You don't even need 2 round-trips. You can do it in one as long as there are four UA segments on a really expensive fare. The 4-segment prerequisite is not just for 1K but all other status levels.

Agree. What delta should have done was made the MQD waiver $125K for DM, $75K for PM and $50K for gold. Absurd they raised it ten fold for diamond but not for Platinum.

They should have also eliminated the MQD waiver for at least diamond for international customers.

It's my understanding with American you can be EP with just credit card spend and it's a lot less than the $250K spend for the diamond MQD waiver with Delta. Not sure of all the details of American's program but it might encourage more credit card spend if people can acheive diamond with less AmEx spend and no flying.

Yes you can earn top tier AA status without ever setting foot on an AA aircraft as long as you spend $200K on an eligible AA credit card. This includes 1 loyalty choice award at 175K loyalty points (2 systemwide upgrades). If you push to 250K LP you get two more choice awards.

It's a good system designed to encourage credit card spending, and spending within AA's ecosystem (hotels, car rentals, shopping portal, etc). Delta should straight up copy the program. The only downside is that AA seems to be making no-notice mid-year changes at a higher frequency than in the past. They dramatically cut hotel LP earning a few months ago for example (I guess it was too much of an LP gravy train).

I love this stuff! DL needs to thin the ranks of medallions and that means some of us will have to go.

Personally as a 1K on UA and Diamond I am happy to have them force my hand and pick an airline. Make it 35k to hit diamond and I will have to do just that. But you know what? It means that diamond will actually mean something. Maybe I will actually get an upgrade. Or maybe I can actually use my GUC's or regionals without having to fly sub par routings. This year I will definitely spend 42-45k on flights. Its about time airlines actually fought for that spend.

I also like all the hand wringing about losing platinum status. It always seemed weird to me that you could have the second highest status on DL and not really make money for the airline. They should limit people to silver on the waiver and provide limited relief to people for higher levels. It would be great if 25k got you silver, but 5k against the MQD's necessary to hit the other levels. The bonus to that would be that it would finally help those that are trying to hit diamond but fail on the MQD's.

I really hope they throw people out of the clubs. And thin the ranks of elites. This is the first positive news I have heard from DL in some time and I would say it is most welcome.

Planes are full for now.

Take it with a grain of salt but as someone who has worked in and been a frequent traveler in corporate America over the past decade, I can say with certainty that the business travel climate is much softer than the airlines are acting like it is. Right now the leisure market is making up for it but that is going to fall off at some point soon as the interest rates go up -- and the bean counters in corporate America are looking at their 2022 and 2023 cash flows and seeing the vast amount of money they've saved the past couple of years by restricting travel.

That's not to say business travel won't exist -- of course it will, human to human business is still a must-have for dealmaking and partnerships, but I suspect much of the non-essential travel (both internal and external) that can be accomplished via Zoom is not coming back. Sure the senior executives will still probably find a way to travel but as leisure travel eventually wanes, it's the high paying Y business traveler that fills the back up of the plane domestically and I don't think that traveler will be coming back to the same levels it was at pre-COVID

International customers have no MQD requirement so a waiver is irrelevant. They just need the 25/50/75/125k MQMs.

I am not understanding this thread. There is no evidence Delta yet is changing medallion qualification rules. (Reddit rumors are useless) It seems Delta would be at risk of angering their most loyal customers for virtually no benefit. Why should Delta care about the raw number of PMs? As a 6-year PM it is rare to be upgraded. The RUCs are nice. The biggest benefit is primarily the Comfort+ seats at booking. What does that really cost Delta?

My guess is some changes to benefits. Maybe Comfort+ for PMs only at 5 days out or something.

taking over/under bets on the length of this thread at the time of an official announcement or September 14 noon Atlanta time, whichever comes sooner

opening the line at 55 pages

70+

Which is probably why no one is going to be made worse off, potentially with the exception of MQD waiver changes. Delta is probably just going to add "more" options to make status through credit card spend.

Under. The SkyClub one is at 47 pages after a month. This one has another week at most.

Skyclub access has fewer people impacted though. Changes to qualification impact everyone. ;)

Don't get me started, also including the number of times people claim nothing is going to change? Just like the skyclub thread all over again

Haven't seen that in this thread to the extent of the SkyClub rumors, but understandably so as the SkyClub rumors did not seem credible at all. This one seems way more likely than limiting access on the co branded Reserve card. The SkyClub guy could not keep their story straight, then when they got pressed those mentioned changes were just magically not happening anymore. This is much different than that one was at first glance at least.