ekozie

here on earth #1 total consumer credit card debt just crossed 1 trillion and delinquencies look like this:



not to mention the airlines self-reporting demand softness for this fall and into next year

sfozrhfco

The way things are going, $10,000 in spend gets you 1 MQD

shoodawg

absolutely zero need here to spend on a cobranded delta card. Thanks for the push delta!

ekozie

the carrot of 10:1 (or 20:1) spend:MQDs is far too small to be a meaningful carrot for anyone who stops and maths it out for 5 minutes. take all that cobrand spend, put it on a 2.5% cashback card, and it's likely enough to WFBF on most trips for anyone who needed cobrand spend to get status in the first place

edit: it's possible to assign a dollar value to nearly every facet of medallion status. 2.5% cashback at the same spend level can likely buy all of the things status used to include, in a more cost-effective way than putting the spend to use on achieving status, i.e. paying for perques a la cart should be more than covered by shifting spend to a cashback card.

Bradhattan

Its the same with AA and their branded CC to a degree. 1 Mile and 1 Loyalty Point (LP) per dollar spent on the card (sometimes a bonus category like buying AA flights earns 2X). Use the partners AND the AA branded CC to purchase, and you get higher returns for the dollars spent (such as the hotel platform. If you don't have the AA card, then you get like 100 miles and LP, whereas if you have the card, you can get perhaps up to 30X or more, per dollar spent. Its all about pushing you to partners who have already bought millions (10's of millions? more?) of Skymiles from Delta.

I realize the programs are not the same, but in a general sense they will function similarly. However, at first glance, Delta seems to be looking to eliminate a lot of Elites with this new scheme the first year. With AA, the first year of switching to just LP, they offered ridiculous amounts of LP. If you did it right, 13 nights at hotels could earn you Platinum Pro Status for maybe $3000 spend. 20 nights and you could be EXP - this has all since been tampered down on year 2.

EDIT: For reference, AA;s levels are Gold (ruby) at 40K LP, Platinum (Sapphire) at 75K LP, Plat Pro (Emerald) at 125L LP and Executive Plat (Emerald) at 200K. But spend and partners make it relatively easy.

DLHubber

It hasn�t been mentioned anywhere, so I would assume it�s gone.

shoodawg

And that�s the way the cookie crumbles.

SteveinA2

It is never a good long term business model to assume your customers are stupid. I think Delta Intern MBA's have misjudged this. I get Delta want to address overcrowding, but they also want to expand AMEX revenue from $6B to $10B. Now anyone with a Delta Amex is throwing away money. Also in calculation above you have to include the Annual inflated fee for the AMEX compared to low or no fee cash back cards.

ffI

I do not think the calculations are right. The $675 gets Lounge membership; You get 2.625c cash= 1968.50
The DL Reserve card is not free - it costs 600$ at least + gets 75k DL miles worth 15% more than 1c at most = about 862.50
The loss is 1900-850 = about 1050 by going to DL Amex;
you are still buying DL miles for 2.625c and buying 1.15c of travel with each DL mile

p0rkbelly

Was only worth it for free, instant Comfort+.

I'll just pay for that upgrade now if needed. And lobby my employer to change their flight policy to allow it on shorter durations.

coke cans and winglets

Are we talking a cookie baked fresh or a packaged cookie worth $0.41 crumbling though

Duke787

Let�s not forget record breaking contracts for the pilots and no . This is a house of cards that is going to collapse in the next 18 months that�s for sure.

Not to mention the airlines are going to see the cost of debt skyrocket the next time they have to issue debt

ffI

If you cannot speculate about potential changes, you might as well shut down Flyertalk.

NYC Flyer

Majorly bummed about losing the "lock" on Platinum for a number of years, but change is inevitable.

In a way a huge reset to the relative standing of DL elite levels that will possibly breathe some value back into Platinum and Gold levels, as these are reasonably acheivable with flight and CC mix. I'd expect rolling 12-month MQD count to become a factor in complimentary upgrades. Whether people do the math on the ROI for CC spend, who knows (obviously many here will).

Based on the changes DL has made in recent years, the draconian approach initially, with givebacks implemented as needed, seems to be the preferred M.O. If things don't go as predicted, I could see DL improving the award discount for Reserve cards and/or holding temporary "sales" to help keep people engaged with the card (read: spend $75K). Also, they could add a 5-visit bonus at $35K or $40K in spend if the initial changes hurt revenue too much.

I am spending with Citi/AA right now to reach Platinum Pro, but it looks like I will now have to choose between AA and DL for 2025. The upside on spending, at least, is that I'm getting more value out of AA miles than DL. Still, I'd much rather be flying DL, and DL is obviously betting on that sentiment helping with card/loyalty retention.

willoL

If I'm understanding this correctly, having just achieved(? ahem) Silver Medallion status via a challenge, next year (after Feb. 1, 2024), all I have to do is spend $6000 on Delta flights to keep it? There is now zero BIS time required? Because I sincerely doubted I would fly 25k miles (MQMs) with Delta, TBH, whereas spending $3k (MQD) was trivial in my use case.

Since I prefer Alaska and usually fly them everywhere I can, this is not such a big deal for me. I'm someone who pays (too much) cash from her own pocket for domestic F on Delta to get to all the places AS doesn't go, so this might work in my favor... I've already got a $1200 ticket to northern Minnesota on the books early in 2024. That's 20% of Silver status in one go.

Wait, that counts, right?!? Even though I booked it (spent the $$$) in 2023?

But whether or not six AmEx Business Platinum visits to the SkyClub is sufficient, I don't know. I think I was there seven or eight times in 2023. I also still have children under 21 with whom I travel regularly, so paid access is worth several times the individual traveler value when I factor in bringing my family. (I paid one access fee for my minor child at a SkyClub last month.) But does TPG have it right that the SkyClub limit for AmEx Plat starts in 2025, or is that a typo? '25 feels a LONG way off for the credit card calculation.

If I spend the $695 for a SkyClub membership in 2024 as a Silver Medallion member, will that also count toward my MQD to move the needle toward getting me another year of benefits?