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Workarounds for attaining Diamond medallion in 2019

Workarounds for attaining Diamond medallion in 2019

Old Oct 2, 2017, 7:43 am
  #31  
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I'm waiting for a big thread here in the FT DL forum in 2018 and especially 2019:

"DL audited my address change: status gone, miles reset to zero, account closed"
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:29 am
  #32  
 
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Each year, I'm able to get to $220,000 in YTD spend across my Delta Amex accounts. So, I am happy to top up my spend with overpaying taxes. It will cost me about the same as a skyclub membership. I've never had to play the MS game, but I will certainly be reading up on that going forward!

And YES, before someone asks it again, YES, YES, YES, there is a value to being a DM even if you aren't reaching 15k MQDs a year. Arguably, I use the benefits far less than road warriors, but having the DM status makes the 30 or so trips I take a year incredibly enjoyable, especially now that the upgrade priority is the same for a companion. I've ventured out on other airlines, and being a no-status Y flyer on them is not fun. I live in NYC and benefit from incredibly cheap airfares both domestically and internationally.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:37 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by bennos
Until DL knows how much you spent on partner tickets, they can't close it completely, and it's not really that large of a loophole to begin with. For every super-awesome-premium-economy fare you can find, it's offset by an expensive-low-bucket-coach-fare that earns 5%, or even a pricier-premium-economy-fare-in-the-same-fare-bucket. I suspect in the aggregate the numbers roughly balance out. If they don't, then you'll see DL tweak the percentages.
Since the whole original problem with MQDs was precisely that Delta doesn't know how much you spend on partner airline tickets, I strongly suspect that the number of MQDs awarded on partner flights has more to do with how much partners are willing to pay Delta for the issuance of SkyMiles on their flights. That is after all why every partner earns a slightly different number of miles.

There are exceptions to this rule: Korean hasn't earned any MQMs for a while now because Delta was (ultimately successfully) trying to bully them into a JV, and perhaps the automatic Group 1 placement of JV partners doesn't depend on a negotiation -- though Delta earns a lot more from JV partner flights (on some routes, at least) due to the revenue sharing arrangements anyway.

But I suspect for an airline like Saudia or Vietnam, the MQD earning will only fall if those airlines notice a flood of people booking MQD-advantageous categories and thus tell Delta they're not paying as much for those categories any more, and thus Delta awards less. (I haven't studied it closely, but it's also possible, probably even likely, that the partners aren't paying a specific amount for MQDs, but they are paying a specific amount for MQMs or even RDMs, and then the proportions of the three are roughly constant across all partners. In cases where partner flights offer a good deal on earning MQDs, they typically also offer a good deal on earning RDMs, at least relative to 006-coded tickets.)


All that said, there's a good chance that the VS loophole specifically will be closed soon, since with Delta having so much control over VS, it seems likely at some point they'll be brought into the same scheme as KLM where earnings on a VS ticket are effectively the same as on a 006 ticket, regardless of marketing carrier. So I wouldn't go booking VS PE tickets for next September hoping they'll still constitute an MQD run by then...
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 9:16 am
  #34  
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There is no revenue sharing with KE yet. The initial JV and ATI application was approved by the USG years ago, but it was only recently that they got together with KE for an actual pricing coordination/revenue sharing JV agreement. This new agreement is still awaiting approval from Korean authorities. KL flights that earn based on spend are limited to TATL routes (where DL/KL have ATI and share revenue and coordinate on pricing). It's not unreasonable to assume that the other routes where that have ATI and revenue/pricing sharing will end up being the same. Outside of that, I wouldn't expect that to be the case with other routes and partners where there is no ATI.

Last edited by xliioper; Oct 2, 2017 at 9:34 am
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 10:37 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by CommentatusMaximus
Totally agree, if AA fixes up their award availability then they'd be competitive to me. MUCH better international lounges and their highest elite status is much more attainable with arguably more perks.
I had about 300,000 DL MQMs in 2017 so I figured I would switch most of my flying to OW.

After achieving AA's EXP PLT and getting 6 SWUs, which I was able to use on all flights including LAX-HKG, coupled with the chance to redeem Miles for INternational First Class--I've flown BA First 2 times and Cathay Pacific FIrst once last year, AND the awesome FC Lounges in LAX, HKG, LHR, I just don't have much of a need for DL anymore.

AA's partners are amazing.....and AA's 77W, which I have been able to pick every time except one, blows any of DL's J out of the water.

I will probably do 150k EQMs with AA/OW this year to get the 6 SWU's as I travel internationally 8-10 times per year for vacations.

I don't think DL is going to miss me, though.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 10:52 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by guam17
I'm just curious, if you hit DM with only 7k MQD, how much are you really flying where DM would benefit you over PM?
usually around a 100k flying miles a year. all in economy since my travel is almost exclusively vacation and do very little travel for work.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 2:22 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I'm waiting for a big thread here in the FT DL forum in 2018 and especially 2019:

"DL audited my address change: status gone, miles reset to zero, account closed"
My case is somewhat unique bcos I'm approaching the 2MM lifetime butt-in-seat-miles (currently at 1.895MM). That being said, I will re-evaluate my overseas retirement options when the threshold is reached.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 4:09 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by bgriff
Since the whole original problem with MQDs was precisely that Delta doesn't know how much you spend on partner airline tickets,
Does Amex share spend data of Delta Amex cardholders with Delta?
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 7:16 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by 355F1
I had about 300,000 DL MQMs in 2017 so I figured I would switch most of my flying to OW.

After achieving AA's EXP PLT and getting 6 SWUs, which I was able to use on all flights including LAX-HKG, coupled with the chance to redeem Miles for INternational First Class--I've flown BA First 2 times and Cathay Pacific FIrst once last year, AND the awesome FC Lounges in LAX, HKG, LHR, I just don't have much of a need for DL anymore.

AA's partners are amazing.....and AA's 77W, which I have been able to pick every time except one, blows any of DL's J out of the water.

I will probably do 150k EQMs with AA/OW this year to get the 6 SWU's as I travel internationally 8-10 times per year for vacations.

I don't think DL is going to miss me, though.
AA/OW was my close second choice and I keep wondering if I should switch, probably the day DL makes it impossible for me to hit DM. My biggest issue is the lack of China flights. With CX vetoing I don't see how they are going to address that gap.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:17 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
If you already have $100K a year on credit card spends, why even play the game? Please indulge me why is so hard to attain $15K of DL PQD, given your spending level.
I agree. If you fly every week, how hard is it to reach 15k in MQD? I've got 60+ segments and already have my $15k in. Most years I end up between 25 and 30k in MQD
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:18 pm
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by Hipplewm
This is what I was thinking, if you get to 10K MQD and have the MQM, then probably easier to do a 5K mileage run then kill yourself on 250K manufactured spend
Very simple. On December 31 buy $250,000 worth of refundable tickets
On Delta for November of the following year. Get and use your status January -October and then cancel all your refundable tickets. You will be out if pocketc$250,000 for 11 months and have the satisfaction of screwing Delta.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:38 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by Kirk Phelder
Very simple. On December 31 buy $250,000 worth of refundable tickets
On Delta for November of the following year. Get and use your status January -October and then cancel all your refundable tickets. You will be out if pocketc$250,000 for 11 months and have the satisfaction of screwing Delta.
And probably paying a lot in monthly finance charges, depending how much of a balance you carry over each month!
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:43 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by Kirk Phelder
Very simple. On December 31 buy $250,000 worth of refundable tickets
On Delta for November of the following year. Get and use your status January -October and then cancel all your refundable tickets. You will be out if pocketc$250,000 for 11 months and have the satisfaction of screwing Delta.
If your money could earn 1%, you're implicitly paying over $2000.

Maybe more importantly, what happens when you refund the tickets and DL claws back the MQD waiver and the goes after you for fraudulent ticketing since you never intended to fly $250,000 worth of DL tickets in one month.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:54 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by bgriff
All that said, there's a good chance that the VS loophole specifically will be closed soon, since with Delta having so much control over VS, it seems likely at some point they'll be brought into the same scheme as KLM where earnings on a VS ticket are effectively the same as on a 006 ticket, regardless of marketing carrier. So I wouldn't go booking VS PE tickets for next September hoping they'll still constitute an MQD run by then...
I'd agree that the JV partners are the "low hanging fruit" here, since presumably (for the JV routes) DL does know how much each ticket costs. Since VS now uses Delta's IT, DL could plausibly have access to all ticket data, but that's still a bit different than the KL arrangement. Regardless, keep in mind that not all routes operated by a JV partner are within the JV. eg: If I book AF for CDG-TYO, there's no DL involved. So even if VS is "fixed", there's still AF, CI, VA, etc.

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
DL could decide that only spend on DL flights (however that's defined precisely, maybe including JVs in some cases) counts toward MQD. That would be easy.
That's exactly how it worked when DL introduced MQD (earned only on DL coded or 006 ticketed flights). They then added the partner earn, presumably somehow related to the huge disincentive they had created against booking Skyteam tickets. Restoring that model would restore whatever negative behavior they apparently decided they needed to correct.
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Old Oct 2, 2017, 8:55 pm
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by WWads
Yeah they're almost certainly closing that loophole.



DL heavily scrutinizes international address relocations. I doubt anyone is able to really get away with it. Unless you're doing one TATL a month or something in addition to the domestic travel.
Golden visa? Qualify by starting a business, and then show the payroll and balance sheets to Delta as well as to the immigration authorities? If you qualify through real estate acquisitions, buy a drone and take an aerial shot of yourself on the property, and send the picture and the GPS position to Delta?
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