hockeyinsider

I wouldn't have booked the ticket if it showed as nearly 100% full that far in advance. In my experience, most leisure travelers book their vacations to the islands -- Hawaii, the Caribbean -- so far in advance that a seat map with empty seats in first-class a couple weeks before departure (let alone a couple days) is a good sign that an upgrade is possible. I also think many leisure travelers won't buy a last-minute upgrade to Hawaii because they're already budgeted and can't afford it.

By all accounts, Hawaii is generally easy to get an upgrade, too. Especially with regional upgrade certificates. I would have looked at another date or done a same-day change, if at all possible.

ElmhurstNick

For me, Platinum was definitely worth the increment over Gold in 2017. I'm not going to requalify due to an illness I'm almost recovered from that will keep me off the road for the last 15 weeks of the year. So I'm going to end up having to buy up to C+ on many flights next year until I regain Platinum around Labor Day 2018. I live in a non-hub for DL that's a hub for everyone else (Chicago), spend a lot of free time in a DL focus city (RDU) and use a mix of DL/AA/WN depending on my time sensitivity and cost.

The biggest benefits for me are:
- Complimentary C+ at booking. I usually book 8-17 days out for work and 30+ days out for personal, so I can always find a flight with a C+ upgrade.
- Upgrades. I'm fortunate that both ORD and RDU are CR9/E175 heavy and thus I get a lot of upgrades as I'm flying against the tide. 100% on ORD-LGA/JFK/SLC, 100% on RDU-BOS/LGA/AUS/MCO, 65% on ORD/DTW and the late-night ATL-ORD/MDW, 50% on SLC-LAX/OAK/SFO/SAN. No upgrades out of MSP, and I avoid ATL as much as possible.
- VS Clubhouse when flying PE. I really like their PE and wish they still had the ORD flight, or at least the DTW flight.
- Rebooking awards for free. This would be more of a benefit if I earned DL miles they way I used to earn AA miles. But being able to lock in MIA-ATL-ORD one-way at the end of Spring Break for 18k each for 2 people was really nice, even though we won't know for sure about the trip until mid-January.

For me, it's easily a $100/month benefit, probably closer to $150. I'll actually be tallying them up in 2018 as I make my way back to Platinum.

hockeyinsider

You should totally do this. I would check Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo-Haneda, Nagoya, Guam, Saipan, Manila, and Singapore. Tokyo may not be the cheapest. Then there are connecting options on Delta partners. You could get real creative, especially if you have a global upgrade certificate to redeem to make some or all of the flights a little more comfortable. If you have the time, look into routing home through Hawaii from Tokyo. That's worth at least 2-3,000 extra MQMs.

If you do this you could get more MQMs and rollover enough to be halfway toward silver status for 2019.

TheMadBrewer

As a "Wavier Baby" I won't be DM in 2019. At this point I am planning to requal for PM next year, but we'll see.

Historically, most of my flying has been TATL with some domestic to ATL. That means not too many upgrades -- on domestic legs the overwater flights are mostly thru JFK or ATL. For me the value of DM has been the GUCs -- I've been successful on all of mine over the years -- at least on the overwater segment, they have all cleared in advance, though not all at time of booking/application. This year I'm 1 for 3 for GUCs on the domestic leg (the one success was LAX-SEA, the two failures were LAX-JFK) with another next month (LAX-JFK again). I use the GUCs only on the outbound legs -- to maybe get some sleep on the overnight flight.

The deal breaker for me would be if PM's no longer get instant upgrades to C+ (either because they eliminate the upgrade or they eliminate C+). If I am going to have to pay for C+/Y+ then I might as well shop around. I have my "annual complementary" GM to fall back on in that case.

I suppose the free award redeposit will become more valuable as I use my Skymiles myself. Up to now they've mostly be used for family and occasionally PWM to buy down the price of FC ticket.

So I guess I am saying I think PM can still be valuable to me even without upgrades.

tonypct

Thanks for your input. I will def look into this routing.

hockeyinsider

If it's worth so much then you should do an end of the year mileage/status run to Asia. Being in Chicago, the airfare considerably cheaper than out of Detroit. You could do China Eastern from Chicago-O'Hare to Shanghai two or three times and get platinum or diamond for 2018. I did a quick Google search and there are airfares to Shanghai on Delta or under $600. China Eastern is priced similarly. So for $1500, you could do three round-trips between now and December 31.

dmarge18

The struggle is real.

shipitkthx

Damn, must have been an off day for them. They were advertising it everywhere this morning.

third_wave

At 6' 3" the domestic upgrades to C+ at booking is the only benefit I care about, and makes PM easily worth it.

There is nothing about DM that would make me go out of my way to achieve it.