So DL is giving up their travel agent ambitions. I�m 0% surprised.

Like I said in the huge thread when the first announcement came out, this was very poorly thought out by DL. People are not going to give up their hotel/rental status just to earn more points in DL�s program that devalues status every chance they get. Furthermore, many (most?) business travelers have to use company booking tools for travel anyway, so this wouldn�t have even been an option.

Let�s not forget, it was Delta�s �loyalty� team that came up with these changes. I cannot fathom how they didn�t know that was going to fail. This is exactly why you have customer focus groups and voice of the customer activities.

This can go up there with �New Coke� as a text book case in how not to go to market.

1) Business travelers also book a lot of personal travel outside of company portals (including booking direct, using OTAs, etc). Remember that most business travelers also have to use a company card to book travel - yet many still have Delta cards (or other airline cards) for personal spend

2) American Airlines had a lot of success with Rocketmiles and BookAAHotels in terms of getting people to book hotels and earn Loyalty Points

Delta linked lower thresholds with the removal of the hotel option - if that was truly the link, it is a positive. However, in a vacuum, any loss of an ability to earn MQD is a loss. I would have booked a stay or two a year via Delta Stays, now I am not

Well, Delta never was a travel agent to begin with, they just used expedia and got a few % commisson that way. If they would invest the $$ to establish themselfs as a real travel agent i can see a lot of potential there, Delta has an enourmous potential to make money as a travel agent through their 100 Million+ Skymiles members, they would be able to funnel a lot of travel/booking through their site offering customers the possibility to keep their hotel / rental car benefits when booking through them. Just imagine how many SM members would book their travel trough Delta if DL would be able to offer similiar conditions then their current travel portals. Perhaps partnering with Amex travel... Having millions of actively travelling customers ( worldwide! ) on your hands is a double ham sandwich.

Amex travel is... Wait for it... Expedia.

Problem is, I can�t see the biggest hotel companies getting on board with this. Marriott/Hilton/IHG are no different from the US3 with wanting customers to book direct and being able to have ownership of the customer transaction. (They still work with business booking portals and grant elite benefits for those bookings because they have to, but I can�t see them willing to expand beyond that.) Hotels are years behind the airlines with trying to push ancillary revenue, but they are certainly working on it.

My initial reaction to the offer of extended Diamond status at the rate of a year for every 100K MQMs was initially OMG. Having had a chance to think for a few days, I now realize it's not for me. After deducting 125K MQMs for Diamond I would have enough MQMs left to extend status to 2025 and 2026. However, I would be a second class citizen compared to Diamonds who earned it the hard way. I fly enough to where being a notch higher on the upgrade hierarchy makes a big difference. I also value the Choice options, particularly the ability to designate two of my kids as Golds.

So my plan for 2024 is to convert some of my MQMs to MQDs at the new 10:1 ratio. Combined with flights already booked and the Reserve card bonus I am already basically qualified for Diamond by March 15, with some left over for RDM conversion. The pressure is off for the rest of the year, freeing me up to pursue Platinum Pro with AA as well.

I realize this leaves me nothing for the following year, but I think Platinum requalification is well within reach, and I will just have to learn to live at that level after many years of Diamond. Most probably by then Delta will have lost a lot of Diamonds and may be more generous with incentives, so who knows.

So in essence I am turning down Diamond Lite in 2025 and 2026 for proper Diamond in 2025 and proper Platinum in 2026.

Of course YMMV based on your personal goals and objectives

I was thinking the same thing, however, I have not seen Delta confirming anything by way of the Choice benefits for this option, nor have I seen anything saying that you would be lower in upgrade priority if you earned Diamond this way. Have you read something to confirm this?

Yes , I live in Germany and according to my calculations , for us overseas Medllions , the "only" way I see qualifing for at least SM is for example at least 2 transatlantic flights in D1 ( fare bucket revelant ) will get you close to SM. This is an improvement from minimun 6K requirement MQD for SM. The removal of earning MQD's for Delta vacations , hotel stays and car rentals really is a severe blow to us. Delta doesn't like us at all.

They did not remove earning MQD�s for Delta Vacations, just for the individual hotel and car bookings. Though Delta Vacations is one site I don�t care to use.

I, too, am curious about this, as I'm contemplating whether to take a mileage run to hit the last 100K for DM.

I probably would have booked one or two stays too, but only if I were near a threshold�but I (like many other bus travelers I�m sure) would rather use the rewards from another one of our CCs that has better earning/redemption rates when traveling on personal time. (Actually I would prefer their booking engine over DLs for paid travel too, because the rewards are much better).

I will say, a few weeks ago, I was out the door, but they brought me back in with the rollbacks. DL is my airline of choice. Not my travel agent wannabe/credit card company of choice. It�s too bad they can�t just make enough money by flying airplanes�.

delta said Diamond. Not Diamond light. Not Diamond without benefits. They clearly communicated for 100k in rollover, you buy Diamond for another year.

Has anyone seen if the Take 15 Off will continue or counting redemptions as MQD? Those two benefits make it useful to keep the card as well.

Yes, but they said "Diamond" too in 2022 when they extended status for another year - without CB's. And i still wonder why they don't charge the standard 125k MQM's for Diamond.

My understanding is this has been confirmed by Delta through Twitter. Of course if status extension comes with full benefits then my thinking changes entirely, but why would Delta be so stupid as to completely discourage us from doing any traveling?