Sep 26, 2017, 1:09 pm
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.
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.
Delta increasing Diamond MQD Waiver to $250,000
Nov 9, 2018, 11:22 pm
#1801
Join Date: May 2004
Location: formerly Gold now Diamond, formerly MSY, now LAX, formerly NW, now DL
Programs: Hyatt Plat, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, Delta Diamond/1MM
Posts: 4,635
HAHA, I dumped your stupid DL AMEX cuz of the MQD waiver change and now I'm DM and with room to spare! Kept my spending on cards that really help me and didn't need it! Thanks for making it a easy choice
Nov 10, 2018, 4:39 am
#1802
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: DL DM; Marriott Ambasador Elite
Posts: 626
Status isn't about really about "rewarding" you though - airline FFs are marketing programs under the guise of reward programs. If you have 74 segments and only 56,000 MQMs, you're flying short hops at an average length of about 720 miles (which doesn't factor in any MQM bonuses if you have any F/J fares or Y/B/M fares that earn the MQM bonus). That means there's quite possibly far less competition on the routes you fly, and less viable options. DL has to do less and offer less to compete for your business because it can likely already offer to you what you what most business travelers value most - convenience - while apparently another airline really can't (or offers it in a far less desireable way). I.e, if you're someone who flies ATL-DTW all the time, you're likely to stick with DL over say AA or UA because DL can fly you nonstop. AA and UA can't. So DL doesn't need to entice you with much to fly. They offer a nonstop, which is what most travelers would value most, over spending 2-3 times more time en route by connecting in say ORD, IAD, CLT, etc. to get to DTW.
Not saying DL will never do away with MQMs/MQSs and just go straight to MQDs, but for DL, if they went to just MQDs they would be over-rewarding people unnecessarily (in their minds) because if someone like you is already giving DL $20K in spend and maybe only making GM or PM (you will make DM but many others in a situation like yours won't), why would DL want to over-reward and spend more resources on someone that they don't need to? (That's the question from DL's perspective)
Not saying DL will never do away with MQMs/MQSs and just go straight to MQDs, but for DL, if they went to just MQDs they would be over-rewarding people unnecessarily (in their minds) because if someone like you is already giving DL $20K in spend and maybe only making GM or PM (you will make DM but many others in a situation like yours won't), why would DL want to over-reward and spend more resources on someone that they don't need to? (That's the question from DL's perspective)
Nov 10, 2018, 5:25 am
#1803
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Nashville
Programs: DL DM 3 MM AA PLAT HH Lifetime Diamond Marriott Plat AMB lifetime titanium Hertz PC
Posts: 6,187
The MQD change was all about rollover. I have several people on my team that are rolling over 1 Million miles a year. If you average 250- 400k a year for several years it can be done. At which point you could have DM for 10 years.
Nov 10, 2018, 7:24 am
#1804
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 7,039
Nov 10, 2018, 8:44 am
#1805
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSN
Programs: Delta DM, Bonvoy LT Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,987
Excellent point. There’s another problem with purely revenue based systems. You can get to $15,000 in spend with a couple round trips from the US to Asia on expensive J fares. But someone who flies international Delta One a couple times a year, and then does all of their other flying with other airlines, isn’t a customer whose loyalty should be rewarded.
Nov 10, 2018, 12:35 pm
#1806
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
Excellent point. There’s another problem with purely revenue based systems. You can get to $15,000 in spend with a couple round trips from the US to Asia on expensive J fares. But someone who flies international Delta One a couple times a year, and then does all of their other flying with other airlines, isn’t a customer whose loyalty should be rewarded.
Nov 10, 2018, 12:51 pm
#1807
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,496
Excellent point. There’s another problem with purely revenue based systems. You can get to $15,000 in spend with a couple round trips from the US to Asia on expensive J fares. But someone who flies international Delta One a couple times a year, and then does all of their other flying with other airlines, isn’t a customer whose loyalty should be rewarded.
You don't even need to fly one Delta flight, let alone Delta One to get to $15K in MQD. If you can pick up a few deep discounted J partner fares, you can get to $15k with around 20% in actual spend.
Nov 10, 2018, 12:59 pm
#1808
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: ATL
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt LT DM, Wyndham DM, Hertz PC, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,038
EASILY! Or less potentially depending on how open your schedule is to jump on deals. Flying CZ to Singapore in PE in December and spent just less than 800 dollars and getting 3600 MQDs and just over 20,000 MQMs.
Nov 10, 2018, 5:52 pm
#1809
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC/ EWR/ PHL
Programs: UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,210
Nov 12, 2018, 7:29 am
#1810
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: BHM LEX NYC
Programs: 3MM DM, DL Reserve, HH Diamond, Nat Exec Elite, SPG, PC, etc...
Posts: 440
I wrote in via the webpage portal. We shall see. Worth a kick of the can at least.
Current Stats:
MQM - 215K
SEG - 83
MQD - 12K
AMEX - 117K
Current Stats:
MQM - 215K
SEG - 83
MQD - 12K
AMEX - 117K
Nov 12, 2018, 6:38 pm
#1811
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, MM, NR; HH Diamond, Bonvoy LT Gold, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Diamond, others
Posts: 12,159
Excellent point. There’s another problem with purely revenue based systems. You can get to $15,000 in spend with a couple round trips from the US to Asia on expensive J fares. But someone who flies international Delta One a couple times a year, and then does all of their other flying with other airlines, isn’t a customer whose loyalty should be rewarded.
Unfortunately, there's really no feasible way to tell who is actually loyal and who isn't, although there are heuristics that can help.
Nov 13, 2018, 10:51 pm
#1812
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Yiron, Israel
Programs: Bates Motel Plat
Posts: 68,925
Excellent point. There’s another problem with purely revenue based systems. You can get to $15,000 in spend with a couple round trips from the US to Asia on expensive J fares. But someone who flies international Delta One a couple times a year, and then does all of their other flying with other airlines, isn’t a customer whose loyalty should be rewarded.
What could it give me? Because of my fare, anything that a top level Medallion gets, I would have gotten even if I had never flown before. I was not competing for battlefield upgrades with other PMs -- you can't upgrade someone who is already sitting in the front cabin. I did have some upgrades using SkyMiles but that was only possible by buying M (and later, B) fares on flights that had space set aside for upgrades. These became harder and harder to find and eventually close to impossible.
My very last itinerary on Delta was TLV-JFK-LAS-ATL-JFK-TLV. For that entire year I was unable to find even one itinerary (taking into consideration just the TLV-JFK-TLV segments) which was workable. I decided to use all of my SkyMiles for an award ticket. I managed to get TLV-JFK and ATL-JFK-TLV for the return ticket by flying out on Christmas Eve and returning two weeks later. The complete itinerary would not have cost any more SkyMiles if there was award space available for the other segments but there was none. Instead, I paid for a JFK-LAS, LAS-ATL, ticket in FC. That, for practical purposes, wiped out my SkyMiles account. I now have about 50,000 miles in it (received from the paid segments on that itinerary as well as from a number of AZ flights from TLV to Milan and Venice). For me, those SkyMiles are worthless.
So, please, don't tell me that I was given unearned rewards.
Nov 15, 2018, 11:51 am
#1813
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: CHS
Programs: DL Diamond, WN A-List, Marriott Platinum Elite, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 685
Nov 15, 2018, 6:54 pm
#1814
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SJC, SFO
Programs: Delta DM, IHG Spire, Hertz PC, H.com Gold^3, lowly something on others...
Posts: 1,260
Diamond is pointless. I fly international on DL almost every week and I managed to use only only 1 GUC since 1/1/2018. Diamond desk is now answered by very inexperienced agents in foreign countries that are basically useless but polite. I get the occasional domestic short hop upgrades but that's it. With all the 777 and 767 being converted to suite + premium select, there isn't any free upgrades at all for the international flights... With the dismantling of the Asia network, you literally bounce yourself all over the places to get anywhere and end up exposing yourself to increasingly complicated and hard to fix IROPS. This has been a bad year to be Delta Diamond. The $15000 spend requirement is really well over $20000 with tax/fees and the unearnable partner segments... That's a lot of money spent to only get attitude thrown at me when I ask them to fix DL-created problems...
Nov 15, 2018, 8:26 pm
#1815
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSN
Programs: Delta DM, Bonvoy LT Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,987
Diamond is pointless. I fly international on DL almost every week and I managed to use only only 1 GUC since 1/1/2018. Diamond desk is now answered by very inexperienced agents in foreign countries that are basically useless but polite. I get the occasional domestic short hop upgrades but that's it. With all the 777 and 767 being converted to suite + premium select, there isn't any free upgrades at all for the international flights... With the dismantling of the Asia network, you literally bounce yourself all over the places to get anywhere and end up exposing yourself to increasingly complicated and hard to fix IROPS. This has been a bad year to be Delta Diamond. The $15000 spend requirement is really well over $20000 with tax/fees and the unearnable partner segments... That's a lot of money spent to only get attitude thrown at me when I ask them to fix DL-created problems...