As part of the Elite Extra Perks program that NW had, one of your options at the 90k threshold was to gift Silver Elite status. At the 120k mile threshold, one of your options was to gift Gold Elite status.

There are two sides to this. With the companion upgrade, your FO or no status companion has jumped the line, ahead of other medallions. So, if you're a PM and bought your ticket 5 weeks out, I'm a PM and bought on the same fare class 4 weeks out, and your companion is an FO, and there are only two seats up front, your companion will get the UG and I'll sit in back. That's fabulous for the two of you, but crappy for me.

(of course, under the NW system, I'd get 1000 miles in exchange for sitting in back, so my ego will still get stroked).

The way the DL system works, you UG at the companion window, rather than at your window, so in the case above, I'd UG 5 days out, and you and your companion would UG 1 day out, after the other PM's and GM's. However, the way many of us do it is to split the PNR's. For example, when I travel with my FO wife, I UG at the PM window, then, if there are still seats available, she UG's at the 1 day FO window. If she doesn't get the UG, then we swap BP's in the jetway, she sits up front, and I get her window seat in back. Maybe not as nice for us as the NW system, but much fairer for every other medallion on board that flight.

I heard second hand that there were hints about EP/DM at the Do.

David

I totally agree with you, and thanks for posting what you did. I realize that many people liked to use the NW system of companion upgrades, but I am so thankful Delta did not adopt it.

+1!!! Your SO should not get an upgrade over me - any day of the week if they hold lower or no status.

There is nothing inherently "unfair" about what is an above-board and published program benefit. It's probably not the best benefit to carry over to DL as implemented on NW because the F sections are often smaller (& upgrades generally more competitive) and other Plats are more likely to end up in back.

With regard to Golds & Silvers losing out to Plat companions, too bad. Plats have benefits that Golds & Silvers don't. Those who don't like it are free to suffer and whine.

Statements that this benefit extended to award tickets are also out of date, although it's questionable whether the change was actually implemented in the upgrade software. This aspect of the Plat companion upgrade were specifically removed from the program benefits ~2 years ago.

For the "VIP" line, we have SMS right now and NW had Chisolm before which essentially is a VIP line.

Upgrades on award tickets were something already offered on NW & were going to be brought over anyway (except for some IT glitches).

Choice benefits are CURRENTLY in place:
*Earn 100,000 MQMs—enjoy your choice of 15,000 bonus miles, four One-Day Delta Sky Club™ passes, Silver Medallion status to gift to a friend or $100 Marriott® Bonus Bucks®.
*Earn 125,000 MQMs—enjoy your choice of 20,000 bonus miles, eight One-Day Delta Sky Club passes or $100 Marriott Bonus Bucks.
*Earn 150,000 MQMs—enjoy your choice of 25,000 bonus miles, a one-year Delta Sky Club membership, Gold Medallion status to gift to a friend or $100 Marriott Bonus Bucks.
*Earn 175,000 MQMs—enjoy 25,000 bonus miles at every additional increment of 25,000 above 150,000.

Rollover MQM's is new. That I neglected to mention.

Honestly there were some hints but there were some things that were introduced that Jeff said would come back eventually (award tickets) but no real feedback about this program.

upgrades on award tickets were available to NW PE's (still are in fact).

Choice benefits (available for DM's having 125K MQM) were basically a perk of the EEP program by NW when their PE's reached 120K EQM (silver/gold giveaway, bonus RDM's and other choices). So they were not PM benefits per se, but required fewer EQM/MQM to attain than the current DM program requires.

So in that light, this is another reduction of benefits that ended up being "given back" under a new name.

I actually agree with Mike on this. Something like this for the DM level would have been great..l prioritize those pax below other DM's but above PM's. That's a POSITIVE incentive to fly and provides me, as a DM, the ability to not have to sit in Y because my lower flying companion is with me.

I think DM's should have a few more bones thrown to them for the new structure to be effective- for an extra 50k BIS they need something to distinguish the tier. One option would be the NW style companion UG for DM's but not for PM's.

Remember, that there is a limited supply of anything provided, so whenever a benefit is given to one member, something is taken away from somewhere else in the system. That is the case I described with the NW companion upgrade program. So, DL has a big balancing act to do, where to give benefits and where they can take those benefits from. Some benefits cost very little, others can cost a lot- that's something they discussed when we were in ATL.

I agree in principle but I'm not sure it would be wise to do this at the expense of Plats. They need to firm up the floor underneath the Plat benefits.

I can see it both ways but, as Gargoyle said, throw the DM's a bone.. for 50K extra that would have been a revenue neutral move.

I'll reach the DM threshold, but end up converting very few of the added bennies.

SkyClub access, especially.

The MQM roll-over feature holds great potential.

Finally got through this thread and decided I would weigh in with my two cents.

First, as many other posters have already said, each FF program has to be examined for what works for you and at least IMO there are pluses and minues to each. With regard to next years changes, I am relatively pleased with them based on what benefits work best for me and my family.

The MQM rollover is probably the biggest perk considering I will likely reach in excess of 200K this year. Since I've averaged about 100K MQM's the past 4 years with the exception of this year, as long as my travel patterns remain the same, I will qualify for DM through at least 2013. The other perks of the new DM will further increase the benefits I use most for both business and personal travel.

1) Gifting Gold status to my wife - We rarely use miles for domestic travel and I'm too cheap to buy a F or A class ticket so now my wife has a fighting change as a gold to get complimentary upgrades as well. This basically means I have a fighting chance to sit up front since I always gave her my upgrade.

2) 125% bonus miles - While I fly internationally for business a coupel times per year, my trips are usually pretty flexible to the extent that I can find a reasonable M class fare with J upgrade availability to use my now SWU's. But for personal travel we almost always use miles for a J seat so the increase in mileage bonus will help. At an average of 100K miles per year, the 125% bonus will give me a pool of 225K miles to use toward those J award seats.

3) Domestic upgrades - Since the majority of my business travel is domestic, being DM will hopefully increase my upgrade chances which this year as a PM have been averaging about 80%.

4) Waived award fees - In reference to number 2 above I now can at least book the J seats based on the dates we want then continue to shop around for "cheaper" availability leading up to the flights without having to worry about out of pocket costs (Note: Don't flame me for abusing the system because that is not the intent nor something I have done previously).

5) Sky Club Membership - While the cost for the annual sky club membership isn't that big of deal for me, it is a nice perk to know I won't have to worry about it for the forseeable future.

6) VIP line - I'm curious to see how beneficial this is but considering how the phones get pounded by Medallions when there's a flight irregularity, I'm hopeful this VIP line will give me quicker access to someone that can get me rebooked before the masses eat up available inventory.

So overall I would say good job Delta in expanding on a program that works BEST FOR ME. While I sympathize with those that don't benefit greatly from these changes based on what works for you all I can say is continue to examine all FF programs and find the best one that does.