6 ms·

I did this a bunch during the cheap award flights during the pandemic, when they started counting those toward status points. I basically skipped getting a cow

I did this a bunch during the cheap award flights during the pandemic, when they started counting those toward status points. I basically skipped getting a coworking spot for a month and would hop on random flights I could book like SAN-JFK round trip same day on delta for only 16,000 skymiles (would net around 5,000 mqms). I would almost always get bumped to first and Deltas wifi is reliable enough to work from the air. At this point I’ve banked enough MQMs that I just have to hit the spend min on my Amex (easy when you are self employed and can pay taxes on it) to keep platinum for the next 3 years without any flying.

coderintherye 4y ago
At a credit card fee of 1.98%, that's a non-trivial amount of money to have to spend on fees depending on how much you pay in taxes (looks like IRS charges based on processor but it is between 1.86-1.98%)
- khuey 4y ago
  In practice that fee works out to at most a $500 buy-in for Platinum status on Delta. You can also immediately opt for a $200 travel voucher as your Platinum benefit. I could see why some might think it's worth it.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Starting in 2023, mere platinum doesn’t get you lounge access on international flights, but the affiliate credit cards do. That’s worth $20+ in real value on each international segment (the sticker price is higher, but there’s at least $20 of convenience and comfort to wait in the club over the boarding area).
    - khuey 4y ago
      Hmm I wonder how that is going to work since lounge access is a SkyTeam Elite Plus benefit.
      - sokoloff 4y ago
        I’m not sure either, and I expect to see a lot of disgruntled interactions as people learn about this change. https://news.delta.com/look-ahead-delta-sky-club-updates-launches-and-expansions https://news.delta.com/look-ahead-delta-sky-club-updates-lau...
sponaugle 4y ago
The pandemic has been an odd thing for status, especially on Delta. I had diamond on Delta in 2020 which was a mix of MQMs plus spending over $250k on a Delta Amex. They extended that Diamond into 2021, and 2022 for free, and also rolled over all of the MQMs. More MQMs stacked up because you get them at 25k and 50k AMEX spend, so going into 2023 I had 250k+ MQMs even though I flew very little. 2023 still required getting past the 250k AMEX spend to get the diamond MQD waiver, and that one change (from 25k to 250k) has really cut down on the number of Diamond flyers I see now. I'm back to regular flying now so those MQMs will last me for a while.
88913527 4y ago
No matter how hard I try, my productivity on a plane drops 1 order of magnitude. The dry air and altitude changes are weighted much higher than the quality of the wifi connection.

coderintherye 4y ago

At a credit card fee of 1.98%, that's a non-trivial amount of money to have to spend on fees depending on how much you pay in taxes (looks like IRS charges based on processor but it is between 1.86-1.98%)

khuey 4y ago
In practice that fee works out to at most a $500 buy-in for Platinum status on Delta. You can also immediately opt for a $200 travel voucher as your Platinum benefit. I could see why some might think it's worth it.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Starting in 2023, mere platinum doesn’t get you lounge access on international flights, but the affiliate credit cards do. That’s worth $20+ in real value on each international segment (the sticker price is higher, but there’s at least $20 of convenience and comfort to wait in the club over the boarding area).
  - khuey 4y ago
    Hmm I wonder how that is going to work since lounge access is a SkyTeam Elite Plus benefit.
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      I’m not sure either, and I expect to see a lot of disgruntled interactions as people learn about this change. https://news.delta.com/look-ahead-delta-sky-club-updates-launches-and-expansions https://news.delta.com/look-ahead-delta-sky-club-updates-lau...

sponaugle 4y ago

The pandemic has been an odd thing for status, especially on Delta. I had diamond on Delta in 2020 which was a mix of MQMs plus spending over $250k on a Delta Amex. They extended that Diamond into 2021, and 2022 for free, and also rolled over all of the MQMs. More MQMs stacked up because you get them at 25k and 50k AMEX spend, so going into 2023 I had 250k+ MQMs even though I flew very little. 2023 still required getting past the 250k AMEX spend to get the diamond MQD waiver, and that one change (from 25k to 250k) has really cut down on the number of Diamond flyers I see now. I'm back to regular flying now so those MQMs will last me for a while.

88913527 4y ago

No matter how hard I try, my productivity on a plane drops 1 order of magnitude. The dry air and altitude changes are weighted much higher than the quality of the wifi connection.