Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Posted (6 months 2 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 1522 times:
Hi all!
I fly a lot but never cared about status in ff programs as my flying tends to be very mixed through airlines and alliances and often on highly discounted fares. Now I just realized that I will be a DL Skymiles Silver Medallion next year. I have a couple of questions that I couldn't find the answers to:
1) According to Delta, I get free upgrades on domestic flights as long as there is space (but I'm low on the priority list), but not on transatlantic flights. In the next year, I'll be on a couple of transatlantic flights that connect to a domestic flight in Atlanta. Does this mean that I could get upgraded on the domestic segment, or will I not be eligible for upgrades since my itinerary involves international travel?
2) This is just a hypothetical question since I'll probably never reach 1 million lifetime miles, but I was wondering what the following wording means: Million milers will receive complimentary "annual" Silver status. Does that mean they receive it for 1 year ( = annual) or does that mean they have Silver status forever even if they don't fly for 10 years?
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
mplsjefe From United States of America, joined Mar 2011, 97 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (6 months 2 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 1515 times:
Quoting Birdwatching (Thread starter):
1) According to Delta, I get free upgrades on domestic flights as long as there is space (but I'm low on the priority list), but not on transatlantic flights. In the next year, I'll be on a couple of transatlantic flights that connect to a domestic flight in Atlanta. Does this mean that I could get upgraded on the domestic segment, or will I not be eligible for upgrades since my itinerary involves international travel?
2) This is just a hypothetical question since I'll probably never reach 1 million lifetime miles, but I was wondering what the following wording means: Million milers will receive complimentary "annual" Silver status. Does that mean they receive it for 1 year ( = annual) or does that mean they have Silver status forever even if they don't fly for 10 years?
1) You will be eligible for upgrades on the domestic segment(s)
JKJ777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 397 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 months 2 weeks 3 days ago) and read 1483 times:
Silver Medallion upgrades can be hard to come by. Being a former Platinum, I am now a silver and will be losing it this year....I can tell you that the frequency of upgrades will be rare. The waived bag fees are nice as is the occasional ability to clear security a little faster in certain airports. From experience, any less than Gold is not that "Elite" of service if you ask me.
You should have no trouble standing by for free upgrades and coming off an international itenerary, you may be a little higher on the list. Good luck with the status.
PI4EVER From United States of America, joined May 2009, 599 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1457 times:
As pointed out accurately, you really begin to reap benefits of status once you reach Gold. If you make a concerted effort to fly DL or use DL/Skyteam partners where you can accrue miles and more importantly those coveted MQM's....Medallion Qualification Miles....you'll be at Gold rather quickly considering you have a couple upcoming trips to Europe.
I did not enjoy my first upgrade to domestic F until I reached Gold.....an obscure Sunday night CRJ900 flight from MEM to STL but I was proud of that upgrade and enjoyed the "prestige" of my accomplishment. I fly from a Platinum and Diamond heavy market via ATL so upgrades are difficult on my usual Monday and Friday flights.
I deal with a very stringent corporate booking policy, but we get to keep all "perks" we earn from traveling. I make a concerted effort to fly DL and I use partners such as Hilton and Hertz to maximize my benefits. If a DL fare is outside my booking threshold for price, I usually default to WN/FL and rarely fly any other airline. Right now Hilton has a DL promotion that nets you MQM's for each qualifying stay at a Hilton branded property so I get to "double dip" for a few extra MQM's I would not otherwise accrue. Important at the end of the year for qualification to the next level or rollover miles.
DL, WN and FL can take me anywhere domestic and international for business and personal travel so consider commiting to DL/SkyMiles since you're already well on your way to staus building, and one other airline you can generally rely on to get a better fare, schedule or service....such as my choice of WN and FL.
Overall, I feel DL takes good care of me. I am now Platinum and will be a Diamond after next week. I've flown 90 flight segments with DL so far this year and while that includes some middle seats and delayed flights, they treat me well. In over 500+ flights in the last 4 years, I have had rare instances of poor service and that motivates me to continue to reap the benefits and to enjoy the perks....and give DL and its partners my business.
You will earn and enjoy the benefits if you make that effort to concentrate your business to a specific program when you can, and as stated, I think DL does it well.
Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Reply 4, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1441 times:
Thank you all for your excellent answers! As it turns out, I will be quite loyal to DL next year, with 5 transatlantic round trips with them confirmed and possibly 1 or 2 more, so I might actually make it to gold in 2013 for the 2014 calendar year. I only now realize that all of this is on Skyteam, as I currently fly between Florida and southern Germany a lot and DL's ATL-STR flight comes up frequently as cheapest and best timings. For some reason I really started to like Delta last year, I like their ATL hub too.
Anyway, I'll see what it's like to be Silver on DL, and if it ever gets me any upgrades or not. So in 2014 I might be Gold then.
Quoting PI4EVER (Reply 3): accrue miles and more importantly those coveted MQM's
Is coveted the right word? Right now, my account shows 40450 miles out of which 40200 are MQM, so I assume almost all miles are MQM? Or is this because all of my activity is flight and none of it comes from non air partners?
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
PI4EVER From United States of America, joined May 2009, 599 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1412 times:
Look at your SkyMiles account. It will show your total MQM's so you are very close to Gold for this year.....less than 10K miles to be Gold all of 2013 and on your way to Platinum......easily reached in 2014 with so many TATL trips.
Figure out a way to get those MQM's through Decemer 31st this year if at all possible.....a mileage run or two....you're so close. I will be Diamond all of next year, but will have few MQM's to rollover so a lot of flying for me in 2013 to maintain a status.
You can accrue MQM's through some partner programs, but otherwise they simply accrue as miles and those MQM's are what determine your status year-to-year and are valuable for the unlimited rollover feature.
Enjoy your trips with DL. They'll take good care of you.
P.S. Absolutely buy Economy Comfort for your TATL flights. It is discounted at Silver and Gold and worth every cent. No complimentary upgrades to Business Elite for international but Y+ is a nice perk for the legroom and seat locations in the forward cabins.
redzeppelin From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 275 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1396 times:
I have been Silver for the past year, and I'm expecting to reach Gold for the first time in about 2 weeks. My home airport is a leisure-heavy market served with a good number of 76-seat RJs, which means that I have had better luck with upgrades than some of the others who have commented here. The 76-seaters have a disproportionate number of F seats and I find myself purposely boking CR9s and E75s when I have the choice, just so I have a better shot at the upgrade.
To further clarify the miles vs MQMs question, MQMs can be thought of as strictly in-the-seat miles. I earn skymiles everytime I use my AmEx card, but those don't help me in terms of getting and maintaining status. As a silver, you get a 25% bonus on the number of skymiles you earn on each flight, but there is no bonus for MQMs. Similarly, Golds earn double skymiles for every flight, but still earn MQMs at the same rate as everybody else. One of the very best things about the skymiles program is the MQM rollover. The only reason that I have a shot at Gold this year is that I finished 2011 with a lot of extra miles beyond the silver threshold. With UA or most any other airline I would have just reset to 0 on 1/1/2012.
I expect to be taking my first TATL flight as a Gold next month. I'm looking forward to it. I'll earn double skymiles, have lounge access, and have a bigger discount on Y+. Silver status already gets me priority security and passport control lines at some airports, but Gold will get me that treatment at the rest. And since I'm starting that trip with just barely enough MQMs to reach the Gold threshold, it means I'll be starting 2013 with a big pile of rollover MQMs to apply toward 2014 status. Good times.
jetblueguy22 From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 2020 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (6 months 2 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW FORUM MODERATOR
All I can say with Silver is good luck. My mother is a silver while my stepfather is Diamond and the difference is huge. She was expecting all these upgrades but out of 35 flights this year she has had 1 upgrade. The free bag and earlier boarding is nice though. If you can get Gold or higher it is much nicer. I think my stepfather has been upgraded on nearly all of his domestic travel (which isn't very much). If you fly international the free upgrade to Economy Plus is very nice if you can't fly business. Skymiles is a really good program IMO if you are a frequent flier. The little bonuses you get are nice too. I think when my dad got a million they let him pick out a carryon bag. Plus if you get Platinum or Diamond you can gift status to a family member or friend. I love being gold and only traveling 10-15 segments a year .
Blue
Professor Foltz: You push down on that yolk, the houses get bigger, you pull back on the yolk, the houses get bigger.
redzeppelin From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 275 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
Quoting redzeppelin (Reply 6): I have had better luck with upgrades than some of the others who have commented here.
I just went back and counted. So far this year I have had 23 domestic segments on DL booked in coach (including 2 USA-Canada segments). 19 segments were on aircraft with an F cabin. I got upgrades on 7 of those. I should point out that I had a full Y fare on one upgraded segment, and 2 of them I had an M fare. The routes: MSP-BZN (x2), SLC-BZN, MSP-IAH, IAH-SLC, SLC-YYC, YVR-SLC. The 7 upgrades came on 3 CR7s, 3 CR9s, and 1 E75. None on mainline. I have two mainline flights next week that look to have low loads right now, so I'm crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.
Getting upgrades as a silver really depends on the route, schedule, and aircraft.
RamblinMan From United States of America, joined Oct 2010, 1080 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
You are automatically placed on the upgrade list for any domestic segment you fly.
As a silver I have been, on the same route, #1 on the upgrade list (E-175 on a saturday morning) and on another occasion #44 (Friday afternoon MD-90) You can get the free upgrades pretty regularly if you fly at times that are not popular for business travel and if you wind up on a lot of 2-cabin RJs. Look at a seatmap and you'll see that the ratio of F/Y seats can vary widely and is much higher on the CR9 and the E175. The DC-9 is hit or miss, and on the A319 it's virtually impossible.
Hitting gold will be a big advantage...it's pretty easy for relatively infrequent fliers to wind up an "accidental silver" if you happen to have two international trips in the same year. Higher levels put you much further ahead of the crowd.
mplsjefe From United States of America, joined Mar 2011, 97 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
On a Sunday afternoon last March, as a platinum medallion I was on a 757 flight from MSP-ATL. I was #34 out of 118 on the upgrade list.
Three years ago in on a Sunday evening in January, I got upgraded on a flight from DCA-MSP on a MD88 and Y was 100% full. At the time I was 'only' a Silver Medallion.
I've found that upgrades on DL are about 50% planning and 50% luck, which is why we try to buy "A" fares when we can if they aren't terribly expensive.
Try to avoid flying hub to hub if you can, and check out this very helpful page for more tips:
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