“I think Delta should give 1 Million Mile flyers 25,000 MQMs each year, 2 Million Mile flyers 50,000 MQMs, etc., in addition to lifetime Silver, Gold status, etc. Not really a cost saving measure, but certainly would boost loyalty and give us a head start on achieving a higher elite status each year.”
This idea was posted by John Hayes — a reader of Delta Points — in response to this article written by René de Lambert pertaining to saving Delta Air Lines money in order to fund rollbacks and improvements into the SkyMiles frequent flier program. I expressed my thoughts in this article as a response to that article — but I digress.
This is not a new idea. At least one FlyerTalk member who earned Million Miler status and therefore has earned lifetime Silver Medallion elite level status — er…I mean receives annual complimentary Silver Medallion elite level status — thought that she would start off every year with 25,000 Medallion Qualification Miles so that she would only need to earn an additional 25,000 Medallion Qualification Miles to earn Gold Medallion elite level status; but fellow FlyerTalk members explained that that was not the case.
There are two sides to this idea: one being that after earning a million Medallion Qualification Miles — which is more difficult to do than in the days where virtually any mile earned counted towards Million Miler status — a person should receive an annual boost towards a higher level of elite status as part of the benefit, as the status itself does not offer all that much; while others argue that that would only swell the ranks of Medallion elite level members.
What do you think?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
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