LOL, we're all still here and will still be here in 2025!

Typo. You mean 2035.

To me the climb is doable I will need to put a little thought/effort into it. My real question is why, what will I get in 2025 as a DM? That is the missing piece to this equation. AA CK used to require 50k ish to qualify now DM is pretty close to that level. What do I get for DM with 35K

Still minimal upgrades, thin the ranks but FCM has made UPGs pretty rare.
unlimited Club access is based on amex spend, I haven't heard anything about choice benefits good or bad
Better phone support, but overall the DM line is a shell of what it was, they answer quicker, but hard questions they need to transfer and have the same hold issues
Irops stresses Delta period, no next flight guarantees like AA
F baggage rules ( 3 bags 70 pounds) can't recall when I ever used that

Has Delta announced the 2024 conversion of rollover MQM’s to MQD’s? My wife and I will have about 200k each of rollover miles.

20 rollover MQM yields 1 MQD or 2 rollover MQM yields 1 redeemable mile. Note that this is rollover after deducting the MQM required for whatever status you earned in 2023 for the 2024 year, and that there are five choices for allocating the rollover between MQD and RDM.

Thanks!

The 5 choices are 100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 0/100.

That is the REAL question for any tier in any FF program!

Corporate marketing excels at convincing consumers that 'wants' become 'needs' become 'deserves' become 'entitlements'. [I made a good living in Product Marketing and Sales Training doing this :) ]

As others have already said, consumers *ought* to be thinking rationally and transactionally when spending their own $. It will help their finances and their emotions when airlines continue their annual benefits devaluations.

For me, I moved from MSP to ELP area and am now retired. DL has only 2 flights out ELP per day to ATL. I have 4.7MM so LT Plat (yes yearly) and back in 2002 purchased LT NW WorldClub so now Skyclub which says it expires in 2079 (so I will be 120). DL now only makes sense for us to East Coast and Europe and I have switched to AA for most flights. Reducing the number of elites will help me with upgrades I think and the SkyClub will be less busy. So I guess this helps me but if I still was in MSP, I would NOT be happy.

this is not necessarily true. I have flown less than 2000 miles on D L in the last 2 yrs and have been Plat every year with rollovers and cc waiver

I am indifferent at this point. I only buy FC now days and DL's pricing strategy typically keeps them in the running for limited runs from my BHM home. I status matched on AA to Exec Plat from DM and snagged their Citi Card. The extra non-stop options I get from AA have really made them more and more attractive prior to 9/14 and this just is the icing on the cake.

I'll miss the MQD for 2024 DM and will roll over about 500K MQM. I'll just keep snagging FC tickets when it makes sense and now just buy the most direct way to wherever I am going. I've been very happy after giving up chasing status.

And then it just goes back to the time before "loyalty" or "frequent flyer" programs existed. People fly based on pure choice and the airlines then have to provide incentives... It's a never ending circle.

Cool!

That is not an apples-to-apples comparison. I can get into virtually any high end restaurant in Atlanta because of my track record and loyalty. I don't expect an upgrade from chicken to steak (actually much of the time, I might prefer chicken). But these restaurants recognize my loyalty in a meaningful way. At any rate, different industry and different standards.

If the airlines, and particularly Delta, don't want to recognize loyalty, that's fine. But I suspect that Delta is on a slippery slope here. I am fiercely loyal to Delta, and will continue to be, but there are tons of folks who, through clever Delta marketing and the tie-in with Amex, have become pretty loyal. Not on my scale, but loyal nonetheless. For their 5-7 trips a year, they look at Delta and no one else. Not sure that continues under this new paradigm. They night do 3 trips on Delta, a couple on AA, one or two on WN, and the international trip on BA.

Perhaps this loyalty pattern will continue. I just don't think so. In the aggregate, this could have a substantial effect on the carrier. Not saying it will, but it might.

I just don't understand why, at a time where the airline is printing money, you take this step. Just seems like changing things for the sake of changing things. It's a total crap shoot IMO.

They increased MQD requirements from 15,000 to 20,000 this year, which is a substantial increase. But that wasn't enough. And with the new rules, hotel stays will count, but the problem is that you don't get hotel program recognition or credits on these Delta-marketed hotel bookings. Not making arrangements with the major hotel brands to count these as full-benefit bookings was a huge mistake IMO. It will be the difference, for me, between making PM and DM going forward under the new rules.

But, then, PM may be the old DM, and DM the old Delta 360 under this program. Just no way, on airline spend alone, that I reach 35,000 MQDs. Won't happen. And I don't have an Amex card of any type.

Either way, you have an admittedly hub-captive fiercely-loyal DL customer here who is less than enamored with the changes. But I will deal with it. I probably bought more front cabin seats in the last year than any year previously. Going forward, some of those might go to competitors if the situation is right. Not going to inconvenience myself, but all else being equal, it will be about value (which is different from being about price, I might add).

Ditto. Have been DL Plat for 4 years due to pandemic rollovers. Will miss it but not enough to charge 180k on a DL Amex. Cheaper just to buy up.