Novice Needs Help
 

For the past two years my husband and myself have had Gold Medallion status with Delta. We have really enjoyed the perks associated with this, and would like to maintain it.

Looking over the travel we expect to take between now and Dec. 31, I think we are going to be about 16,000 miles short. Originally I thought we would just fly between JAX and SEA five times, because I could always find fares for $198. I have not seen a $198 fare from JAX to SEA in months.

Delta has a sale going for international flights. I can fly to either Beijing or Sydney for about $1000. I think this would be the least expensive way to get those extra 16,000 miles.

I have no experience at managing my itinerary to earn maximum points, and no way to calculate the best and least expensive way to accumulate miles.

The Delta sale ends July 31. Should I buy these international tickets or wait and watch and hope I see some more of those MCO to LAX fares before the end of the year?

i think there is a promo w/ 2x eqm & 3x rdm for round trips from stl, pit, rdu, phl.[check 1st]....so, consider starting at 1 of them for your run...2x to left coast should get 20k & 30k plus the rt positioning....good luck....

edit....even w/ a short vacation in syd, i would recommend using the promo..

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ns-thread.html

above link contains all the current Delta promos, including the the 25,000 bonus miles + double qualifying miles for EU travel out of PHL. Wasn't sure if you both needed to score 16,000 miles but if so, above might be a little easier & less painful than the SYD run.

In regard to managing miles & earning most bang for your status & buck, again Delta forum should be a big help in that direction too.

Thanks. That Consolidation site was great. I remember some discussion on the Delta thread about flights departing from those airports receiving double MQMs. Then there seemed to be some confusion about the flights outside of the US.

The last time I read the thread (which admittedly has been several days ago) the consensus at that time seemed to be that to qualify for the double MQMs a person would have to fly non-stop from one of those four airports to his international destination. Since I imagine very few international flights originate from those four airports I did not pursue this promotion. None of the international destinations where we travel or wish to travel originate non-stop international flights in any of those cities.

It also seemed to me that in order to be eligible for this promotion you had to be invited to participate. Some forum members were reporting that they had received email invitations to participate, and others did not. We did not receive any invitation. Is it still possible to participate in this promotion, and if so, how would we register for it. I assume I should register prior to booking the flights?

I searched on the general DL web site under the promotions menu and found absolutely nothing about this promotion.

So, let me see if I understand this correctly. If I fly out of Nashville to Sydney and return I will receive approximately 14,000 MQMs plus a 100% bonus of another 14,000 MQMs under the terms of this promotion? So I would end up with a total of 28,000 MQMS? I would also receive 14,000 regular ff points as well as the Gold Medallion 100% bonus of another 14,000 ff points.

This promotion is good until Dec. 31, 2010, and if I leave Nashville, land in LAX and change planes to go to SYD I will still get the double MQMs?

This seems exceptionally generous, and I have read it several times trying to make sure I understand it correctly and there is no fine print in terms and conditions that would foul me up.

If I am reading this correctly, and if we are eligible for the promotion, if we took the trips we have planned for the rest of the year from Nashville we would end up with about 67,000 MQM's, giving us Gold Status for 2011 and a carry-over factor of 17,000 MQMs for 2012. Is this correct?

I know I seem dense, but I am old and unfamiliar with the process of maximizing my MQMs. If what I have written is accurate, would someone please tell me if my husband and I can register for the promotion and how we should do it?

Sorry....I have more questions. I was just reading the material focusing on MQMs. Now I have re-read focusing on regular ff miles. I believe that if I fly from Nashville to Sydney I would get the regular ff points, the Gold Medallion 100% bonus ff miles plus another 25,000 ff miles?

The promotion says this is good for flights to 70 countries. How do I know which countries. We are thinking of going to Sydney next month, and we always spend the late fall in Istanbul.

Fran,

Actually, I do believe you would qualify for flights & bonus miles mentioned, however, your uneasiness over details (understandable) can only be answered by direct response from Delta Airlines. I recommend that you ask your questions directly to Delta & also ask for email confirmation of info provided.

Happy travels,
Travelsavant