tanglin

Surely it will be lost in January 2023? I rolled over DM this year, and expect to be a lowly PM next year as my company has not returned to full travel yet. I'll only be PM I think becasue of Amex (I might just qualify, not sure).

Adelphos

At least up the PM level, the inflated levels will be there through 2024. You had three years (2020, 2021, and 2022) to accumulate 75K MQM for qualification for the 2023 SkyMiles Year (which ends January 2024). One MQM boost on a reserve annually is 45K of that alone.

On the Diamond level, those dropping off due t less business travel could be replaced by a lot of first time Diamonds, particularly those that are flying business class to Europe or Asia. A lot of people have elevated MQM due to the rollover, and if you have one or two round trips to Europe in D1, you can knock out $15K in MQM quickly.

sydneyracquelle

PM is an extremely low bar with just 75,000 MQMs over 3 years (2020-2022) including both flying and MQM mileage boosts and a $2,100 monthly Amex 2022 spend ($25,000 annual). I expect DM to drop off with the required 15,000 MQDs and fewer mileage run opportunities.

Adelphos

The idea about elite numbers plummeting has to be squared with current travel numbers - travel demand is very high, and surely it isn't all 100% being done by leisure travelers without SkyMiles accounts. D1 cabins, both transcon and TATL, are full with business travelers. A lot of people are flying for work on expensive tickets, and a lot of them probably rolled over tons of miles too. For every Diamond that never returned to business travel and who lose status, there may be a brand new Diamond minted.

CycloneSteve

Last week my flight from FSD-MSP was delayed 7 hours over a mechanical issue. I was re-booked on the later flight from MSP-LAX. I had paid with points for first class on both legs but was downgraded on the MSP to LAX leg when they re-booked.
Do I just suck it up or could I expect some kind of reimbursement if I complained? It sucks to pay 50,000 miles each way for first and not get it on one of the longest legs.

ijgordon

I actually think those flights are full, even up front, with high-end leisure travelers.
Business travel is still lagging. You can look at hotel average rates/REVPAR for, say, resorts vs. urban, and for weekends vs. weekday, and the resorts/weekends have shown meaningful more growth vs. pre-pandemic. Business travel is starting to come back more aggressively now, but Zoom and ESG/carbon footprint concerns will probably limit the recovery somewhat. And then of course the economy is a wildcard.

hockeystl

Involuntary downgrade means DL owes you the diff in miles between Y and F. I would definitely email them.

kavok

The other aspect that I haven’t seen talked as much about is how the shift to Hybrid work-from-anywhere is effectively giving people more vacation-days/PTO to travel, beyond just work-from-anywhere travel.

There are many folks who in 2019 worked nearly 100% in the office, and now in 2022 work a hybrid work schedule. These folks previously would have to burn vacation time/days for things like being at home to let the furnace repair guy in, or staying at home if their kid had a half day at school. There are tons of examples, but the point is many things that previously required time-off-work don’t because they can be achieved on a work-from-home day, even if the schedule is hybrid.

So even though the vacation/PTO rules probably haven’t changed for most, the days off go farther in 2022 vs 2019. And with “more” vacation days and opportunities, more leisure travel follows.

Adelphos

So why can’t some of these people be new elites, especially if they have some level of business travel as well?

beachmouse

And lots of leisure travel have big loyalty point balances or cancellation credits they’re glad to burn at this point, especially with Delta letting you earn MQMs on award tickets now. At the end of 2021, I had a million frequent flyer miles spread across different programs in my stash. The Delta ones mostly got spent on a bunch of speculative award tickets- domestic award tickets were cheap last Christmas, fully refundable if we needed to bail, and I needed something to look forward to.

I’m more of a quantity flyer rather than premium cabin one and figured that the C+ I get with PM status but I suspect a lot of folks are going to premium cabin route to spend down balances- life’s short, maximize fun and all.

DenverBrian

That's taken by Marriott/Bonvoy. He should go for Astatine.

MSPeconomist

Answered in the Newbie sticky thread.

cbrown5294

425pm Lax-Jfk just got canceled..sigh
Was rebooked on Lax-Ind-Jfk on a red eye

not fun …. Going to find another airline to get me there

unitedbusiness

wow that’s a packed 767-300!
did they give a reason for the last minute cancellation ?!

DTWflyer

I am glad to be hanging out at home off the road more so than ever this summer. I always typically try to avoid much, if any business travel from Mid-June through early August for a variety of reasons.
I was traveling a ton in Feb through early June and my last trip finished-up two weeks ago.

I tend to avoid traveling in summer since its the best time of the year in Michigan and I love to enjoy the summer nights after work at home, enjoying the long hours of daylight and being able to spend time up north.
I also generally hate summer travel due to the insanity of peak summer travel season, thunderstorm delays/cancels galore.
This summer I am glad to not be traveling.

I think I will have a quick trip over to ORD in mid-July, and maybe ATL for a night.

Good luck for all of you out there fighting the good fight this summer.