@K-in-Boston wrote:@Revelate I should have mentioned also that if you are thinking about switching to SkyTeam, you can status match Southwest A-List to Delta Silver (A-List Preferred to Gold) here: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/medallion-program/status-match-challenge
For Silver Medallion, you'd just need to rack up 6250 MQMs or 8 MQSs, and $750 MQDs or MQD Waiver in 3 months. I was targeted for complimentary Gold Medallion in late 2018 when Boston became a focus city (it soon became a full hub) and the challenge was pretty easy to meet and paid off in droves during 2019.
Thanks @K-in-Boston
Wait a second. That's it? I must be missing something.
SW A-list is basically 13 round-trips for me in a year. A-list Preferred is 25, in a single year. I got to 10 round-trips and that's cause I was mixing and matching some airlines last year including Delta and AA going lowest cash price which maybe was a mistake looking at the loyalty programs but I've always been kinda dumb sometimes.
I flew Delta short-hop to Bay Area a few times, if I'm understanding what you're saying right, 4 up and back trips count as the 8 segments and probably the 750 MQD too? That gets Silver? Or is there some minimum distance for MQS qualification? 6250 MQM I know I would've hit, the 2 round-trips to Houston from LAX would've gotten there on it's own.
As mentioned I have to be missing something, I need to go look up the tiers because on that math I quite possibly would've gotten beyond Silver which makes little sense based on my SW experience.
@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:How many American Express cards have you opened and closed in the past few years? How long were they kept open?
There's no set time limit; you'll just have to keep checking back.
And did they get much spend after you earned the SUBs?
For a moment I thought you were asking me, and I was thinking, "I just posted my 2020 status numbers up above with MQD Waiver." LOL
Yeah, that's an important one, too. Can't believe I missed that. Amex doesn't seem too fond of people just using the card to meet the Welcome Offer requirement and then no more spending.
@Revelate wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:@Revelate I should have mentioned also that if you are thinking about switching to SkyTeam, you can status match Southwest A-List to Delta Silver (A-List Preferred to Gold) here: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/medallion-program/status-match-challenge
For Silver Medallion, you'd just need to rack up 6250 MQMs or 8 MQSs, and $750 MQDs or MQD Waiver in 3 months. I was targeted for complimentary Gold Medallion in late 2018 when Boston became a focus city (it soon became a full hub) and the challenge was pretty easy to meet and paid off in droves during 2019.
Thanks @K-in-Boston
Wait a second. That's it? I must be missing something.
SW A-list is basically 13 round-trips for me in a year. A-list Preferred is 25, in a single year. I got to 10 round-trips and that's cause I was mixing and matching some airlines last year including Delta and AA going lowest cash price which maybe was a mistake looking at the loyalty programs but I've always been kinda dumb sometimes.
I flew Delta short-hop to Bay Area a few times, if I'm understanding what you're saying right, 4 up and back trips count as the 8 segments and probably the 750 MQD too? That gets Silver? Or is there some minimum distance for MQS qualification? 6250 MQM I know I would've hit, the 2 round-trips to Houston from LAX would've gotten there on it's own.
As mentioned I have to be missing something, I need to go look up the tiers because on that math I quite possibly would've gotten beyond Silver which makes little sense based on my SW experience.
I promise, that's it and you're not missing anything. For MQMs, even though LAX-SFO is only 355 miles, you will always earn 500 (750 in First Class) each direction. For segments, yes 4 round-trip direct flights would be 8 segments. Connect in Seattle or Salt Lake City and you'll earn a bunch more MQMs and double your MQSs. LOL There is no minimum distance needed to earn.
Award flights do not earn anything, but if you have a Delta card and use miles to PAY for a flight (not a great value at 5,000 SkyMiles per $50) you will earn MQMs and MQSs but not MQDs since you paid $0. If you pay to upgrade, you will earn MQDs on the upgrade price plus get the 50% MQM bonus if you upgraded to F. If you use SkyMiles to upgrade to F, you will get the 50% MQM bonus but no additional MQDs since you didn't pay anything other than miles.
@Anonymous wrote:
I opened my Hilton a year ago this month. About two closed in the last 3 years at renewal. My blue cash is one of my oldest. Does putting more spend on them help or is that a myth?
Closing them at renewal is a sign that you've only opened them for the Welcome Offer. Spending across all of your Amex accounts should count, but it would certainly be a red flag if you say spend $3000 to get a SUB and then never used the card again. I usually suggest leaving Amex cards open at least 2 years now since the RAT team has been cracking down.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:@Revelate I should have mentioned also that if you are thinking about switching to SkyTeam, you can status match Southwest A-List to Delta Silver (A-List Preferred to Gold) here: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/medallion-program/status-match-challenge
For Silver Medallion, you'd just need to rack up 6250 MQMs or 8 MQSs, and $750 MQDs or MQD Waiver in 3 months. I was targeted for complimentary Gold Medallion in late 2018 when Boston became a focus city (it soon became a full hub) and the challenge was pretty easy to meet and paid off in droves during 2019.
Thanks @K-in-Boston
Wait a second. That's it? I must be missing something.
SW A-list is basically 13 round-trips for me in a year. A-list Preferred is 25, in a single year. I got to 10 round-trips and that's cause I was mixing and matching some airlines last year including Delta and AA going lowest cash price which maybe was a mistake looking at the loyalty programs but I've always been kinda dumb sometimes.
I flew Delta short-hop to Bay Area a few times, if I'm understanding what you're saying right, 4 up and back trips count as the 8 segments and probably the 750 MQD too? That gets Silver? Or is there some minimum distance for MQS qualification? 6250 MQM I know I would've hit, the 2 round-trips to Houston from LAX would've gotten there on it's own.
As mentioned I have to be missing something, I need to go look up the tiers because on that math I quite possibly would've gotten beyond Silver which makes little sense based on my SW experience.
I promise, that's it and you're not missing anything. For MQMs, even though LAX-SFO is only 355 miles, you will always earn 500 (750 in First Class) each direction. For segments, yes 4 round-trip direct flights would be 8 segments. Connect in Seattle or Salt Lake City and you'll earn a bunch more MQMs and double your MQSs. LOL There is no minimum distance needed to earn.
Award flights do not earn anything, but if you have a Delta card and use miles to PAY for a flight (not a great value at 5,000 SkyMiles per $50) you will earn MQMs and MQSs but not MQDs since you paid $0. If you pay to upgrade, you will earn MQDs on the upgrade price plus get the 50% MQM bonus if you upgraded to F. If you use SkyMiles to upgrade to F, you will get the 50% MQM bonus but no additional MQDs since you didn't pay anything other than miles.
I think I'm done flying Southwest because based on that math I hit Gold and damned near hit Platinum last year if I'd just put all flights on Delta.
Since I'm moving to reimbursed travel as long as the Delta flight is approved via policy (usually they are) and ain't nobody going to complain about my 8ish hops to the Bay Area and back if this project ever gets started on Delta it doesn't seem hard to rack up MQS at least as that's 16 right there.
You mentioned something interesting though, if I one (or two, in for a penny in for a pound: if I'm pushing boundaries why not go for it?) hop each direction, let's say the upcoming LAX to St. Pete Florida which is coming up whenever the PM and client get their crap together, that counts as 4 MQS just by itself round trip? I get *paid* for my travel time and it counts for my utilization metrics: there's literally no incentive for me to not waste some time in the air and airports (these days I have connectivity easily anywhere in the US) especially since that often reduces the flight cost from what I've seen in Concur.
I've been doing this wrong, thank you again K, profusely for the necessary slap upside the head.
@wasCB14 wrote:Is the best way for a non-elite to get Comfort+ on domestic transcontinental to just buy that ticket directly as a revenue flight?
When I look on Virgin Atlantic, I'm not sure if "Premium" class is more like business or premium economy.
Yes. Delta usually won't upgrade non-elites to Comfort+ (although Delta Reserve cardholders as of today are added to upgrade list after Silver Medallions). However, if you fly Basic Economy or standby, you have a decent shot of getting an "upgrade" to a middle Comfort+ seat. LOL
Virgin's Premium cabin is a true Premium Economy product like domestic First Class. Upper Class is lie-flat business. Economy Delight would be their Comfort+. If you are looking at award fares, Delta flights in the "Premium" category will typically be Comfort+ while Upper Class will typically be Delta One. (Direct Delta One flights on Delta are a STEAL with Virgin miles!) If you hit Details on any flight when looking at the fares, it will show you which cabin you are in.
@Revelate wrote:I think I'm done flying Southwest because based on that math I hit Gold and damned near hit Platinum last year if I'd just put all flights on Delta.
Since I'm moving to reimbursed travel as long as the Delta flight is approved via policy (usually they are) and ain't nobody going to complain about my 8ish hops to the Bay Area and back if this project ever gets started on Delta it doesn't seem hard to rack up MQS at least as that's 16 right there.
You mentioned something interesting though, if I one (or two, in for a penny in for a pound: if I'm pushing boundaries why not go for it?) hop each direction, let's say the upcoming LAX to St. Pete Florida which is coming up whenever the PM and client get their crap together, that counts as 4 MQS just by itself round trip? I get *paid* for my travel time and it counts for my utilization metrics: there's literally no incentive for me to not waste some time in the air and airports (these days I have connectivity easily anywhere in the US) especially since that often reduces the flight cost from what I've seen in Concur.
I've been doing this wrong, thank you again K, profusely for the necessary slap upside the head.
<smack> As soon as you know you're going to have those flights coming up, do the status challenge then. As long as you complete it within those three months, you keep that status until 31 JAN 2021, but if you make Gold or Platinum in the mean time it'll be effective immediately. If you're milking the travel clock, absolutely try to book as many connections as possible. LAX-ATL-SLC-LGA-DTW-SAN-SFO sounds like fun!
I have about 20 minutes left for this impromptu Delta/SkyTeam Ask Me Anything session. 