Interesting. I became PM in late summer 2001, and received 6 PMUs with my 2001 PM credentials. I did not receive any PMUs the next year (2002) with those credentials.

This is in accordance with DL's policy "6 PMUs per year you fly 100K+", which is also reflected in GRS G*9724/43-16:

If what you said is true, I'd still be due my 2002 PMUs, or rather the 120K miles I had to use to upgrade rather than the PMUs.

BruceB:

Please pass one thing along for me:

We need a forth level. One that restores the old PM benefits for domestic travel and that rewards us with PMUs or SWUs every 20,000 miles like before. You are ignoring those of us that really spend a lot of money.

I will wind up at the top of four programs this year. I prefer Delta (not the planes or the inflight service, just the backbone) but you have forced me to. I get six to eight SWUs with each 100,000 flown if I mix carriers. Did you guys completely miss the incentive to be disloyal when you changed that part of the program?

Anyone who flies four international trips from the west coast will be Platinum with these changes. I do 30+. All I want is the old program and my revenue triples with you. I bet there's a lot of me out here.

Call me crazy, but I just did this! It was quite a struggle, more than 45 minutes mostly on hold, because the SMS agent had heard of the new rule but never used it -- not too surprisingly! He had to get a supervisor to help him, and both of them spent quite a while searching for the applicable code to waive the $100 change fee. Whew!

Anyway, I had only one itinerary in 2003 at less than K fare, and now that one is K, too. It cost me $98.38, and I was able to upgrade both long legs (but not a Delta Connection flight in between). Can't really complain, and now I'll get two nice meals that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, as well as full MQM credit.

Bruce (the other one!)

You're crazy.

DL announces that you have to buy K+ to get full MQM, and you go ahead and give them $100 to get the full MQM that you thought you were entitled to when you bought the ticket.

DL effectively halved the qualifying miles on you after you bought your flights. Now they have the chutzpah to say that you can pay up to get the MQM that you were entitled to at time of purchase... but that you can't just get a full refund and take your business elsewhere. That's gall.

I am glad I am not sitting on any 2003 insULT fares.

Heck, I requalified for PM before mid-August, and other than the letter allowing me to defer certain mileage into next year, I have received no new credentials or PMUs. Will be lucky to receive the new packet before mid Feb if past experience is any guide!

Gee, I see all my points about why should anyone pay for any fare other than either a FULL "F" or a "L"... were ignored. Again, I point out that for a PM, these changes virually force us to fly CO/NW if we like FC or AA/UA if we want cheap and get coach.
Oh, by the way, thanks again for touting the fare class bonus for FC... guess what Bruce? CO/NW already does that too! Keep convincing me to give Delta more money... so far you are making the point that we MUST switch to CO/NW. But, I seriously would like to know how you can square all these statements about rewarding high revenue customers, while forcing PM's to leave. The whole reward system now favors, the once in a blue moon full "Y" flyer, verses the day in day out PM spending decent money. I hope you can make your Yield losing 85% of the K+ fares we spend and make it up with the one or 2 "Y" fares you sell. I think you will see, the math won't work.
And slamming the person above because they only pay $150 for a "K" fare was low class. It's YOUR fault for selling the fare in the first place. Do you go in the grocery store and find them blaming the customer because the milk is too cheap? Or reverse it, would you like us to believe, that you would speak up and want to pay more for the milk than the store asks for? The whole problem is you guys don't have the fiscal discipline to charge what you need to for a leisure seat, so you rip off business travelers. So, stop blaming us for buying your stupid fares. If $150 is too low, raise it. But don't blame us. "we have found the enemy, and they are us!"

Bruce,

LAOCA has a VERY valid point. I myself am top elite on three other carriers and fly almost exclusively with DL internationally. NAMU's are/were useless to me (especially as my wife is GM on her own already), and 800 milers were worth practically nothging to us. The SWU thing was very important to a lot of non-US based people and you guys know that you lost some int'l business based on this. Therefore while the PMU system may seem fair to y'all, it is in fact a competitive disadvantage to have done away with the SWU's.

Will their be other benefits for NON-US based fliers (and yes I know about the 5000 mile thing, its been referred to ad nauseum)??

cigarman,

I understand (and share) your frustration. However, DL sent a rep here to answer our questions. Don't beat him up. He is trying to answer as many questions as possible, and promptly. If you want him to address your actual questions, try not burying them amid all that anger.

We don't like the message. But I appreciate the messenger. Bruce, I dislike what you have to say, but I appreciate that you are here to say it.

I think it was very wrong to insult that poster telling her that her "K" fares weren't expensive enough. That's not her fault. I also know he skipped me post with earlier that asks important questions about exactly how PM have any real benefits left. You might notice it was the only post that was "seconded" by another poster to respond to. Clearly, the questions were popular, however, my questions were not answered. Thus, I'm not going to do cartwheels with joy. Had they answered my questions, with something, even if I didn't like the answer, would have been a sign of respect for the customer. Ignoring the questions, imply disrespect for the customer. Then, they followed up and insulted that lady. So to heck with Delta, I don't need to be "nice" to them... they aren't so nice to me the customer. So like any customer, I am always right, and can vote with my $$$. And if they don't like it... perhaps they can reflect on eastern airlines and their great love for their customers. The customer is NOT the problem. Disrespect the customer and you will not be a business for long.

BruceB,

With all of the changes to the upgrade policy, why does Delta consider 4 SMU's
or 5,000 bonus miles equal rewards? If Delta is going to charge us 25,000 skymiles to 'purchase' 4 SMU's, how is 5,000 a justifiable reward?

Secondly, you mentioned that a plus for the new system is the ability to upgrade Y, B, or M fares at the time of booking. I already have that ability today, and it includes upgrading K, H and Q fares. Your changes remove this benefit, and in my world that is a minus no matter how you try to spin it.

quote:
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Originally posted by bruceb:
Delta Platinum Medallion members also receive six Platinum Medallion Upgrades if they make Platinum Medallion level part way through a year and six at the beginning of the next year when they receive their new credentials.

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?? Does this mean that I have the potential to receive 12 PMU certs per year? Meaning, I would receive 6 in January and 6 more in Sep/Oct/Nov or whenever I hit my 100K q-miles? If so, then I do consider that an improvement over last year.

BruceB

Thanks for giving us an outlet. I make Platinum every year on miles and mostly fly last minute on Y/B/M fares out of PDX, which means connections and long flights. After thinking through the changes, it appears that my incentive to make Platinum and give Delta all my east/west business has been greatly reduced.

I tried to quantify what the impact could be and analyzed a simple but realistic example hoping to understand the potential impact. I would appreciate any clarifications to my understanding of the new program.

A platinum flys transcontinental on 20 trips a year (40 flights assuming 2,500 miles each way and 100,000 actual miles). I pulled the fares from PDX to JFK for short notice travel and got a quote of $1,720 RT in B/M classes.

If platinums receive 6 complimentary one way upgrades, then I need to earn miles points for 34 flights (40 - 6).

The 100,000 actual miles will generate a credit of 150,000 do to the B/M class 1.5 bonus and create 60 500 miles points (150,000 MQM miles / 10,000 miles points threshold = 15 * 4 per 10,000 miles = 60 miles points).

The remaining 34 flights would require 170 miles points to upgrade (34 flights * 2,500 miles per flight = 85,000 miles / 500 miles per point).

I would be 110 miles point short to upgrade all the flights (170 miles points required - 60 miles points earned). This would mean that 22 of the 40 flights would be in coach (55%). (110 miles points * 500 miles per point = 55,000 miles / 2,500 miles per flight = 22 flights in the back of the bus).

The revenue generated for Delta would be $34,407. Under the current program and with some flexibility on the routing, I would probably upgrade on 38 to 39 of the 40 flights.

If 55% of the time I am going to be in coach, why would I connect through SLC or ATL vs flying direct on Continental at $1,720 per pop or go through Seattle on Alaska in first. Free CRC and making my nephew a Gold are not worth 55,000 miles transcon with my knees in my chest.

It seems like a big hit to your existing high margin traffic. Am I missing something?


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PDX DL PM/MM AS/Gold MVP UAL/PE Marriott Gold

The 100,000 actual miles will only result in 40 500-mile segment upgrade points. Segment upgrade points are earned based on actual miles and NOT qualification miles.

In your example, you will be in coach 65% of the time.

Bruceb,

"Special Qualification Considerations: Members who would have earned a higher status under the new Medallion Qualification Miles guidelines (based on their 2002 travel activity) will be awarded that higher status in early January 2003"
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At this time, Is there a way to find out how many 2002 MQM miles one would have earned under the new guidelines. This is critical for those of us who are close to being PM/GM under the current(old) guidelines, but not there yet. (In my situation, I have given up attempts to become a PM with the current base miles. But under the new guidelines, I am probably very close which I would still be able to make it by flying, may be, another 4K miles. But how would I know for sure? Can SMS tell me the "would be" 2002 MQM miles? or even better, can delta.com skymiles online account account statement show this? If so, how quickly it can be available? Its already Dec 16th.. pl. help.

PS: Recalculating manually isn't possible for me, as the correct data is not available for the full year.

Thanks.
etkt222

Deleted or rather moved...

[This message has been edited by EyeFlyDoc (edited 12-16-2002).]