3 ms·
SkyMiles MQDs (flight spend, basically) is only 12K/yr for Platinum and 20K/yr for Diamond now, rising to 18K/yr and 35K/yr next year. IMO, the current threshol
by sokoloff 3y ago
SkyMiles MQDs (flight spend, basically) is only 12K/yr for Platinum and 20K/yr for Diamond now, rising to 18K/yr and 35K/yr next year. IMO, the current thresholds, despite being higher than last year, are still too low, resulting in over-crowded lounges and difficult upgrades for their most frequent fliers.
Even next year's thresholds are not that high if you're crossing the continental US multiple times per month and are surely less than the flying you're doing on Delta if the loss of your business represents "10s of thousands a year in profit".
Delta's gross margin percentage is roughly 25%. For them to lose just 2 10 thousands in profit on you, you'd be spending $80K with them and doing so would continue to easily qualify you for Diamond, whereupon you'd get more reliable upgrades and service from them due to fewer people making Diamond each year.
- ibejoeb 3y agoI'm a little torn. I've never had a problem with spend, but there have been years where I didn't hit my MQMs, and just to make status, I'd fly a trans-pacific. It's giant waste for everyone involved, so I'm glad to not have to do that anymore. I can spend $35k on flights, but I can also fly private for about the same amount, excluding most trans-oceanic. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do about next year. I'm not sure if it's really worth it. It's a weird calculus. To hit the number, it's basically buying a bunch of F/J fares. If I'm already doing that, I don't care about upgrades.