Not terribly surprising Southwest was the first to switch to a revenue-based program. Before that, I

Delta just published a press release that confirms car rental companies in singapore what I wrote about yesterday : starting in 2014, US based Medallion members will need to buck up and either spend $25,000 dollars a year on a Delta American Express credit card or spend the following amount of money in addition to accruing regular Medallion Qualifying Miles / Segments:
These changes are a result of considerable research that we ve conducted including conversations with hundreds of customers, many of whom expressed a desire to see the Medallion program truly target our best customers, said Jeff Robertson , vice president – SkyMiles. car rental companies in singapore Adding a revenue component to the SkyMiles Medallion program ensures that our most valued customers receive the best program benefits and a more exclusive experience.
$2,500 in spend for Silver is reasonable, but $12,500 for Diamond is crazy for those of us who don t fly paid business class. While Delta is trying to attract car rental companies in singapore high-value customers, I don t see the addition of real benefits (like valuable systemwide upgrades, for example) to actually attract those customers from other airlines.
I personally don t think making someone get a credit car rental companies in singapore card and spend $25,000 is the kind of exclusivity that high value customers want. I think the real impetus about this move is to encourage more Delta Medallions to carry a co-branded car rental companies in singapore American Express credit cards so they can hit the $25,000 spend threshold to be exempted from MQDs. The exclusivity comment is also interesting, because car rental companies in singapore last year Delta gave away 25,000 MQMs (enough car rental companies in singapore for silver status) during several different promotions last year, so this new move to cull the elite ranks is interesting. Clearly car rental companies in singapore they ve crunched the numbers and calculated that the increased spend (and money from American Express) will outweigh the cheap elites that jump ship to another airline. Before I make a final judgement about this new set-up, I want to know how the SkyMiles redemptions will change as well. If they force their elites to accrue SkyMiles via credit card and then in turn devalue those earned car rental companies in singapore redeemable miles, I think this whole plan will backfire stupendously. I personally don t like using an airline co-brand card, because I don t like to put all of my miles and points in one basket. I may fly American, but I accrue tons of Chase points, which I can then redeem on United, Hyatt, Southwest, etc. That way, I have lots of options when it comes time to redeem.
It takes a big commitment to an airline to double down and focus all of your flying and credit card spend on that airline- especially when its Delta, who notoriously blocks partner awards (whether intentionally or not) and doesn t even allow first class redemptions on partners. While I do think their in-flight car rental companies in singapore product car rental companies in singapore is among the best of domestic carriers, with generally pleasant flight crew and in-flight wifi, that isn t enough for me to stay loyal. American, United and US Airways miles are just so much more exponentially valuable, that I could never justify focusing car rental companies in singapore almost exclusively on Delta. American and United are both improving their products and adding wi-fi, so more than ever I am going to move my business to American and possibly United if they ever get their act together from a customer service perspective.
So basically, the biggest question remaining is what will happen to redeemable Skymiles accrual and redemption? If it doesn t improve, then I certainly think Delta will cull more than just cheap elites as savvy travelers take their business to other airlines that provide real and transparent value through their frequent flyer programs.
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, car rental companies in singapore and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.
I ve loved Delta, but the majority car rental companies in singapore of my spend has been with partners on expensive car rental companies in singapore international flights to places Delta doesn t even market flights to, that s what is so annoying about this. They don t provide any options to the expensive destinations I go to.
They re likely losing my family s three Medallion members because Delta doesn t market flights to the destinations we pay high fares for. Kind of annoying since I do pay a premium to fly Delta domestic, a $500 premium for one itinerary car rental companies in singapore last year.
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.
Annoying. I was planning on using a credit voucher on a $525 RT ticket from ORD-IST. Do you think vouchers count towards spend? I was looking forward to getting 10K MQMs, but won t help me much if my flight was $125!
I ll definitely be focusing car rental companies in singapore on another airline car rental companies in singapore now, which is a shame, because I fly so much between Delta hubs (ATL MSP DTW) and am based in ATL. I spend enough to continue my GM status with them, but until the award redemptions get better, I like other credit cards for redemption.
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 car rental companies in singapore 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.
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 car rental companies in singapore 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.
From what I can see, they are giving us two years of advanced notice before this would eliminate car rental companies in singapore our Medallion status (in January 2015). I don t know what people car rental companies in singapore want, but this seems very generous to me. The spend thresholds look pretty easy to make, if you actually fly for your status like I do. I m looking forward to fewer Medallions and maybe more upgrades?
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.
Now when you consider carryover miles it does get harder but not significantly with the mid-week fares I see out of MSP. I also book through a corporate travel agency so I also don t have a good AMEX option and I can see potential problems arising in crediting MQD s properly.
Do you have to spend the $$ on a Delta Amex card or any other card? Also, does the credit card has to be on the same name as the Medallion member? I usually travel a lot on Delta for business so the $12,500 threshold can be easily attained by couple international business class paid fares. However, as others mentioned here, the card won't be under my name not it will be a Delta Amex since my company will pay for my trips and they will use their own credit card. On the other hand, since I am the one flying and getting the miles it is actually me spending that much money to buy Delta tickets. car rental companies in singapore If it has to be on a Delta Amex card under my name, this is a no go and I will try to move all my flights to another airline since I don't spend $12,500 per year on personal trips for family vacation.
As a Delta GM with an Delta Platinum card soon to be FO, I can certainly live with the program revisions. That is provided that the mileage redemptions don t change. I was certainly expecting something much more Draconian. In all honesty the fear of the changes had made me start exploring other loyalty programs. I m glad I don t have to do that for now.
Not terribly surprising Southwest was the first to switch to a revenue-based program. Before that, I was redeeming free flights on them all the time; so this will probably become industry standard especially since Airlines are squeezing every penny they can out of their rewards programs. Oil is going up, and even Delta is considering car rental companies in singapore purchasing their own oil refinery. The sad part is, this will eventually car rental companies in singapore force us to choose 1 or 2 airlines and lower our options UNLESS they don t change their redemption policies. Kind of like the British Class system you can be at the top, but it will cost $$$
Except they aren t doing that. They are simply providing another option car rental companies in singapore for those who aren t high value customers, but game the system with spend generated MQMs. I think this is best outcome anyone could have ever dreamed of.
As a Delta Diamond I was fearing much worse. Mileage gamers and flyers just running off their carryover car rental companies in singapore miles will b