Billy Mumphrey

My routing was JFK-PVG-DEL-PVG-JFK. Here was the haul from my J ticket:

Wimsta

Thanks, I'll definitely look into that!

hockeyinsider

Depends. If I buy cheap economy tickets and redeem four global upgrade certificates for two round-trip upgrades into business-class -- tickets that would have cost say $5,000 or $8,000 apiece, maybe more or maybe less -- then you could get close to the $20,000 in value.

Wimsta

Let's just be honest here, I see your point, but would you honestly say DM is worth $20,000 even (as was pointed out) TPG values it less than that.

hockeyinsider

I don't put much value in The Points Guy because they don't really get elite status and most of their valuations and reviews are about how to maximize award-redemptions. Plus, most of their reviewers are not business travelers.

Wimsta

What is your honest valuation of DM status?

hockeyinsider

This is way off-topic for this thread. But since you asked. It depends on the holder. I know someone who is a diamond, but 100% of his personal and business travels are paid domestic first-class or international business-class. I'm not sure what his loyalty to Delta and his subsequent diamond status gets him, both in terms of benefits and value.

Everyone places a different value on the same thing.

For me, I'd definitely put diamond at $12,000-$15,000 per year as I fly internationally and have always been able to use my global upgrade certificates on long-haul flights that would have cost me $5,000 or more. That's at least $10,000 in savings on the low end, according to my back of the envelope math. Domestically, outside of CRJ-200s with no first-class cabin I only sat in economy once in 2018. Every other flight was either an upgrade (complimentary, certificate, miles) or a paid up-front ticket. So, that's easily a couple thousand dollars in additional value.

There are also the extra miles I get because of my diamond status when it comes to earned miles. I use pay-with-miles for personal trips, which means the extra miles I get as a diamond over a platinum further off-set my personal trips -- especially when I'm buying a paid first-class or business-ticket.

Then there's the unknown that is hard to value with a dollar amount.

I was in Hawaii last August when a hurricane came. Delta changed my ticket to take me home through Tokyo and Detroit in Delta One. I had either a full-fare domestic first or a Delta One business-class ticket originally from Honolulu -- I can't remember which -- but they allowed this change, about 8 hours before departure. I'm guessing my status as something to do with it. I've had several coterminous same-day changes; Dulles to Reagan or even airports that aren't officially coterminous, say Saginaw and Flint. Delta has also reimbursed me thousands of dollars when bags were delayed and I needed a suit. Or when weather canceled a flight and Delta paid for a hotel even though they didn't have to do so. How do you value these things? Every person will value these fringe benefits differently.

So, yeah, I'd say I'm getting at least $15,000 in value, based on how I value it.

Wimsta

I don't think it is OT for the thread at all, unless the focus was to be just on the GUCs and not the fake news.

The piece put the DM value at $20,000. I challenged that, TPG values DM at $8,950 (or something like that). I've never had it to make a claim from my own experience.

The truth is that the value does depend a whole lot on an individual's habits and context, and I'm honestly glad that you're getting value out of it.

That DM is worthy of going to great lengths to earn is definitely the schtick being presented, why else would days on a plane MRing with an 8 year-old be justified?

Perhaps I should have zeroed in on the whole "most sought after" part and noticed the glaring omission of 360, let alone a consideration of what other statuses are "sought after."

FBplatinum

I am base in Montreal and for me I value it around 10,000$ USD to 12,000$ USD (because I can also use the GUC).