dinodino

i spoke with Delta a few minutes ago regarding this morning’s flight 1255 (ATL - LAX), and the agent told me there are more than fifty Diamonds on this flight!

I, for one, welcome the increased card waiver.

flyerCO

Really think that on that route there will be a big reduction?

dinodino

I don't know about this route in particular, but I'd welcome a reduction in overall numbers.

suvayanr

BlueStreak17

Yay. Another FT thread that basically says:

There are too many people with [X Type of Status]! I would like there to be changes that make the minimum threshold [the exact amount I travel/spend every year]

rylan

Funny how we keep seeing people happy to Delta cutting/slashing etc things to supposedly 'thin the herd' because they think its going to be good for them. Shortsightedness 'more for me' mentality is just an illusion. Do you really think there are going to be more upgrades available? Delta has made it clear they intend to sell those seats.
And with the significant reduction in D1 seats for the A350 compared to other intl aircraft, using a GUC is going to be even more difficult.

GRALISTAIR

Wow
I think ATL-SEA (Boeing, Trans Pacific hub, Microsoft etc etc) was also a Diamond heavy route.

xliioper

The majority of DM's who earned DM via the MQD Waiver almost certainly did not earn most of their MQM's via MS and mileage runs. FTer's do not really represent the norm. I'm willing to bet most are in the 10K - 14K spend range. The ones near the top can probably spend a bit extra and still hit DM without much trouble. And the ones lower down will likely either drop a level in status or leave. May not affect the Monday morning stats that much, but you can buy a Sun - Thu main cabin ATL - LAX roundtrip V fare for $328 these days (279 MQD's). You can do a lot those and still not hit the DM spend threshold.

pt flyer

DYKWIA all over the place.

vincentharris

Made PM for the first time in 2017/2018, and to be honest GM is probably all I need going forward (though based on booked travel I will make PM in 2019 too)

Why am I sharing this? Because making PM made NO difference on my upgrade chances. I just flew an obscure route Thursday-Sunday this past week. Going out I was number 8 of 15 with 0 seats and coming back 18 out of 39 with 0 seats. Since making PM I have made the upgrade once only and missed on all the other flights. I have certain criteria (mainly amount of hours in air) where I will purchase the flight and then pay the upgrade price to F out of pocket (for work) or just buy F outright (personal travel) because I fully expect to make maybe 5% or less of upgrades otherwise. The upgrades "automatically" to comfort+ are nice especially for a bunch of upcoming international trips, but I could have paid cash for those. Outside that GM gives me everything else I need. (intl lounge access, sky priority, waived SDC fees, exit row selection, etc.)

The whole point here is on my flights this week there were either 7 other or 17 other higher fare coded PM's or DM's who missed the upgrade too. "Thinning the herd" with a higher MQD waiver requirement will make a minimal difference on upgrades.

For the flights where I dont outright buy F or buy up to F after purchase I will treat the upgrades as a nice surprise and nothing more.

FlyingBeanCounter

I guess a few (like me) will switch airlines but I would guess that the vast majority of high level flyers live in large population centers and are carrier captive.

All those diamonds that get kicked to platinum will just buy up in FCM. Upgrades are soon to be a special event to be celebrated, and they will only happen on short flights.

Often1

MS & MR are a miniscule percentage of the flying public, blown way out of proportion by self-selecting social media sites such as FT. Those folks do not move the needle.

ATL-LAX is a high-HVC route with high-PRASM.

If DL assigned a "profitability score" to each passenger, there are many people here who think that they would up top who would be down at the bottom. If the herd is thinned, better make sure that you are at the top.

aero0729

Im thrilled about the waiver going up to 250K, it made no sense! Funny how everyone wants free Diamond status AND all the perks of the program to work. It was funny how pissed off Rene was at Renes points. I did not picture him as one that needed the waiver but I guess so. Im glad airlines are getting rid of the gamers...just wish they did not de-value the miles.

cplush

exactly. im gold and recently paid $80 to bump over 56 people on the upgrade list for IND-ATL-PBI in first.

3Cforme

There are three non-stops on AA tomorrow ATL-LAX. AA doesn't offer a credit card spend EQM waiver - although there is a mechanism to get some card EQM.

There are three non-stops on WN tomorrow. I don't think Diamonds worry about 'Bags fly free!'

There's one Spirit flight. There's one Frontier flight.

There are ten non-stops on Delta tomorrow. On what carrier would you expect high mileage flyers in Atlanta to travel, referencing a 8:25AM Monday flight operating with a 777? Check the ratio of Diamonds LGA-ORD or ATL-DCA at the same time.