Delta Officially Confirms New Revenue Based Medallion Program

They’re going to gut their top ranks with this; unless you fly alot of international (and specifically international business) – its going to be hard to hit diamond.

as someone who routinely puts 60K+ annually on my reserve card for the MQM kickers, this is actually a good thing for me in that it will hopefully thin out the diamond herds a bit.

Further – if you are using Vanilla Reloads/Bluebird properly, how hard would it be to hit 25K in spend in a year? Seems the only ppl this is affecting are low spend plats and diamonds who don’t own an Amex or don’t use it exclusively.

Delta stinks — always has, always will

so annoyed was going to actually go for status this year (my partner already has it, if all goes well flying United to the inauguration this weekend will be switching airlines.

I already aim for the $25K spend on my Platinum SkyMiles Amex for the 10K MQM bonus, which I usually need to requalify for status, so this isn’t a huge deal for me. If it thins the elite herd and makes it easier for me to get upgraded, then all the better!

I don’t think these spend levels are that unlikely, unless you are really gaming the system to spend the absolute minimum required to hit a higher status level–people flying coach to MNL, for example, might come in under the required MQDs, but anyone with some mix of domestic flights included should easily hit the dollars.

If you live in a hub city, I think it’s much more palatable to use airline co-branded cards and put all your eggs in that one basket.

Also, I havent seen a post about it yet but US Airways is apparently testing a new boarding order a la United. I ran into it at LAX. They said they are testing it in “select cities.”

Basically, they were letting Charimans board with first class and US Airways silver were dropped from that second group which is now just Star/USAir platinum and gold. I dont know what other groups were lumped in with USAir silver (and whether Star Silver means anything to them).

My company used to allow the use of our personal cards to pay for business travel many years ago – after 2008 we switched travel policies and all airfare billing goes to the company corporate account – in fact, this is how it works at all major companies now – the use of personal cards is not allowed anymore – which sucks since you don’t have the extra insurance and mileage points – NOW – wth Delta requiring such stringent standards – all they are doing is screwing people even more by having to force the use of an Amex account – I am Million Miler with Delta and now I am going to send them a letter – Silver status is basically useless as well for $2500 in spending PLUS 25,000 MQM – you will never get upgraded and you do not even get into Economy Comfort for free – you still pay for it. WTF? Well the only choice now is to used DELTA Amex Reserve for all spending I guess. I don’t like being bullied and this is what this feels like. I am going to redeem all Delta Miles and move on to another Loyalty Prorgram.

The only problem here is that it does not credit dollars spent on partner tickets. My most expensive tickets tend to be international partner flights, where I’ll pay for business class and rack up massing elite qualifying miles.

So is this the revenue-based program, or is another major change coming to SkyMiles?

Do you have to spend the $$ on a Delta Amex card or any other card? Also, does the credit card has to be on the same name as the Medallion member? I usually travel a lot on Delta for business so the $12,500 threshold can be easily attained by couple international business class paid fares. However, as others mentioned here, the card won’t be under my name not it will be a Delta Amex since my company will pay for my trips and they will use their own credit card. On the other hand, since I am the one flying and getting the miles it is actually me spending that much money to buy Delta tickets. If it has to be on a Delta Amex card under my name, this is a no go and I will try to move all my flights to another airline since I don’t spend $12,500 per year on personal trips for family vacation.

Not terribly surprising… Southwest was the first to switch to a revenue-based program. Before that, I was redeeming free flights on them all the time; so this will probably become industry standard especially since Airlines are squeezing every penny they can out of their rewards programs. Oil is going up, and even Delta is considering purchasing their own oil refinery. The sad part is, this will eventually force us to choose 1 or 2 airlines and lower our options UNLESS they don’t change their redemption policies. Kind of like the British Class system… you can be at the top, but it will cost $$$

So if you spend 25K on your Delta Amex, you’re exempt from MQD req’s, but you still have to hit the MQM and MQS req’s for each status level…

Will this include spend on Skyteam Partners?

I can hit the spend thresholds while getting my status, but I rack up a ton of my MQM and spend by purchasing and flying on Aeroflot and Alitalia.

PS- I would LOVE to see American stop redesigning their logo and take advantage of this to pump new features into AAdvantage to try to steal elites

“$12,500 for Diamond is crazy for those of us who don’t fly paid business class”

Really? If you fly 125K MQMs, butt-in-seat, even in economy, this is pretty much done. This will help eliminate those who game the system from the higher tiers, certainly making it unpopular in these circles, but making for a better experience for those who earn their status as the airline intended.

As a “real” DM (meaning earned via butt-in-seat, and that’s not intended to be flame-bait, honest) based out of a mega hub, I’m looking forward to less competition for upgrades.

This is silly. I fly extensively for business — BUT — the Company makes us charge all Company-related airfare on the corporate Visa card. No exceptions. So I guess Delta will cease to be my preferred airline for business travel, which includes three international business class trips each year, plus one domestic trip per month. So long Delta……

The money requirements should be higher AND it should be you spend so much OR you fly this many miles OR this many segments.

For me who spent $13000 last year and I don’t even have silver sucks. They need to fix this. So if you spend a ton for flights but don’t have that many miles you can still qualify.

Nowhere that I’ve seen does Delta have a requirement that the MQDs are spent via a cobranded Amex. As an alternative to MQDs, you can have the MQD requirement *waived* by hitting a $25K minimum spend on a Delta Amex. Please read the release before freaking out.

The major issue I see is the system wide decrease of partner MQMs earned. I think they’re trying to slip this through everyone’s radar. For example starting March 1, economy on Korean Air will only earn 50% MQMs, and Business and First vary from 50% to 100% depending on fare class. This definitely lessens my incentive to stick with Skyteam.

That was the pointguys… Point… It’s asking a lot for someone to go “All in” on a Delta Amex and spend 25k just to meet a requirement that didn’t exist previously. Besides, all of their cards don’t even give 2 points per dollar spent… I’m finding the reasons to stay with Delta few.

I am currently GM, dropping to Silver Medallion come March 1st. I fully understand this. The amount of flying I do year to year should not make me elite but I am. I hit it once largely by flying to Australia on a paid ticket and several redemptions of vouchers and have maintained it since, in large part due to rollovers.

So, I don’t mind that I’ll likely be losing my status. I was re-assessing my flying habits as is, especially given how much value AA or UA miles have relative to DL. This will probably mean that within the next year or 2 I will be without status anywhere, and that’ll be fine. I won’t be putting money on Delta cobranded cards to try and requalify. The value in status just isn’t there for me. I’ll focus on RDMs over EQMs and see where things fall.

My point is that Delta is not asking you to go “all in” with their Amex. This is just an option that you can use to waive the MQD requirement if you’re earning a lot of non-flying MQMs. If you earn your MQMs by flying, it’s going to be tough to NOT hit the $12.5K MQDs. If you are truly a loyal Delta frequent flyer, you get the rewards. If you’re gaming the system, it’s harder to do so now.

Exactly. Nowhere in te Delta materials does it say that the MQDs must be charged to a cobranded Amex. Is this a mass hallucination?

That is not the way I understand the new system to work. Before, to qualify for Gold, I had to somehow collect 50,000 MQMs, 10,000 of which I earn by spending $25k on my Amex card.

Under the new system, I still have to collect 50,000 MQMs, but have the additional requirement of spending $5k in airfares. However, the $5k requirement is waived if I charge $25k on my Amex, which I was going to do anyway to get the 10,000 MQMs. So its a wash. Someone correct me if I am wrong about this.

Here’s my question…when do the MQDs count? For example, if someone purchases a ticket in November, but doesn’t fly until January, do the MQDs accrue on the purchase date or on the travel date? I’m assuming it would be on the travel date, don’t you think?

I just checked my spending/miles for 2012. If this new policy had been in effect then, I would still keep my lowly FO status, but just barely. I paid for $2,556.36 in airfare (including a $600 voucher). Whew!

As a senior citizen who flies “cheap” this is a killer. Goodbye Delta.

I’m an American Exec. Plat. who just did a status match/challenge to Delta Platinum. My travel is likely to decrease substantially next year, and I’ve got lifetime Platinum with American, so my thought was that by getting 2nd highest tier in a 2nd Airline (with better routes out of NYC), I’d have better options — second highest tier on two different airlines sounded like a good idea. Now, it looks like I’d be unlikely to keep even Platinum on Delta. Coupled with the nominal value of a SkyPeso, compared to an AA Mile, I’m wondering whether I made a bad decision…

All of these types who keep moaning about having to use their company credit cards to charge their airfare are the same type of shrills that use to scream about having to use their personal credit card for travel expenses and wait for their expense reports to clear and the check cut.
I know that some companies would be glad to be rid of the admin involved in corporate cards if all their road people would pay their bills and maintain enough credit to cover their expenses.

If it’s not this…it’s that. Quit making travel more of a job than the actual job.

Those don’t count. Only Delta flights using Delta ticket stock count. That was the other killer

The point is that the taboo has been broken…A legacy airline has started it and the others will follow. Expect continued “enhancements”. The redemption enhancement is coming, I say 2015. The end…

I think the real downside of this announcement is for the skyteam partnership. When flying internationally on a delta skyteam partner, you can earn MQMs, but not MQDs for delta. This effectively means that your partner flights don’t count towards your status. Yes codeshares count, but so many partner flights are not available as code shares. Since one of the main benefits of the alliances is the ability to fly on multiple allied carriers while earning status on your home carrier, this diminishes skyteam as a choice for U.S. flyers. I am probably going to start banking with U.S. Air and hope that it and American merge their programs under oneworld.

Another major issue everyone should be concerned about is that the new qualification rules with MQDs is ONLY based on revenue on DELTA coded flights. So if you buy flights with Sky Team partners now, you get no credit in the MQDs department towards your elite status. Someone like myself who flys around Europe and has become used to using the Sky Team network will now have little benefit when it comes to my Elite Status on Delta. I was also told that United has been working on a similar program ever since Southwest came out with theirs. I am sure it will be revealed soon.

I’m in the exact same boat as you. They’re willing to lose us as customers to add these spend requirements and that makes me sad

Not sure if I’m missing something, but do MQD roll over like MQM? If not, this new change would seem to make rollover miles far less useful. There’s not really any point in rolling over 20,000 miles towards next year’s silver or gold if I’ll have to spend $2,500/$5,000 next year, which is basically enough to get silver or gold without the rollover.

I just spoke with Delta regarding MQDs. Since I fly mostly on partner airlines, I cannot accrue enough dollars spent on Delta coded flights to maintain Diamond status.

I told them I would leave for another airline. They responded telling me to buy tickets for other people on the Delta coded flights flying with me to hit my spend requirement. That still isn’t good enough.

Sorry, that’s not a good way to keep my loyalty. I fly Delta whenever I have the chance and I usually end up paying a premium to do so. I also evangelize their product any chance I get and you can bet I won’t be recommending their program in the future. I understand they need to do whatever they can to make a little more money but they should be looking for ways to improve their products, make spending time with them more enjoyable and provide premium levels of service to people who shell out more cash, not penalizing those that are still loyal customers.

It’s all a sad reminder that we’re just numbers on a spreadsheet.

A few thoughts:
-Airline FF programs are meant to drive loyalty not just serve as a rebate program. To this end the best customers to an airline aren’t those who fly the most miles (the programs are structurally flawed in this regard) but those who help them generate the most profit. Even if you simplify to just revenue, it is a far superior measure than miles flown. In fact, the MORE miles you fly the MORE an airline’s costs go up (fuel, crew time, a/c utilization) so the ideal situation is maximum fares with minimum input costs (in this case miles as a proxy for cost).
-In terms of all of your points in same proverbial basket, this is ideal for the airline. If you think of other industries the strategy is to entangle customers (Wells Fargo does this well in retail banking and Apple in consumer electronics). It is all about maximizing share of wallet from the customer. DL is clearly trying to do that here.
-I’m not sure what my conclusion is about the alliance implications here. The point of global JV’s with carriers like AF/KLM is a “metal neutral” operation. I assume codeshare tickets bought from DL but flown on AF metal count towards MQD?
-I almost wish DL went hole hog and just moved to revenue like hotel programs, but I do think this is a nice way to weed out Expedia fliers from truly loyal biz travelers.
-25K in spend in a year on a CC isn’t that much (SPG Amex gives Gold status with 30K in spend)
-There is A LOT of analysis done (and likely management consultants) behind the scenes and I’d bet that frequent use of DL Amex influences flight buying patterns
-The dollars seem reasonable to me (KC55419 does the math below) even if flying coach at all levels. In fact, DL and UA both do a good job of costing out each elite perk at each tier, and comparing that with the revenue potential for that customer (my friend does this for one of them) so frankly having a Diamond that doesn’t hit 12.5K could mean they are negative contribution to the loyalty program.
-If you think of game dynamics (just think of that November anxiety we all get when we think of qualification by YE) this will just add another dynamic that people will focus on throughout the year and drive people to fly DL when in doubt, potentially even when it is more expensive. That’s the ideal customer for DL and often how I buy with UA, frequently paying more but getting to go n/a and enjoying elite benefits and a superior flight experience in return.

Well what if your flights are on Skyteam partners that don’t accrue any MQDs?

Not on Delta Gold or Reserve cards..but I see your point

The foreign SkyTeam partner programs are much less lucrative and if you lose Delta elite status by banking miles elsewhere, you probably won’t get upgraded- ever

What makes you think that they are going to change the Medallion program, but not the regular SkyMiles program? Stay tuned…

I think you have a lot of valid points.. I’m sure a lot of consultants and accountants have crunched the numbers, but you never know what will actually happen until it is rolled out. You can’t model what your customers will do- especially when your competition offers better loyalty programs.

I wouldn’t have minded these new spending “enhancements” if they actually came along with increased perks.. like usable Systemwide Upgrades and a more sane/usable redeemable SkyMiles program.

It’s an improvement for the Golds that spend twice that.. in the new model you’d be dropped down and their upgrade percentage would improve.

If you aren’t going to be able to maintain status on Delta or spend on their credit card, in my opinion you might as well just remain AA Plat and accrue miles that are exponentially more valuable than Delta SkyMiles

I have been Diamond since late 2010. All I have noticed is that my upgrades clear at the gate, if at all, anymore.

My status has always been attained on the MQS requirement (161 in 2012). Since I connect every week, I am looking at $12,500/35 round trips for an avergae ticket of $357. Pretty much all tickets on my routes in the high-400 to low-500 dollar range. So, if I am going to keep flying enough to keep the status, it will not impact me.

For all of the doom/gloom I have heard leading up to this, I am actually quite happy. Maybe I’ll start to see upgrades clear at my window again!

In the scenario you’ve described, yes, it’s a wash. The members upon whom this is likely to have the most impact are those who reach high status via low-cost, high-mileage discount fares AND can’t or don’t devote $25K of spend to a Delta Amex. If you pay average prices for your tickets and hit the MQM thresholds, you will likely also hit the MQD thresholds as well.

Isn’t that one of the two major points on this?
1) Please spend $$$ with DL, not SkyTeam (in order to hit MQD)
2) Alternatively, please spend $25k with the DL AMEX

I’m also guessing that these apply to folks who may be “mega-rolling” over a ton of SkyMiles and actually need to spend now to keep status.

As Roaddog said, as someone who flies DL primarily for work, these requirements are a non-event… as long as they post properly from our travel agent (big if!)

The big question is… so…. how does this help? Will it really “cull” a noticeable # of “undeserving elites”?

Last week I was on an RJ flight out of DFW that had 43 people on the upgrade list… on a plane with 64 economy seats.

How do they determine the amount spent? Is it by the cost of the ticket linked to the skymiles number? If I book a ticket for myself and my wife on the same itinerary can the cost be applied to one of us or will it be split? I will hit diamond and the spend level with no problem and pleant to spare. My wife wiil be silver or gold but has no chance of hitting the spend limit.

The FAQs from delta state:

“MQDs are the total of the SkyMiles member’s spend on Delta-marketed flights (flight numbers that include the “DL” airline code), inclusive of the base fare and applicable surcharges, but exclusive of government- imposed taxes and fees.

Flight spend for travel on other airlines ticketed through a Delta channel (featuring a ticket number beginning with “006”) will also be included in MQDs. ”

That pretty much kills skyteam for anyone who wants to bank miles with delta. Sure NYC – CDG will always have a delta code share available on AF/KLM, but there are so many international flights that won’t, especially when you get away from Europe. Plus delta is reducing the mileage earning levels for flights on skyteam partners.

I’m right there with you, I’m an American expat (and DM member) living in Germany and have switched 100% to Lufthansa. Auf wiedersehen Delta!!

If you live ex-US you are not subject to the MQD spend rules.

I am with others here who feel that this is not at all a difficult requirement for those that actually fly on delta flights, not code-shared. If you don’t fly a lot of actual BIS on Delta, but generally qualify through code-share, than does it really matter if the few flights a year you actually fly BIS on Delta you don’t have top-tier status?

I wish the spend requirement was higher or you could somehow hit the Diamond with more spend and not segments. As a purely domestic traveler, it is very difficult to get 140 segments unless you literally travel every single week of the year, but $25k in spend is very easy to hit!

Yup. Hey, meet halfway and join (then become elite at) AF-KLM Flying Blue instead. You’d still be spending money and flying Delta or Alaska locally but then earning miles/segs toward Flying Blue. 15 segs on Delta gets silver elite status. Alaska earns miles only.

Something to think about!

The Flying Blue option works if your goal is redemptions. I fly 2-10x a month for my job. I’m more concerned with upgrades. You’re not going to get upgraded on DL metal with non-DL Skyteam Elite+.

Right on! MP lets you earn, for example, on DL and then redeem on AA. And vice versa. It’s a little known trick people should know. And non-AS segs still count toward MVP status.

Also on FB, their standard 25K r.t. “within North America” award includes Mexico and the Caribbean. Only AA’s off-peak awards match this – but FB’s is standard.

…and hello Alaska OR Air France-KLM. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to stop flying Delta – just put those flown miles into either Alaska or KLM.

If brand flexibility is important, go with Alaska, where you can earn miles flown on Delta and American, among others. If faster status and alliance-wide perks are key, then KLM it is.

If I spend $25,000 on my Delta Reserve card to achieve Diamond status do all purchases count or just those for Delta flights?

Right, but you can still spend $13,000 and if you only accrue enough MQMs for Silver, you’ll only be silver. These new changes don’t help you get higher status based on your spend

will be interesting to see if MQD’s will roll over like MQM’s… (according to the cust service rep I just spoke w/, the current plan does not address MQD rollover yet)

What’s the incentive for Delta to give you Diamond benefits if you’re not buying their tickets and taking their flights?

Then just change your address to the international one. Problem solved.

Hi PG, I fly a lot internationally and am looking for free business upgrades from a rewards program or credit card. I see delta gives 2 free international upgrades a year for platinum members….does anyone else offer something similar? Thanks!!

It’s nice to be medallion on Delta- much better flight experience!
As far as redeeming the miles- I SOLD mine! to pay for more tickets. Does not affect medallion status and I get the itinerary I need. Award travel is OFTEN impossible to get your way, for the points you want to give up.