Agree. I am holding out for 45 pages

But for diamonds the MQD waiver on AmEx is $250K Understand that reasoning when it was only $25K but most americans can't put $250K on an AmEx.

​​​​​Not all of us in the US qualify using credit card shortcuts :)

I have to buy economy tickets. If I am non-US, I would have qualified for a much higher level without the MQD threshold.

And if someone is oversears it's a lot easier for them, to be diamond if they are using skyteam partners or making interational trips that really rack up the MQDs My issue with the the overseas waiver is for diamond they increased the MQDs by 30% last year and the MQD waiver on amex by 1000 percet while doing nothing to overseas diamonds.

That waiver will probably go away anyway if they go with a system like American and United

After 9/11, companies learned they didn't have to be in NYC.
During Early 2020 to mid 2021, companies learned they could use Zoom and have remote workers, even though there is a 'back to the physical office' push.

No surprise business travel is soft. The unknown is does it stay soft.

The marketing shouldn't be around SkyMiles, it should be the Airlines and Trains and Bus Industry as a whole pushing a narrative that technology is not substitute for in-person. You can't 'read the customer' over Zoom. You can't hug grandma on Facetime and so on.

For UA, “PQP will be equal to award miles earned divided by 5 if you’re flying on a preferred partner; for other MileagePlus partner airlines, it will be award miles earned divided by 6.”

UA caps preferred partner PQP at 1,500 per segment F/J and 750 per segment for P/Y. Non preferred is 1,000 and 500 respectively. I assume Delta would have something similar for Core Global and Global partners.

United at least starts 1 MM for Gold Premier (skips Silver) , whereas Delta is FO at 1MM. UA 2 MM is Platinum, 3 MM 1K and 4 MM Global Services. Delta treats MM like chop liver.

Not terribly surprising as DL counts all MQM towards MM status (including Amex credit card sign-up bonus and MQM Boosts, class of service MQM bonus, and MQM from partner flying), while UA only counts UA metal actual BIS miles towards MM status. Generally much easier to get to MM on DL than on UA.

As a person under 30 who wasn’t around for any of the glory days or times when loyalty was much more rewarded by travel programs, I’m glad I was able to at least have two years (likely three with next year) of PM status with DL. Guessing that soon won’t be possible with the changes that are likely coming down the pipe. Took some work and creativity, but was at least able to get a lot of upgrades and value out of the program. Oh well. Was nice to have even the briefest of tastes.

And this is just splendid for someone who booked long haul biz on KLM and VS next year specifically for the earning.

just know you’re not alone.

If the changes are too punitive, there are options. I am waiting for September 14 before booking my usual fall transcons. I, and many others in the competitive markets that Delta likes to compete in (NYC, BOS, SEA, LAX, etc) could easily switch to American and their loyalty points program. I already have the cards and have status (albeit Gold) on AA through 2025.

we do enjoy our lifetime platinum on aa.

NYC in particular makes it pretty easy to be a free agent (I'm not currently one, but with NYC's level of competition it would be relatively easy).

I can't imagine going back to AA as a dedicated airline from NYC though. Fly AA on some routes as a free agent? Definitely. But dedicate to their program? I've done that in NYC, it just didn't work. (I was previously EXP for many years when living in Texas and Chicago. I tried to make it work for a few years in NYC and just couldn't do it)

DL and AA cabin service seems to be converging. Routes another story. AA does have better ships.

It's the route network specifically that makes AA difficult from NYC.