4th Tier Announcement Tomorrow (6/28)
Jul 27, 2009, 11:43 pm
#226
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: check swarm
Programs: DL DM & 2MM, SPG/Bonvoid LT Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, $tarbucks Titanium
Posts: 14,412
For some of us NW folk, our WC memberships cost a lot less than that when using the 3 year option. @:-) Oh, and we had real cheese all day, not "processed cheese food" that DL seems to perfer during happy hour.
Jul 27, 2009, 11:46 pm
#227
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: check swarm
Programs: DL DM & 2MM, SPG/Bonvoid LT Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, $tarbucks Titanium
Posts: 14,412
Jul 27, 2009, 11:47 pm
#228
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: MCO
Programs: DL-DM/1MM, HILTON-DIA, .HYATT-DIA/GLOB , IHG-PLT,HERTZ 5*, NATIONAL ES
Posts: 8,691
Sitting at around 120,000 MQMs this year. Can book future travel as it arises, but now I am torn on what my next move is.
The SC benefit is not really useful to me as I have a membership paid by my employer. I will also probably not pay for an M fare to fly int'l.
I am happy to see the NW PE program returning, with its 125% bonus and all, but not really sure that it is worth 50,000 MQMs.
I was reminded of another NW benefit last night when I was stuck in Y on a DTW - SFO flight on NW. Today when my milage posted, I saw that nice 1,000 PLT bonus for not getting upgraded. Where is this benefit??? Doesn't seem like much, but it is a little bit of a perk for sitting in Y for 4 1/2 hours with no Wi FI or AVOD/IFE. I survived on my "Have One on us: Vouchers.... Maybe they should give DM's about 30 of those vouchers..
Despite my better judgement, I may be shooting for Gold on US as I fear that when fares begin to rise again, I may be stuck over there next year, rendering DM even more useless. The last thing I want to do is find myself with not status over there.. Might as well fly WN at that point!!!
The SC benefit is not really useful to me as I have a membership paid by my employer. I will also probably not pay for an M fare to fly int'l.
I am happy to see the NW PE program returning, with its 125% bonus and all, but not really sure that it is worth 50,000 MQMs.
I was reminded of another NW benefit last night when I was stuck in Y on a DTW - SFO flight on NW. Today when my milage posted, I saw that nice 1,000 PLT bonus for not getting upgraded. Where is this benefit??? Doesn't seem like much, but it is a little bit of a perk for sitting in Y for 4 1/2 hours with no Wi FI or AVOD/IFE. I survived on my "Have One on us: Vouchers.... Maybe they should give DM's about 30 of those vouchers..
Despite my better judgement, I may be shooting for Gold on US as I fear that when fares begin to rise again, I may be stuck over there next year, rendering DM even more useless. The last thing I want to do is find myself with not status over there.. Might as well fly WN at that point!!!
Jul 27, 2009, 11:49 pm
#229
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: DL 3MM/DM, AA 3MM/PLT, UA 1K
Posts: 322
Hmmm...so I guess that means I'll get 6 paper PMU's for DL, 6 paper PMU's for NW (that used to be electronic, but the programs will be merged in favor of paper). I'm already qualified for Diamond, so I can choose 6 more PMU's and if the Choice Rewards allow me to get the same thing twice, 6 more PMU's. So, I could have 24 by this time next year, and all 24 are not worth the 8 NW SWU's I still have in my account.
Jul 27, 2009, 11:59 pm
#230
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
Welcome to Delta Airlines where Platinum status gets devalued again and Diamond status is mostly nothing more than what DL-NW had previously offered top-tier elites before taking it away and now giving it back to just a small fraction of those Platinum members whose status was devalued by Delta Airlines management again and again and again.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jul 28, 2009 at 12:06 am
Jul 28, 2009, 12:14 am
#231
Join Date: May 2008
Location: BOS
Programs: TK Elite (*G), DL Gold (MM)
Posts: 121
Welcome to Delta Airlines where Platinum status gets devalued again and Diamond status is mostly nothing more than what DL-NW had previously offered top-tier elites before taking it away and now giving it back to just a small fraction of those Platinum members whose status was devalued by Delta Airlines management again and again and again.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:15 am
#232
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
For the majority of those international fliers who travel enough to hit 50k miles per year and are using a US airline FF program, they are better off with AA and UA as DL management thinks of a huge segment of them and even Platinums as customers who are not valuable and who are easily replaceable.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:16 am
#233
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: DCA
Programs: DL DM, HH Diamond; SPG Gold; MR Platinum :)
Posts: 521
The rollover MQM idea is pretty neat.
Of course, it brings up an interesting strategic quandary for folks like myself. I'm currently at about 100K MQMs. Do I make the effort to go for Diamond OR do I not worry about hitting 125K, realizing that everything about 75K will roll over to next year. If I get close to 25K, I'll be close to Gold for next year.
From what I saw in the article, the big discriminator seems to be Complimentary SkyClub membership. I burn miles each for for a SkyClub membership anyway, so I'm not sure that a SkyClub membership alone is going to convince me that I should push for Diamond, instead of taking the rollover.
I don't think domestic upgrades would make a difference -even as a PM, I'll still be competing against the same (relatively) small population for those seats so the fact that one or two "diamonds" may trump me probably wont matter. Most likely, they would have trumped me as PMs anyway.
Maybe if "Diamonds" got a "hold that plane" benefit when they were on the last flight of the night? Suppose a Diamond is connecting in ATL to the last flight of the night to their destination but their inbound is late arriving (for example, JFK-ATL-MCO). If the Delta computer "saw" that there were Diamonds on the ATL-MCO flight AND computed that "holding" ATL-MCO wouldn't cause the crew to go illegal, the flight would be held until the connecting Diamonds were aboard?
Of course, it brings up an interesting strategic quandary for folks like myself. I'm currently at about 100K MQMs. Do I make the effort to go for Diamond OR do I not worry about hitting 125K, realizing that everything about 75K will roll over to next year. If I get close to 25K, I'll be close to Gold for next year.
From what I saw in the article, the big discriminator seems to be Complimentary SkyClub membership. I burn miles each for for a SkyClub membership anyway, so I'm not sure that a SkyClub membership alone is going to convince me that I should push for Diamond, instead of taking the rollover.
I don't think domestic upgrades would make a difference -even as a PM, I'll still be competing against the same (relatively) small population for those seats so the fact that one or two "diamonds" may trump me probably wont matter. Most likely, they would have trumped me as PMs anyway.
Maybe if "Diamonds" got a "hold that plane" benefit when they were on the last flight of the night? Suppose a Diamond is connecting in ATL to the last flight of the night to their destination but their inbound is late arriving (for example, JFK-ATL-MCO). If the Delta computer "saw" that there were Diamonds on the ATL-MCO flight AND computed that "holding" ATL-MCO wouldn't cause the crew to go illegal, the flight would be held until the connecting Diamonds were aboard?
Jul 28, 2009, 12:18 am
#234
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Beverly Hills, CA
Programs: DL DM & 2MM, UA-PE, AA
Posts: 1,074
Despite my better judgement, I may be shooting for Gold on US as I fear that when fares begin to rise again, I may be stuck over there next year, rendering DM even more useless. The last thing I want to do is find myself with not status over there.. Might as well fly WN at that point!!!
Seeing that DL has kept the PMU's M+ requirement for TATL flights (instead of the real SWUs on AA and UA), I am really glad I did. I don't think the announced DM is competitive and it will not be until they offer SWU's like the competition (AA's EEP and UA's 1k) and reduce the qualification to 100k MQM.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:29 am
#235
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Silver, BA Gold, DL Gold
Posts: 9,779
I'm just a bit confused by DM. It does, indeed, seem awfully weak. Yes, the extra bonus miles are nice, as is the CRC membership, but it just doesn't seem an overly compelling suite of benefits that might draw a lot of EXPs or and 1ks. That being said, if you are the right kind of traveler - domestic-heavy, paid J or redemptions for foreign travel, it could be attractive. Think about such a scenario for a 125k traveler. You would earn an additional 30k or so in mileage, have excellent upgrade rates, and lounge access.
But just how many such folks are there? If you use SWUs, then DM is a downgrade. If you want one of the lounge-bearing cards for other reasons, then DM is a downgrade. If you have more miles than you know what to do with, then DM is a downgrade. At 125k, it simply isn't a great status to my mind.
For everything else, though, I believe that this remains a competitive program. Yes, PMs lose 2 PMUs, but you still get 4 more than you would get at 75k with any other carrier. Besides, I thought they were useless - and now you get other choices that may be more valuable to you. At the end of the day, PM is very, very competitive with CO Plat, which is the primary competition at that point. The glaring shortfall remains no Elite Plus for Golds.
The real benefit, though, is the roll-over EQMs, and I think this is getting short-changed. This is a big benefit to my mind. Take the 90k flier. You aren't getting anything better for 90k, so PM is what it is, but you ain't qualifying for anything else. And the 15k roll-over gives you a lot of flexibility.
But just how many such folks are there? If you use SWUs, then DM is a downgrade. If you want one of the lounge-bearing cards for other reasons, then DM is a downgrade. If you have more miles than you know what to do with, then DM is a downgrade. At 125k, it simply isn't a great status to my mind.
For everything else, though, I believe that this remains a competitive program. Yes, PMs lose 2 PMUs, but you still get 4 more than you would get at 75k with any other carrier. Besides, I thought they were useless - and now you get other choices that may be more valuable to you. At the end of the day, PM is very, very competitive with CO Plat, which is the primary competition at that point. The glaring shortfall remains no Elite Plus for Golds.
The real benefit, though, is the roll-over EQMs, and I think this is getting short-changed. This is a big benefit to my mind. Take the 90k flier. You aren't getting anything better for 90k, so PM is what it is, but you ain't qualifying for anything else. And the 15k roll-over gives you a lot of flexibility.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:50 am
#236
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: ATL
Programs: DL - PM (Sky Priority);HH - Gold; Marriott - Silver; National - Executive; DL Reserve AMEX
Posts: 5,238
First of all, it's on the website:
https://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...es_program.jsp
Secondly, it's stated: "Coming Spring 2010..."
So, don't worry about it this year...
https://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...es_program.jsp
Secondly, it's stated: "Coming Spring 2010..."
So, don't worry about it this year...
Jul 28, 2009, 12:50 am
#237
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: Fallen Plats, ex-WN CP, DYKWIW; still PAL Premier Elite & Hilton Diamond
Posts: 25,419
Once again, DL turned a prime opportunity to rise above the other a/ls into another episode of "let's see if we can put another one over on those silly FFers". Disappointing. I'm not blaming Jeff, but obviously he needs some lessons from Bob on staying power in battles with the nice people in Rev Mgmt.
To his credit he undid Rob & Leo's damage when he first arrived, but that was pretty much a no-brainer. It's been downhill ever since.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:52 am
#238
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: LAX/BUR
Posts: 2,013
Still not great given that one cannot use SWUs on lower fare classes.
Last edited by Angeleno228; Jul 28, 2009 at 1:16 am Reason: misunderstood new SWU upgrade window
Jul 28, 2009, 12:53 am
#239
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: ATL
Programs: DL - PM (Sky Priority);HH - Gold; Marriott - Silver; National - Executive; DL Reserve AMEX
Posts: 5,238
For those of us that earn at least 37,500 MQM a year, this roll-over program means we'll alternate between Silver and Gold starting next year.
If I earn 37,500 MQM next year (in 2010), I'll end the year as a Silver (for 2011), but I'll start 2011 will 12,500 MQM in my account. If I earn 37,500 again in 2011, I'll earn Gold and be Gold for 2012. In 2012, the count starts over and this continues.
If I earn 37,500 MQM next year (in 2010), I'll end the year as a Silver (for 2011), but I'll start 2011 will 12,500 MQM in my account. If I earn 37,500 again in 2011, I'll earn Gold and be Gold for 2012. In 2012, the count starts over and this continues.
Jul 28, 2009, 12:58 am
#240
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: ATL
Programs: DL - PM (Sky Priority);HH - Gold; Marriott - Silver; National - Executive; DL Reserve AMEX
Posts: 5,238
"Rollover benefit means Medallion Qualification Miles earned in 2009 above member's earned Medallion threshold level will be rolled over to 2010 and will count toward 2011 Medallion status qualification."