate between Plat & Diamond every other year due to MQM. It won't help me qualify for Diamond, but it will thin the ranks that I compete with to get that domestic F upgrade.

rylan

You mean those upgrades that are actively being sold as FCM? Guess what, even as a DM I've moved to taking advantage of the buy-ups most of the time when the difference is reasonable. Obviously others are doing the same, as there are few seats left for upgrades... and those leftover pickings are going to continue to dwindle.

Another case of short-sighted 'it helps me so damn the rest'...

TheMadBrewer

You do get full MQMs with PWM, but also can't use RUC/GUC for upgrades. I've mostly used PWMs when buying F/J fares to knock the price down a bit. I did buy a ticket for a nephew recently: 40K SM was the best I could find for the dates but a cash ticket was $300. For family peace reasons it had to be a "free" ticket so I went with PWM,

ULDB65

Which makes the few dozen active DM posters on FT a truly microscopic representation, despite our beliefs otherwise...

jamesteroh

I do as well if the price is reasonable, especially on long hauls or where I want the SDC flexibility. And if I decide to drop to PM in 2019 instead of going for the $250K spend or $15K MQD's I have a lot of RDM's to burn and may as well just use them as PWM to upgrade. Only reason I want diamond is for the co-terminal capability and the GU's and if I do go for the 250K Am Ex spend that is going to give me at least $2,500 to have for PWM upgrades or to do 20 OW long haul upgrades if I want to use the 12,500 miles instead on a long haul where F is more expensive or if I use the RDM's outright for an award trip I'll be booking in J/First. So in my case regardless of if I drop to PM or stay at DM I'll be buying more FC tickets taking upgrade inventory away.

As I mentioned last week the husband of someone in my office isn't going to be able to put $250K on their Am Ex or reach diamond with $15K MQDs and he has a ton of RDM's and is going to just start buying first class outright on long hauls or burning RDM's for mileage upgrades.

cestmoi123

Why do you assume these two things (waiver boost to $250k for DM and more FCM) are connected? If this move reduces the number of DMs, then anybody who's either (a) still going to be DM,or (b) still going to be a PM, benefits in the competition for whatever number of FC seats are available for upgrade.

cestmoi123

Might be interesting to have a poll in the DL forum, asking DMs to answer a yes/no question:

Do you accumulate more than $15k MQDs/year or spend more than $250k/year on the DL Amex?

See what % of respondent DMs this change will actually affect.

MSPeconomist

Pretty much anybody can create a poll on FT, but if we're going to do this, let's think about what the questions should be. I don't think anyone is likely to get a new Reserve card as a result of the new $250,000 MQD waiver. OTOH, some people might normally be close to the $15,000 MQD requirement and can increase their spend on DL tickets to get there.