OP might set up a KE family account and use it to pool miles that might otherwise be orphaned such as children's miles if applicable.

VS is another option. Depending on how much they travel on DL in the next few months, blowing through to status on VS isn't hard to envision. As noted, some status perks would be limited...but there's also the option of picking an airline and seeing if they'll match you;-)

Partners generally won't offer a status match or challenge. Thou shall not poach.....

Thank you all for your comments.

I am based in DTW, but if the flight is the same or cheaper out of YYZ, I can take advantage of KE. I've done so several times when I flew to ICN, but I don't think they are price-competitive with DL flying to PVG...so I can't book them with my company travel agent. I've recently stayed away from them because of their drop to "Category 4 partner" with Delta... But I like AS miles. (I churn their credit card, and can redeem on CX), so I will check prices again... But as several of you already mentioned, I can't fly DL and credit to KE. I get very little... So I would have to fly KE ticket+metal and credit AS for any value.

I may need to revisit KLM's flying blue program. I find that I fly KLM/AF more and more due to pretty good trans-Atlantic flight sales... Any good primer for that program?

My real problem is that I currently manage active accounts with DL/UA/AA/AS/BA, along with 4 hotel programs...along with work, home, and travel, I barely have time to read FT once a week! ;-)

Soooo... back to my original question: nobody tried calling Delta to tell them to hold their status?

Many have tried. But DL has never budged to the forum's knowledge with your set of facts - that you simply want to decline DM.

The rules are the rules. People here have given you excellent advice. Contacting DL will only ruffle their feathers but they won't budge.

Thank you for the data point. I will see what happens with my trip... If I make an attempt with Delta, I'll report back. (Not for several months...)

If you have the potential of a lot more flying this year, you might well end up significantly above 125K MQMs and still make a decent rollover to next year.

But I would agree that flying AA/UA or their partners would be a better plan than flying a Skyteam airline and crediting the miles to a different program. You might as well see if the grass is greener on the other side, and you're more likely in the future to have flights that you *want* to credit to AA/UA (i.e., any flights that you happen to be taking on oneworld or Star airlines) than you are to have flights that you would want to credit to some other Skyteam partner. So most likely miles credited to FlyingBlue or the like would just end up orphaned.

(There are a handful of interesting redemption opportunities on other Delta partner FFPs, like FlyingBlue's greater availability of awards on AF/KL flights, and Korean's much greater availability of awards on Korean metal including access to first class. But as you point out that requires some extra work to keep track of and take advantage of.)


AA offers the option to sign up for a challenge to parlay your China trip into mid-level status through all of next year at this point, though the challenges do come with a fee so up to you if you think you're likely to fly AA & oneworld enough thereafter for the fee to be worth it. There's a thread on the AA forum with many more details about the challenge.

AA also gives 200% EQMs on paid business class fares on AA codes (rather than the 150% Delta gives on most business class fares), so a couple of longhaul business class trips can quickly rack up a decent amount of AA status.

Thanks again. I have 1 trip to Brazil that should keep me within the 125K diamond status limit. Then there is a possible China trip that will definitely put me over by 10-20K miles... which is a lot less than what I would roll over if I stayed below. Since all I really want/need is PLAT status to have unlimited changes/refunds to award flights, and the fact that I can't predict my work travel pattern for the next year, the rollover miles are important...hence the key to this discussion.

Thanks for reminding me of the AA status challenge. I may or may not qualify.. but it is definitely worth considering!

If a KE flight is marketed by DL (DL codeshare flight number), you earn full miles in the DL FF program, although this can be more expensive than the same flights with KE flight numbers.

In my experience, this is always the case for KE and KLM/AF operated flights on trans-ocean routes. (Code share more expensive than booking the actual operating airlines' ticket) Since my travel agency always check for lowest fare for a route, this is something I can't (nor want to) get away with...

Would coach still put you over?

If not you could buy a coach ticket and use SWU (maybe!)

I work for a big company... the company travel policy for long haul international flight is business class. Who am I to fight the policy? ;-)
But seriously, I don't remember the MQM earning rate for business class vs coach, but even at 50% discount for coach, I would be probably be over both ways... Plus, I don't have SWUs (never picked it due to difficulty using it...and my company would never reimburse me for them if I am able to use it... Thanks for that creative suggestion though. It is definitely doable if I was flying personally...

Hmm... that is not a bad idea... if there is no risk... (i.e. worst case being they won't let me transfer the miles and close that second account...) But if my current account is at risk, I won't want to do it...

Bad idea. Someone else can chime in here, but creating a second account is against the T & C of Sky Miles. A novice might do it by accident, but a PM who creates a second account would be suspect. You risk the possibility of Delta closing all accounts and forfeiting all miles and status. Not worth it.

If you have a way to create a Virgin Australia account (need an Australian address), then you can credit DL flights to VA. VA has partnerships with SQ and EY which might be useful. In addition you can transfer VA points to SQ for free. I think they complement each other very well, although I am based in Australia.