As of September 1, 2013, you will no longer earn Medallion Qualification Miles towards elite status in the Delta Air Lines SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program on any airfare with Korean Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Olympic Airways, according to FlyerTalk member DwayneSkyMiles, who is one of the official company representatives of Delta Air Lines on FlyerTalk — and FlyerTalk members are livid.
Partner airlines have been separated into four groups, as follows:
Group 1 You earn:
- Full Medallion Qualification Miles
- 100 percent base SkyMiles on all flights
- A tier bonus of SkyMiles based on your current Medallion elite status level, and
- A class of service bonus of 50 percent
Group 2 You earn:
- A reduced amount of Medallion Qualification Miles
- Up to 100 percent base SkyMiles on all flights
- A tier bonus of SkyMiles based on your current Medallion elite status level, and
- A class of service bonus of up to 50 percent
Group 3 You earn:
- A reduced amount of Medallion Qualification Miles
- Up to 100 percent base SkyMiles on all flights
- No tier bonus of SkyMiles based on your current Medallion elite status level, and
- A class of service bonus of up to 25 percent
Group 4 You earn:
- No Medallion Qualification Miles at all
- Up to 100 percent base SkyMiles on all flights
- No tier bonus of SkyMiles at all, and
- No class of service bonus at all
I italicized the key words up to above, meaning that depending on the partner airline, you may not earn full credit.
Please refer to the chart below for details.
What this means for you is that if you are a Delta Air Lines SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program member who flies as a passenger on partner airlines, you will now have to take care to ensure that you use a partner airline which accrues as many SkyMiles and Medallion Qualification Miles as possible — otherwise, your earnings have been either significantly reduced or eliminated altogether.
Interestingly, earnings of SkyMiles and Medallion Qualification Miles were already reduced on select partner airlines of Delta Air Lines earlier this year.
If there is a “silver lining” it is that on certain airline partners — such as Virgin Australia, Aeromexico and GOL — you will earn full SkyMiles and Medallion Qualification Miles, of which only a percentage are earned today.
What is especially striking is that certain SkyTeam alliance partners — such as Korean Air and most airlines based in Asia — have been adversely affected by these changes. If you are a Delta Air Lines SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program member who travels to Asia regularly, your choices of airlines suddenly became extremely limited if you care about earning SkyMiles and Medallion Qualification Miles.
Grab your popcorn and keep an eye on this discussion on FlyerTalk…
