Jumping the DL ship (advice needed)
 

Greetings everyone, this is my first post so I apologize if I sound like a newbie. Here is my question...

I live and work for an NGO based in Thailand so most of my travel nowadays is in and around Asia. I have been a longtime Gold to Platinum flyer with DL but for the last 3 years most of my overseas travel has been with KE because of their extensive Asia connections. The recent downgrade to 50% MQM on KE flights got me thinking about changing, but now the MQD requirements have unfortunately sealed my fate. I only fly about 5-10k each year in the US and the rest are international to places that DL does not fly or Asian carriers have better routes. I would stick with DL but I normally fly coach and wouldn't quite meet the Gold-Platinum MQDs. So what should I do?

I hate to lose my status because to reach Skyteam elite plus on KE you have to accumulate 500,000 lifetime miles. Skyteam elite is only 50k but that doesn't give you lounge access. Lounge access is my main concern because of all the time spent in airports. My other thought is Asiana, because it's pretty easy to reach star alliance gold w/ 40k within 2 years, and I could fly UA when I'm in the states. Any other ideas? sorry for such a long post :)

(first timer)

If living and travelling in Asia you may want to consider Star Alliance as they have many member airlines. And when you are back in the USA travelling on UA is your Star Alliance option.

On One World when MH joins Feb 1, 2013 you will have some improved options, but with MH all options will result in one going in and out of KL every time one travels on MH.

If your address is outside the US, the MQD requirement (for now at least) doesn't apply.

Phase 1, true. But as you point out, what about phase 2 and beyond? Fairly obvious big D has more program "enhancements" in the pipeline and further devaluations will be implemented. Loyalty program, that's a good laugh!

No argument that another shoe will drop. My only point was if MQDs where the only issue (obviously KE earnings are also) there was no need to make a decision today. I'd hate to jump ship now to (say) UA only to find out is six months they do something more drastic.

So do you think it would be to my advantage to go with an asian based *A carrier? Do you think that a lot of international carriers will do similar changes to there FF programs like MQDs?

+1... Especially if OP is within reach of the lifetime threshold if given another year or two. In that case, I would cross that bridge when the other shoe drops.

If big D get's their way they're all gonna follow suit. At this point I'd go with which IT works best for my needs. DL certainly doesn't anymore as evidenced by the fact it requires tons of time and bandwidth to browse and attempt to use their website and mobile apps.

I have to assume that overseas-based members are safe at least until Delta figures out how to include joint venture spend in MQDs; I just can't imagine that they'd make it essentially impossible for members who are based overseas and therefore necessarily more reliant on partners than most US-based members when MQDs don't track joint venture spend at all.

That said, given that Delta has no joint venture partners in Asia, that won't protect the OP long term, but it gives you a bit of a buffer. Of course, the whole MQD thing won't affect current elites (except potentially for the better by thinning the ranks of new elites in mid-to-late 2014) at all until 2015 (and almost certainly even later than that for overseas members), and a lot can change in competing programs in that time, so I wouldn't make any drastic moves based on MQDs now.

The 50% earning thing on KE certainly would make me reevaluate in the OP's situation, though.

I'm becoming convinced living in Asia ST is NOT the way to go, esp if there's a connection to Asia. I only suspect tit for tat to DL's move soon.

If star alliance lounges will suit your needs in Asia, there is usually at least one star alliance member with low mileage requirement for *G (level needed for lounge access). Aegean is about 20k miles, Turkish Airlines was recently doing a match for most mid-level elites on pretty much any carrier. For lounge access in the US, it's also better to have a non-UA gold membership.

UA is the king of FCM. Be wary of that. They try and sell cheap UG's on Domestic flights up to and uncluding the time of departure. Also, they do the same with international flights now to. Mosey on over to the UA forum and see for yourself. There is a lot of discontent over there.

I a, moving this topic over to MilesBuzz where you should receive a better response regarding the choices available on other alliances and status.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

If lounge access is your biggest concern, Aegean in *A would seem to be your best bet. Redemption levels there are not great, however.

The most resistant to DL's big anti-consumer change is probably AA, as they have been working to snake elites upset with recent anti-customer moves at move UA and now DL. They would be in a bad place to turn on those elites they have pried away from UA and DL by repeating the very things that drove them away from those airlines. They seem to be posturing themselves as the firewall, if there is to be one.

NW was the airline that put it's foot down and said ''no'' when DL last tried to devastate ff programs in the Rob Borden era. The airline most likely to do so this time is AA. It was a sad day for air travel when DL took NW off the board.

Also, most of UA's partners earn only partial or no milage on many leisure fares, while most of AA's partners earn full milage (AB is an exception, but very significantly, not BA).

The OP is Asia-based and both of AA's OW Asian partners (CX and JL) provide partial or no mileage on leisure fares, especially CX. Earning AA miles on CX is basically impossible unless purchasing a more expensive AA codeshare with CX.