Estimating the Diamond Medallion Population
#76
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Join Date: Nov 2010
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250k/year domestic is a lot but doable. BNA-HNL is only 2 segments - it's more likely he's hitting multiple cities each week. 8 segments a week in paid F will get you 300k MQM (at least) - 500 MQM minimum * 8 = 4k MQM/week = 200k/year + 50% PAG bonus = 300k.
At 300k/year you're "only" looking at 30 years to hit 9M.
At 300k/year you're "only" looking at 30 years to hit 9M.
#77
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,394
250k/year domestic is a lot but doable. BNA-HNL is only 2 segments - it's more likely he's hitting multiple cities each week. 8 segments a week in paid F will get you 300k MQM (at least) - 500 MQM minimum * 8 = 4k MQM/week = 200k/year + 50% PAG bonus = 300k.
At 300k/year you're "only" looking at 30 years to hit 9M.
At 300k/year you're "only" looking at 30 years to hit 9M.
#78
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: DL DM, UA Gold, Alaska MVP, Bonvoy (lol) Ambassador
Posts: 2,991
And out of BNA, if one needs to travel mostly over the SE, a lot of short hops to ATL with another short hop to SAV, JAN, TLH, RDU, CHS, etc, with the paid F bonus's it's possible to rack up the segments hardly being in the air more than an hour at a time! Plus so many of those SE cities have a ton of connection options, that he wouldn't even spend that much time in the airport.
#79
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
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To me, the statement that he's DM on segments means less than 125,000 MQMs per year. If we take the number of segments required for DM (150? I typically make DM with only about 30 segments) times 500, this would give a lower bound for his MQMs per year, assuming that elites always got at least 500 per segment. Paid FC of course would increase this by 50-100%, although was there a time that domestic FC tickets earned 300%?
#81
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#82
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Clearly in this case saying that he's qualified on segments just means that he's waaaaay over the diamond MQS level. You can't qualify for million miler status on segments, it's just a figure of speech.
#83
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,329
Another historical question for PMDL folks: When did it start to become possible to earn MQMs from DL AmEx credit cards and was there a time when simple spend on a CC became status miles without limit? I know on some airline programs, certain old timers earned lots of miles from CCs back in prehistoric times like the 1980s and 1990s
He might *only* have been top tier DL elite via segments, but maybe he also had a bunch of MM miles from PMNW, and others such as Republic and Piedmont that became part of DL at some point.
#84
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: LIT
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Posts: 712
Definitely a figure of speech. The Ambassador made it sound like this gentleman had more segments per year on average than anyone she had ever met.
#85
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KATL
Programs: DL DM/2MM
Posts: 2,032
I interpreted the statement to say that he earned DM every year by the segment requirement rather than MQMs, but as someone pointed out, only MQMs count for MM status.
Another historical question for PMDL folks: When did it start to become possible to earn MQMs from DL AmEx credit cards and was there a time when simple spend on a CC became status miles without limit? I know on some airline programs, certain old timers earned lots of miles from CCs back in prehistoric times like the 1980s and 1990s
He might *only* have been top tier DL elite via segments, but maybe he also had a bunch of MM miles from PMNW, and others such as Republic and Piedmont that became part of DL at some point.
Another historical question for PMDL folks: When did it start to become possible to earn MQMs from DL AmEx credit cards and was there a time when simple spend on a CC became status miles without limit? I know on some airline programs, certain old timers earned lots of miles from CCs back in prehistoric times like the 1980s and 1990s
He might *only* have been top tier DL elite via segments, but maybe he also had a bunch of MM miles from PMNW, and others such as Republic and Piedmont that became part of DL at some point.
Prior to that, miles fell into one of two categories: Base miles and Bonus miles. Only Base miles counted towards status (which is not unlike the MQM concept of today). Miles generated from CC spend *always* fell into the Bonus miles category, at least as long as I have been keeping track of it.
While I've been a medallion member of one tier or another for the last 20 years, I was never a member of the Frequent Flyer program that preceded SkyMiles, so there are a lot of people here with a longer history than mine.
#86
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: MA
Programs: DL DM/2MM Marriott Platinum, HH Diamond,
Posts: 8,906
To the best of my recollection, the DL Amex MQM boost has been in existence since the introduction of MQMs as a separate concept.
Prior to that, miles fell into one of two categories: Base miles and Bonus miles. Only Base miles counted towards status (which is not unlike the MQM concept of today). Miles generated from CC spend *always* fell into the Bonus miles category, at least as long as I have been keeping track of it.
While I've been a medallion member of one tier or another for the last 20 years, I was never a member of the Frequent Flyer program that preceded SkyMiles, so there are a lot of people here with a longer history than mine.
Prior to that, miles fell into one of two categories: Base miles and Bonus miles. Only Base miles counted towards status (which is not unlike the MQM concept of today). Miles generated from CC spend *always* fell into the Bonus miles category, at least as long as I have been keeping track of it.
While I've been a medallion member of one tier or another for the last 20 years, I was never a member of the Frequent Flyer program that preceded SkyMiles, so there are a lot of people here with a longer history than mine.
#87
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SDF
Programs: DL:360/DM/6 MMer; Bonvoy: Lifetime Titanium 10+M pts, 3100+ nights;
Posts: 1,441
To the best of my recollection, the DL Amex MQM boost has been in existence since the introduction of MQMs as a separate concept.
Prior to that, miles fell into one of two categories: Base miles and Bonus miles. Only Base miles counted towards status (which is not unlike the MQM concept of today). Miles generated from CC spend *always* fell into the Bonus miles category, at least as long as I have been keeping track of it.
While I've been a medallion member of one tier or another for the last 20 years, I was never a member of the Frequent Flyer program that preceded SkyMiles, so there are a lot of people here with a longer history than mine.
Prior to that, miles fell into one of two categories: Base miles and Bonus miles. Only Base miles counted towards status (which is not unlike the MQM concept of today). Miles generated from CC spend *always* fell into the Bonus miles category, at least as long as I have been keeping track of it.
While I've been a medallion member of one tier or another for the last 20 years, I was never a member of the Frequent Flyer program that preceded SkyMiles, so there are a lot of people here with a longer history than mine.
In the early days of the original Delta Frequent Flyer Program, AMEX spend on Delta counted toward MM status. Sadly, my employer gave me a Diner's Club card for travel. The DC card spend DID NOT count toward MM status. Also in those days, minimum mileage credit was 1000 miles per segment. I DID benefit from that! ^
#88
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 4,677
I'd bet most 4MM+ flyers received help from the pre-skymiles days. For a while old miles were even segregated as a separate currency with much better redemption value. Eventually old miles rolled into skymiles. I'd be in the 4MM+ club under the old rules, but only have 1.8MM MQM or so since all the time I've served on DL was in the post-everything-counts regime.
#90
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Programs: DL DM 2MM, AA LTP, Hyatt Globalist, FB Plat
Posts: 826
MQM boosts went into effect with the introduction of the DL branded AMEX cards.
In the early days of the original Delta Frequent Flyer Program, AMEX spend on Delta counted toward MM status. Sadly, my employer gave me a Diner's Club card for travel. The DC card spend DID NOT count toward MM status. Also in those days, minimum mileage credit was 1000 miles per segment. I DID benefit from that! ^
In the early days of the original Delta Frequent Flyer Program, AMEX spend on Delta counted toward MM status. Sadly, my employer gave me a Diner's Club card for travel. The DC card spend DID NOT count toward MM status. Also in those days, minimum mileage credit was 1000 miles per segment. I DID benefit from that! ^
When they had AA as a partner, I transferred to get my lifetime AA platinum status.