Stormeo09

Hi everyone!

New member here and pretty green in regards to knowledge about different statuses.

I do no have a passport yet so cannot do international travel but was wondering if anyone knows any historically cheap flights with Delta partners out of PDX (Portland, OR)?

I started my job like 8 months ago which requires travel but want that coveted Diamond status eventually so I have to start somewhere and want to get status quicker by doing a mileage run. Any advice is appreciated!

Exiled in Express

Do you need miles or spend as well? For pure cheap miles I would look at Florida, Boston, and Hawaii.

Stormeo09

It’s mainly MQDs that are hard for me to get. My employers, Siemens Healthineers, is not putting me up in first class or comfort plus so I have to get the economy. Cheaper tickets usually means less MQDs. Miles is not really an issue. I just know if you go through a partner like Aeromexico Delta does not look at what you paid but rather the miles so you get more bang for your buck. Thank you for the reply though and I will take those locations into account.

xliioper

You won't be able to use partner fares for domestic flights (they are not able to sell US domestic fares due to cabotage restrictions). About the only way to improve MQD earn domestically is with DL Vacation package deals which use Exception fare mileage-based MQD earnings.

You'll need a passport to take advantage of partner earnings.

JBJ2435

You can always up-fare after purchasing for business travel. Purchase within co guidelines, get receipt for reimbursement or if through TA, then request an upgrade to C+ or F on your own dime...

Duke787

Use Google Flights "explore" feature -- just put in PDX and your potential dates, limited to DL, and you can see pricing and find the best option.

I don't remember if DL is still running widebodies out of PDX but for a while you could do runs to/from many West Coast destinations (like PDX) on a 763/764 which made for a nicer MR.

Once you have a passport, the best value for relatively inexpensive MQD runs is buying PE on VS (at least it used to be, not sure if anything has changed recently.

Otherwise keep your eyes peeled to see if DL does another accelerator program this year in which case it's possible you'll see award tickets eligible for MQD earn again which did provide some intriguing value

MSPeconomist

In 2022, award tickets earn MQMs, MQSs, and MQDs, just not RDMs.

jrl767

while true, it’s entirely irrelevant to OP who aspires to accumulate sufficient MQM/MQD to attain DM (and is presumably starting from zero)

Goodoldflyer

I'm not sure you can really "beat" frequent flyer programs by flying a bunch of places you don't want to go to win trips to places you do want to go.

I think the better strategy is to go the places you do want to go. Early and often.

xliioper

Well, if you don't care that much about comfort, VS Economy Delight fares tend to earn better MQD/$ than PE fares. Economy Delight is 25% of miles flown while PE is %30, but PE fares are often double Economy Delight fares. The handful of times I've flown Economy Delight pre-Covid, the cabin has been mostly empty (VS does not provide comp upgrades to Economy Delight) and I had a row to myself on a couple flights.

ElmhurstNick

Do the AM-ticketed and operated business class flights to/from TIJ via MEX still generate a ton of MQD? That's what I was looking at to keep Platinum before I got the credit card, but I never bought one. TIJ has a border crossing inside the airport (CBX) and it doesn't seem that bad to get into San Diego from there.

If this is still valid, then OP could just take the very long way home from one of the cheaper AM cities and pick up an afternoon SAN-SEA-PDX to get home.

Qwkynuf

Not always by a long shot. I have gotten burned a couple of times where I had paid out of pocket for an upgrade and then needed to change the flight. The call to our corporate travel agency revealed that DL had taken over the ticket and the TA couldn't touch it anymore, which also seemed to generate a notification to our travel approval department. Which all resulted in a nastygram to my manager.

Also, those who travel in situations which are directly billable to a customer or a specific budget can run into problems where the receipt that is submitted doesn't match the expense charged.

So, no. not "always".

Duke787

+1. This scenario didn't happen at my last company but happens at my current company -- oddly both companies use AMEX GBT so not really clear why this was never an issue for my former employer.

jiburi

Does it have to be Delta? From Portland, you have abundance of access to AS. With AS, you still can get true "mileage runs" from AS, and use miles toward any of AS partners and OneWorld carriers, you have lots of options. While inflight DL is good, mileage earn will keep you grounded from free flight for a lot longer. (also BA service to LHR is beginning)

Jiburi

PS- My December DL trip (one way) between SEA and JFK garnered only 49MQD, 2421 MQM, but earned 249 RDM (before status accelerator and Elite bonuses). Granted, I got a steal of a deal, fares are often $99-$175 each way for this market. It will take a long time before I would hit $3000 MQD.

Qwkynuf

Portland is kind of a weird market. If you are sticking pretty close to the western US, Alaska is a good bet. But if you you need to get to the rest of the US, then you should probably either to stick with Delta or ignore status and just be a free agent.

I have been traveling basically weekly out of PDX for about 6.5 years, and for my travel patterns (fly out first thing Monday morning, home Thursday night or Friday night) DL is a no-brainer for me. They are lowest cost probably 75% of the time, but more importantly (for me) I can fly to nearly any Delta hub between 5am and 7am on Mondays. That makes just about any real airport in the US a single-connection that doesn't take a ridiculous amount of time to get to.

For my travel patterns, Southwest has been both not the cheapest, and has been weird multi-connect-hell. For example, I needed to go to BUR a couple of years ago. The in-policy flight on WN was something like 12 hours and went PDX-OAK-LAS-BUR. DL was about 5 hours and went PDX-SLC-BUR.

On United, the flights in that same 5am to 7am time frame are to ORD, IAH, SFO, and DEN. DEN isn't much help to me unless I am actually *going* to Denver.

American can get me to DFW, PHX and LAX in that window.

Delta goes to SEA (twice), SLC, LAX, ATL, JFK and MSP. I guess they don't do a morning PDX-DTW nonstop anymore. So more than half of my flights wind up being PDX-SEA-XXX or PDX-SLC-XXX.

Again, for my travel patterns - which could see me going to virtually any city in the lower 48 in a given week - Delta has proven to be the best and most reliable solution.