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Workarounds for attaining Diamond medallion in 2019

Workarounds for attaining Diamond medallion in 2019

Old Oct 3, 2017, 2:35 pm
  #61  
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Plat, Marriott Plat, IHG Spire
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Originally Posted by CKDGM
Based on previous experience I bet that if buying in advance, I could make a SEA-BOS RT every two weeks for a year and spend less than $7500 MQDs (avg $289/RT once taxes and fees are subtracted) while flying almost 130K MQMs; no rollover, no CC miles boosts. I'd be way under the MQS pace, but my Butt would most definitely spend a lot of time and miles In Seat.

A bicoastal consulting job could easily generate that sort of travel pattern; it's not like cheap mileage runs to SIN or HKG or wherever. That's all nonstops, so no minimum segment mileage for bogus connections. Perfectly legitimate and very frequent flying, but in a competitive enough market that the MQDs aren't there unless you're buying F/P/A/G all the time.
Yup. I do MCO-JFK weekly and the average is $200-300 RT so maybe $200-250 in MQDs. Lots of time in the seat and plenty of travel, but even at 45 weeks, firmly Platinum on all fronts.
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Old Oct 3, 2017, 2:41 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by ATOBTTR
Wouldn't they have to given that your progress towards the $25K MQD waived displays on your profile? Thus Delta knows how much you're putting on a DL branded AmEx.
Right, but in context, the question was about MQDs-as-a-percentage-of-distance on certain partner flights. We know that AMEX communicates at least your overall spend to DL for the purpose of tracking the waiver, but what level of granularity does DL have access to? Do they get a full vendor-by-vendor breakdown?
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Old Oct 3, 2017, 3:09 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by BenA
Yes, I believe so. The personal data profile leak that happened back in 2013 certainly included Amex CC spend data and whether you had hit your spend waiver, and Delta even shows your spend progress on your Delta.com profile.

I doubt specific individual merchants are shared, but it's entirely possible that general demographic analysis information (marketing segments, and possibly spend on competing airlines) is shared as well.
Going back to a previous comment up-thread about DL not knowing partner spend. It is possible that they would know partner spend if a DL branded Amex card was used. I have a UA Chase Visa and UA tracks my *A partner spend.
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Old Oct 3, 2017, 3:55 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by TomMM
Going back to a previous comment up-thread about DL not knowing partner spend. It is possible that they would know partner spend if a DL branded Amex card was used. I have a UA Chase Visa and UA tracks my *A partner spend.
Can they separate out partner base fares versus taxes and fees (which do not count for DL MQDs).
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Old Oct 3, 2017, 4:05 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Can they separate out partner base fares versus taxes and fees (which do not count for DL MQDs).
No need for that. Partner spend doesn't count for MQD's on UA.
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Old Oct 4, 2017, 1:24 am
  #66  
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Originally Posted by syd999
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.
So you fly 100k miles a year domestically for vacation? If it is international, I don't really see a huge benefit of DM over PM, certainly not enough to be worth all the MS when you could get a much more valuable currency for those vacations (SPG, MR, UR, even AS miles) than Skymiles.
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Old Oct 4, 2017, 8:04 pm
  #67  
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Originally Posted by guam17
So you fly 100k miles a year domestically for vacation? If it is international, I don't really see a huge benefit of DM over PM, certainly not enough to be worth all the MS when you could get a much more valuable currency for those vacations (SPG, MR, UR, even AS miles) than Skymiles.
it's 50-50. The GUC are worth the DM for me for international while the upgrade priority for domestic is also a plus as a DM.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 10:46 am
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by bennos
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.

It just dawned on me: VS is 49% owned by DL, 31% owned by AF/KL and 10% of AF is owned by DL. That means DL theoretically owns 52.1% (49 + 3.1) of VS.

Effectively, VS will become Delta UK.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 2:59 pm
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by kkua
It just dawned on me: VS is 49% owned by DL, 31% owned by AF/KL and 10% of AF is owned by DL. That means DL theoretically owns 52.1% (49 + 3.1) of VS.

Effectively, VS will become Delta UK.
But DL can not vote that 52.1%, they can only vote 49% of shares.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 3:28 pm
  #70  
 
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As a benchmark, Delta's overall average revenue per passenger seat mile (excluding the refinery) is just about 16c. So, the average pax flying 125k miles will spend $20k to do it.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 5:30 pm
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by syd999
it's 50-50. The GUC are worth the DM for me for international while the upgrade priority for domestic is also a plus as a DM.
Its all about the GUCs for me, as a ~150-175k mile/year vacation traveler. That and getting consistent upgrades to suffer through the few domestic flights I do take (comp upgrades on SEA/SFO/LAX/YVR connecting hops, and RUCs for trips back to the east coast for holiday family visits.)
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 6:01 pm
  #72  
 
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WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! does there need to be a workaround? WHY can't people just spend the 15K MQD or whatever is required. It is a small request for the amount of flying.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 6:42 pm
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by bubbashow
WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! does there need to be a workaround? WHY can't people just spend the 15K MQD or whatever is required. It is a small request for the amount of flying.
Litterally Flyertalk exists for frequent flyers to try to learn "work arounds" to improve their experiences in the air. It used to be a welcoming and friendly place to do so.

If you WFBF with OPM all the time...what knowledge/pleasure/hobby do you even gain from participating here?

This is like me visiting a cat owners forum saying "WHY WHY WHY do you have these smelly, sneaky, mean creatures destroying your house!?!?"
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 6:52 pm
  #74  
 
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Don't forget Delta Private Jets. Buying a card for $100,000 gets you Diamond status on Delta with no MQM or MQD$.
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Old Oct 5, 2017, 8:04 pm
  #75  
 
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You could always move to BIL. Strictly business BIS and I'll likely end the year over PM MQDs, barely making GM on MQMs or segments. MQDs are never a worry and I'm not so secretly hoping DL switches to only MQD for status.
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