Taz

Why? You either meet the criteria to qualify or you don't. It's not an entitlement. I've consistently met the MQM requirement for Diamond for the past few years, but I'll never meet the MQD or credit card spend requirement, so I'm Platinum. It's what I've earned and it's what I get. I'm not special, and neither is anyone else.

pmadden

At the rate that my own work travel is declining, it's unlikely I'll requalify for Platinum this year, even with a fairly extensive personal travel plans slated for the rest of the year. While unfortunate, it is what it is, and Delta will continue to be my airline of choice.

I have colleagues from my previous job I keep in touch with and they're complaining that their quarterly $7-10k flights to APAC have been eliminated, and they rarely travel for personal leisure - they'll be lucky to even hit silver or gold next year. They're grateful to still have Diamond through the end of this year, but realize status can't be extended forever. If they're not spending the same that they used to, there's no reason they should be granted the same status.

Frankly, I think there's nearly a 0% chance that Delta will further extend status or even bring back the accelerator program from last year. If everyone is Diamond, nobody is Diamond.

And the reality is some businesses have realized that they don't need to spend a lot of money and time flying employees around the globe - the pandemic has shown them that people can largely be just as productive from home. Sure, some companies are still spending the same these days on travel, but I think most are spending less.

Adelphos

I find this interesting

Why do people that travel quarterly to Asia, presumably in paid business class, but rarely travel for personal leisure, care about status at all? Isn't the point of status to enhance your travel when you are flying on your own money, usually in economy class, for leisure with friends or family (or solo, whatever)? You get elite-like benefits in paid business class regardless of status. I guess it also helps with domestic business travel, but it seems like these colleagues aren't doing much of that either. This isn't limited to Delta, I see it throughout the forum.

MSPeconomist

Bragging rights? DM cowbells before the brag tags became plastic?

ebayj

Interesting thread. I don't have to ever travel for work. I felt fortunate to make DM last year with the pandemic accelerators. This year the combo of several transcons, plus SFO-LHR-DEL-CDG-SFO (Virgin and Air France in biz), plus SFO-MEX-CDG-FCO-AMS-MEX-SFO in Aeromexico biz class will get me to 15k MQDs. Total 2022 spend is just under USD $8000.00.

I look at the whole thing as a math puzzle and I have a year to solve it. And yes it is very nuanced.

BER Flyer

I will most likely no qualify for 360° status this year and i think i'm not the only one in this situation. So Delta should review the qualification requirements for 360's....

Ryno1234

This! at the risk of speaking out of both sides of my mouth:

• I travel every week for work and have for the past 7 years. I love my job. The travel is just part of it.
• I do love my Delta and Marriott/Hyatt status. I describe it as the silver lining to the dark cloud of being away from my family so much
• I love that my family can enjoy many of my travel perks as a result when we travel together
• HOWEVER,; i rarely if ever discuss my status or travels with anyone outside of my family or work. It's just not something i "brag" about. My close friends know and will ask for travel advice, tips etc. But it is not who i am . Doesn't define me.
  • I don't have my DM tag on my bag, etc.

Just the way I look at things. While i really do appreciate my status, it is literally just part of my job. Like driving to and from an office. I just fly to and from states.

DrMilano

As other's have pointed out, it seems that OP feels entitlement not to spend his own money to maintain DM.

I have already hit over $9,000 MQM this year. Why? Cause I booked a J ticket via Air France to Dubai for the World Expo that netted 6,277 MQM on a $2,600 ticket for a 3 night trip. Fare could have cheaper using the AmEx IAP portal, but it was prioritizing DL flights and the AF/KLM flights I wanted weren't available via IAP. For the OP, the AmEx IAP yields around a 8% to 12% discount on business class fares. Unfortunately, you have to spend your own money sometimes not OPM.

I also organically requalified for DM last year spending money on DL tickets after 7 months. As I'm non-hub captive, time to re-qualify for United 1K now for 2022 as I'm looking forward to the United Next rollout. Also, way too many non-upgrades this year on Delta on less than 1 hr flight segments the first 3 months of this year, the upgrade lists are so inflated that I knew the roll over for past 2 years would cause this.

OP has to understand that with inflation increasing the cost of travel and your company managing the past 2 years remotely, maybe your pre-COVID business travel never returns? Delta being a for-profit company only cares about your future revenue, not past revenue. The airlines know the booking trends and what the corporate clients are booking, as 'read the tea leaves' with airlines focusing on leisure travel routes.

DrMilano

Not to worry as you can purchase DL 360 starting May 1st. https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2022/04/01...ta-360-status/

Sorry, but it was a April fools joke.

pmadden

I went from traveling 75% for work and 25% for leisure to now traveling maybe 20% work and 80% leisure. My role now is essentially fully remote, so I've been taking short little trips at least once a month to just get a change of scenery. I have much more appreciation for people who reach high-tier status on personal spend, it's not easy (or cheap)

This I do partly agree with. In my mind, 360 represents the top 1% of Delta customers - heck, maybe even the top 0.1% for all we know... What's nice about 360 is there's no arbitrary spend threshold since it's invite only - sure, there are reports of a minimum spend but nothing is really confirmed as being the floor. This gives Delta the flexibility to invite whoever they want to be in the program. If all the 360 members are spending less now than they used to, so long as there are no non-360 passengers spending more than them, I don't see why the 360's shouldn't retain their status.

MSPeconomist

DL might calculate that a low pending 360 costs more in benefits than the profit they provide to DL, or they might use their big data to conclude that 360 doesn't incentivize sufficient additional spend /profit to offset the cost of offering it to the customer.

sydneyracquelle

I just put $250,000 of my small business spend (everything except rent and payroll) on my DL Amex to reach DM each year. It will be interesting to see how many fewer 2023 DMs there will be with everyone now swimming in MQMs but $15,000 MQDs becoming harder to obtain.

Yellowjj

Company doesn't want you to travel internationally, but you have Mexico tickets booked? Isn't Mexico international? Or did you mean company refuses to pay for any Intl travel for you.

Fyi, DL has full J fares going for almost $5K on JFK-LAX. Three roundtrips and you will be set for Diamond.

flyerfirsts

Doesn't the Reclaim My Status program solve this?

pmadden

I think they likely mean to Europe, or Asia/Pacific - or anything that crosses a large ocean haha.... Plus, depending on your origin and destination, a flight to Mexico could be the same distance/duration as a flight from SFO to LAX.