Contradancer

Just thought I'd share. This is all in good fun, I don't need help with anything, I'm all good, this is all my choice:
I changed jobs mid-May from a job that was almost 100% travel to a job with no travel. I am Platinum Medallion short only 16000 MQMs or so to requalify for Platinum next year (I've already got my MQDs).
I am also a somewhat aggressive VDB credit chaser and have maybe $2800 of those.
And I have maybe 1400000 SkyMiles total.
And I have a family of four that I have to get at least two sets of plane tickets a year to go to visit my folks and my in-laws once a year each domestic US.
I am suffering travel withdrawal so I rationalized the use of $1500 in vouchers to get myself a mileage run immediate turnaround ATL to DEL a weekend in September to get me to Platinum next year. My rationalization is that with Platinum I can redeposit miles with no fee. Honestly that is the perk that I will practically speaking really miss. All the rest is gravy for me. So this way I get that perk through next year.
This trip will also cost me $100 cash for a tourist visa.
Selfish? Waste of vouchers/cash? Would anyone else do this? Just having fun posting this.

Zorak

At the risk of stating the obvious, if literally the only benefit you will get from PM is free award redeposit then you'd have to be fairly certain you expect to do that 10+ times to make it to break-even on spending $1500 just to chase PM. But given your stated award miles balance if you plan to draw that down next year, x 4 pax at a time maybe that's not unreasonable.

The other main features of PM over GM are the Choice Benefit, so whatever value you might attach to that, and usually (but not always) C+ at booking.

Other similar threads on whether PM is worth it:

Is Delta Platinum/Diamond worth it, without upgrades?

Worth chasing Platinum Medallion this year

Delta Gold or Platinum?

jrl767

as usual, OP is the only one who can authoritatively answer the first two questions in the last line ("Selfish? Waste of vouchers/cash?") for his/her own value propositions

and as usual, if OP is seeking validation from the greater FT community for a decision that's already been made, there should be no expectation that the ratio of "yeah that's great" replies to "what a twit" replies will be too far from 1:1

Zorak

... I meant to add, if any of those vouchers are likely to expire unused then it would make more sense to use them to MR. Otherwise there's opportunity cost of using them on trips you might otherwise take "organically".

cre95

NOLAnwGOLD

Sounds like its booked and unless they can 24 hour cancel and get the vouchers back, it's a done deal. Enjoy and hope you get an upgrade!

DLdweeb

OP - It's your miles and your life, if it makes you happy, enjoy. That's all that matters.

Gig103

I was thinking that I'd probably rather be gold this year and have the rollover. But then I did the math and if you're 16k short you are at 59k MQM... Which means you aren't "nearly Platinum" you are "barely Gold".

So while the others are being pragmatic and saying that "worth it" is only something you can answer, I'll say no I think it wasn't worth it on a direct turnaround. I would have used that tourist visa and at a minimum seen the Taj Mahal (3hr away from DEL airport).

ecaarch

This would be the correct response. ^

JTE458

What's the itinerary? I need to see times to give an answer.

JTE458

So it's like 10 miles away?

Gig103

I'm guessing that's a joke about traffic?

WhiskeyBravo

On the redeposit front this is bad math. It's not just the $150, it's that you can book tickets far out, and then if the price drops, have the ticket re-issued. It both gives you certainty of having tickets locked in (hopefully at a price you can stomach), and allows you to cash-in if/when the price drops. In my past experience this is probably one of the best benefits of PM/DM -- I've saved a lot of miles re-issuing at cheaper prices.

Zorak

Except that OP explicitly asked for other people's opinions. And while everyone has their own priorities and so everyone's decision function will be different, seeing how/why other people attach high/low values to things can help shape your view of what's right for you. So IMO the discussion is still worthwhile.

^ Excellent point.

Contradancer

I'd forgotten about the Choice Benefit. I do value that also.

All the VDB credits are from the modern gift card era so will not expire. So I couldn't use that as a rationale.

I was past the the no-risk-cancel period when I first posted. This was all in fun. And no upgrades--all international travel and I always use my Choice Benefit for miles or dollars because while upgrades are fun I don't really value them. Perhaps that goes contrary to this MR! I do not claim to be consistent :-). Though I did book KLM and all flights had Economy Comfort available so I got that. I suppose there could always be a pleasantly surprising op-up.

Good point. I was perhaps irrationally set on not taking any time off from work. Ah well.

Your point about considering the cost of mileage redeposit is not one that had occurred to me.