The Evil Cycle: PM -> Many Miles -> Award Flights -> GM
Jul 18, 2008, 3:08 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Kingdom of the Sun
Programs: DL GM/MM
Posts: 3,708
The Evil Cycle: PM -> Many Miles -> Award Flights -> GM
Made PM for the first time last year but between the 100% bonus and the credit cards, have gone to well over 300K miles in about 2 years. So then I have to burn those miles ... resulting in not enough MQMs to barely make GM for the next year. At which time I have to fly real revenue miles to get back to PM and then start the cycle all over.
It's evil, I say!
It's evil, I say!
Jul 18, 2008, 3:43 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Programs: DL PM, HH Diamond, Fairmont Prem, SPG Gold, Priority Club Plat/IC Amb, AmEx Plat
Posts: 10,839
I unfortunately don't have time to burn miles. I did send the ex-girlfriend's family to San Juan in F last year and that burned some miles, but I'm now back at 300,000+ miles. What you could do is use the miles for upgrades or CRC memberships.
Jul 18, 2008, 4:48 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Seat 1A (hopefully) between JAN and ???
Programs: DL PM .313 MM & CRC, AA .453 MM, HH Silver, Priority Club, Fairmont President's Club
Posts: 261
Mr. SpiritofEcstasy
Membership Level: Gold Medallion
Medallion® Qualification Miles (Year to date): 69286
Current SkyMiles Mileage Balance 660537
Million Miler™ Miles 275040
I'm going to go PM any day now thanks to the Double MQM promotion and the SM Platinum Amex. The miles shown above are after a 112,500 mile deduction for a December roundtrip to HNL in F on DL. All my flying is domestic, usually with one paid trip to Hawaii each year, so normally, I need all the MQMs I can get. My only practical use for miles is to upgrade (30K) on that paid ticket. Maybe I need to look at using some for a CRC membership.
Jul 18, 2008, 5:00 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Kingdom of the Sun
Programs: DL GM/MM
Posts: 3,708
Upgrades, definite possibility, except I usually fly on LUT fares, and the complimentary upgrades are working out well (see box score). CRC simply doesn't work for me because, as a leisure flyer, I rarely have to burn a lot of time in a lounge.
Jul 18, 2008, 6:04 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Seat 1A (hopefully) between JAN and ???
Programs: DL PM .313 MM & CRC, AA .453 MM, HH Silver, Priority Club, Fairmont President's Club
Posts: 261
Just did a little research on the issue. A CRC membership for my +1 and me is $450 or 60,000 miles once I turn PM, plus the $50 or 10,000 miles initiation fee. That's a value of .71 cents per mile, which is pretty low, but those miles aren't doing me a lot of good otherwise.
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...fees/index.jsp
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...fees/index.jsp
Jul 19, 2008, 11:29 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: STX
Programs: Used to have a bunch of shiny metallic cards. That was one life ago.
Posts: 1,807
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))
The initiation fee (dollars or miles) is waived for elites.
Originally Posted by SpiritofEcstasy
Just did a little research on the issue. A CRC membership for my +1 and me is $450 or 60,000 miles once I turn PM, plus the $50 or 10,000 miles initiation fee. That's a value of .71 cents per mile, which is pretty low, but those miles aren't doing me a lot of good otherwise.
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...fees/index.jsp
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...fees/index.jsp
Jul 19, 2008, 11:43 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Georgia
Programs: DL DM/2MM
Posts: 1,036
Use award tix to fly others, not yourself. It works better if you have kids.
Jul 19, 2008, 3:04 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Seat 1A (hopefully) between JAN and ???
Programs: DL PM .313 MM & CRC, AA .453 MM, HH Silver, Priority Club, Fairmont President's Club
Posts: 261
You are correct, sir!!
I didn't read far enough down into the terms and conditions.
"A new member is someone who has not been a Crown Room Club member in the 6 months prior to enrollment. Medallion members who pay with miles will have the 10,000 mile initiation fee waived.
So, once I turn PM, 60,000 miles will get my CRC membership, at a value of .75 cents per mile.
I didn't read far enough down into the terms and conditions.
"A new member is someone who has not been a Crown Room Club member in the 6 months prior to enrollment. Medallion members who pay with miles will have the 10,000 mile initiation fee waived.
So, once I turn PM, 60,000 miles will get my CRC membership, at a value of .75 cents per mile.
Jul 19, 2008, 4:32 pm
#9
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Orange County, CA
Programs: CO PE, DL PM
Posts: 370
Deleted
Last edited by najay; Jul 19, 2008 at 4:37 pm Reason: misread a post
Jul 19, 2008, 4:36 pm
#10
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Orange County, CA
Programs: CO PE, DL PM
Posts: 370
I look at my FF miles as an insurance policy. They have bailed me out more than once on some expensive last minute tickets for family emergencies.
Jul 19, 2008, 10:35 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Up in the Air
Programs: DL MM; UA MM/1K
Posts: 613
Don't worry about burning miles. Delta will devalue them for you.
DLP
DLP
Jul 20, 2008, 10:50 pm
#12
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Programs: DL DM; UA; AA
Posts: 446
That's exactly what I have started to do. Got an award ticket for my 9-year old son; one of the segments only had FC availability... which I didn't tell him in advance. You should have seen the expression on his face when I handed him a BP that said 1A! (It was somewhat of a gamble, actually, as my own ticket was U or T -- but I did get myself successfully upgraded into 1B.) The BP is now hanging on the wall in his room, framed. My best use of 35,000 miles thus far! :-)
Jul 21, 2008, 9:36 am
#13
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Seat 1A (hopefully) between JAN and ???
Programs: DL PM .313 MM & CRC, AA .453 MM, HH Silver, Priority Club, Fairmont President's Club
Posts: 261
Uh-oh, Stefan, you're in trouble now! He'll want his own Platinum Amex soon, so he can start spending towards the $25,000/10,000 MQM bonus, and he's gonna insist on being booked in Y/B/M fares so he can get the 150% MQMs earned and make FO/GM/PM on his own! I don't think I ever flew F until I was over 30. I can't imagine how upgrade-mad I would be if I'd started at 9!!!
Jul 21, 2008, 9:42 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: DAB
Programs: Delta PM
Posts: 627
I'm in the same situation, but sitting at 30K MQMs and not sure whether to go for gold. Also not sure if I can actually book a SkySaver trip to Hawaii before 2010 with the miles I do have 
Jul 21, 2008, 11:10 am
#15
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
More than impacting my airline status, the frequent use of award travel hits my hotel status since I use award tickets to cut down on my nights staying at hotels.
It would be nice if airlines considered award travel toward status just like at least one hotel chain considers award stays toward status. Short of that happening, glad to have found out that there's at least one non-airline program where award flights can be used toward earning some loyalty program points.
It would be nice if airlines considered award travel toward status just like at least one hotel chain considers award stays toward status. Short of that happening, glad to have found out that there's at least one non-airline program where award flights can be used toward earning some loyalty program points.