nrr

When I flew on AA their "base miles" was the actual distance from A to B, a fixed value for each city pair.
On DL I am looking at several past trips between JFK and LAS:
(1)2140 base (each way) yields 2248 MQM in Y, 3372 MQM in F
(2)2485 base yields 3372 F in both direction
(3)1515 base JFK-LAS, 1510, base LAS-JFK yields 2248 MQM in Y both ways.
Different base miles give the same MQMs (for the same classes of service)--I'm confused?
PS: I did a google search: "Delta BASE MILES" and different "hits" give different info(?)

MSPeconomist

Let's assume that we're talking about all DL operated and DL marketed flights (no codeshares). Also, OP seems to say Y for any coach fare, not necessarily FULL Y and similarly for F meaning FC and not necessarily FULL F. Also, note that everything depends on fare paid; upgrades don't matter unless OP has paid to buy up to FC in advance of OLCI or the day of departure.

Base miles means distance, although often there are minor discrepancies in the distances DL seems to indicate in various places, so think of it as an estimate. [Or is DL now using the term base miles to start the RDM calculation, so that it would be five times the fare? It would help to know more about the tickets than just Y versus F.]

(1) Could there have been a short connecting flight (so that the segment earns 500 miles rather than the actual distance)? Otherwise, this is the biggest discrepancy I've seen (over a hundred miles) but I've certainly seem them over fifty miles, which shouldn't happen. 2248 MQMs would be for coach in fare/booking classes OTHER THAN Y and B and 3372 for FC OTHER THAN F.

(2) FC NOT IN FULL F earns 150% MQMs, so again 2485 and 3372 show discrepancies but maybe.....

(3) This seems to be a FULL Y OR B class fare so that 150% MQMs are earned. Having the PNR show different inbound and outbound distances isn't unusual IME, so think of 1510 and 1515 as being close enough.

BTW have you checked some independent source to see whether the distance between JFK and LAS is about 1500 or 2100 miles? I'm not convinced either way, but I do know that MSP-west coast is about 1500 miles while MSP-NYC is about 1,000 very roughly, so it's not immediately obvious to me what the correct distance should be between NYC and Vegas.

MSPeconomist

Yikes. I just noticed that you're asking about the AA "base miles" term in the DL forum.

Note that for DL, MQMs are status miles and SkyMiles or RDMs are redeemable miles. They can be very different since the latter are revenue based for DL flights.

findark

"Base Miles" are the base award miles given for the flight, which is five times the fare paid for a DL-marketed DL-operated flight.

TTT

For Delta marketed flights:
Base Miles are calculate by multiplying your ticket cost (less taxes) by 5 (the base multiplier for all SkyMiles members). Bonus miles are the additional miles you earn for Medallion status. As a DM I get an additional 6 times (total 11 times) my ticket cost in mileage for a Delta marketed flight.

MQMs are earned as a percent of distance flown (100% minimum, 150% on B/Y coach fares, and discount front cabin fares, 200% on full front cabin fares)

nrr

I was only flying DL non-stops between JFK and LAS, not full fare Y or FC. I only noted AA as a reference for their definition of base miles. The actual distance from a google search is 2522 miles--which should be "close" to an airlines flying distance.
TTT in post #5 explains everything.

DCFinanceinFlight

Read what OP wrote, clearly talking about DL. Was comparing to AA which it sounds like OP used to fly. In addition, AA has used revenue for some time for their own redeemable miles.

DCFinanceinFlight

As others have pointed out, base miles are Redeemable SkyMiles you earn for flying. They are directly related to the cost of the ticket. MQM's are earned based on distance with a 50% bonus for flying in F. Based on all 3 data points, if you look at how many MQD's(Qualifying Dollars) you earned for each segment, you should see that relate to the number of base miles earned(The 5X earning rate)