Delta announced yesterday several changes to its Upgrade Certificates (which are Choice Benefit selections for Diamond and Platinum Medallions.)
The biggest change deals with upgrade limitations. Global Upgrade Certificates (GUC) are available only to Diamond Medallions — and one of the reasons people pursue that top-tier status. But GUC took a significant devaluation yesterday: starting February 1, 2022, GUC are valid only for one-cabin-higher upgrades on many international flights.
For example, you currently can purchase a Main Cabin ticket — and upgrade straight to Delta One (skipping over Premium Select — Delta’s premium economy offering) if inventory permits.
But next year, you can only confirm into Premium Select from Main Cabin. You’re then waitlisted for Delta One upgrades which may clear within 24 hours of a flight.
Want a confirmed Delta One upgrade? You’ll have to buy Premium Select — then hope there’s a Delta One upgrade available.
But Global Upgrade Certificates surely dimmed in luster during the past 24 hours. I wonder if fewer people will pursue Diamond Medallion status — and settle for something lower. Or even become airline free agents.
Does this change whether or not you pursue Diamond or Platinum Medallion status?
Diamond Medallion: Not as Shiny?
Some people reach Diamond Medallion fairly easily every year. They fly a lot — usually on their company’s dime.
Some others reach “only” Platinum — or even lower. But they have Diamonds in their eyes. So they take partner mileage runs to boost their MQD and MQM earnings.
Global Upgrade Certificates helped my wife and me upgrade from Main Cabin to Delta One for a weekend to/from Japan.
Next year, the best you can do is a Main Cabin to Premium Select jump — and maybe get upgraded to Delta One just prior to the flight. (I’m not holding my breath.)
Don’t get me wrong: Premium Select isn’t bad. (If you haven’t seen them, Premium Select seats are very similar to domestic first class.) I’d much prefer those over Main Cabin seats on international long hauls.
But confirmed Delta One upgrades going away is a major bummer.
Global Upgrade Certificates are a big perk of Diamond Medallion status. But both René and I found (and maybe you did, too) there’s still plenty of benefits to holding Diamond Medallion status.
I upgraded to First Class domestically far more often as a Diamond Medallion than Platinum.
Diamonds usually enjoy better customer service, as well.
Delta may send a Porsche to ferry you between concourses or terminals when you connect at a hub airport. Your chances of getting the gate-to-gate ride are higher as a Diamond than Platinum.
Plus, Delta reps generally bend rules or magically make things happen for people with upper tier.
But will I go out of my way — and pocket — to qualify for Diamond Medallion status in the future?
Honestly, I don’t know. For me, it depends on my travel habits — both personally and professionally. If I’m on Delta planes a bunch next year or see that I will be in 2023, then I’ll still pursue Diamond.
Other than that? Sure, Platinum isn’t as glittery as Diamond. But it still has some shine.
What Will You Do?
Are you sticking with Delta? How have your status goals been affected by the Upgrade Certificate changes?
Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section!
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Would it be prudent to take a mileage run this year to bag some MQM’s with help from the DL accelerator since they carry over?
This is indeed the final nail in the coffin for me when it comes to my loyalty to Delta. After pricing several upcoming upcoming flights that I need to book that I was going to use my GUC for MC to D1 and now seeing that on the flight to JNB & Thailand in order to secure the D1 i would be paying more for a PS seat than I would for business on a competitor airline as I don’t want to chance either of these with the PS to D1 waitlist as D1 on all my flights this year have been completely full. By the time you add in the aircraft difference (A332 vs 787) and direct vs layover it makes it hard to pick Delta when its a premium price but not that great of a premium compared to what others are offering.
With that said throughout the entire pandemic ive seen my loyalty to Delta shift to be more of who has FC/BC that fits my needs and schedule
For my personal travel plans and work requirements (pre-pandemic) Platinum was pretty easily achievable while I really needed to work to get Diamond.
This was especially true following the change to the AmEx spend waiver, which meant I had to go out of my way to snap up the clients that paid for business class on international travel in order to get my MQDs, rather than preferring close, convenient domestic clients. Being able to take my partner on an international Delta One trip with a confirmed in advance upgrade and not having to deal with point/chart/calendar BS was the single most attractive thing that made that effort worth it.
This change means I’m going to be way less willing to go out of my way to stretch to Diamond, and will probably just stay around a Platinum. I’m in a DL hub city, so its easy for them to get my business when my client is paying (even in main cabin, DL has the best, most consistent experience domestically), but on the margin I’ll probably shift some personal travel to United (silver status from Marriott, so I can still check a bag if I want) or LCCs, depending on the price.
Interestingly, AA sent me an unsolicited status challenge this year that I completed for Executive Platinum. I was still considering pursuing Diamond Medallion this year after I evaluated what ExPlat with AA was like. Even though AA can be a dumpster fire at times, I really haven’t had a bad experience with any of my travel with them this year at all. Additionally, even the free domestic first class upgrades seem a bit more available than they have with Delta.
Given the very interesting changes that AA has made to earning status in 2022, it makes for an interesting dilemma. Delta just made the decision a bit easier, and I will spend this year seeing what it is like to earn and have status on AA.
I’ll see how fair delta is with allowing the use of our GUC and RUC’s… I hope it’s not as bad as I think and the certificates are nearly useless/worthless… that’s was the one of the major attractions to going out of the way to achieve status… Not being a Delta hub captive and having enough MQM’s at the end of next year… for 5 years of Diamond ….My plan is to STOP Delta Amex spend at platinum threshold, not a penny over. Then spend on my AA cards enough to get upper status with and/or I might even ask do a status match…. They have better routing and partnerships for my travels quite often anyway. And If the price is right…that’s who’s going to get my $$… It’s good to be a free agent. Seems like Delta’s loyalty to medallion members has faded… they say it hasn’t, but those are just words. There actions speak differently. My loyalty goes to the better value!!!
I found it much harder to use the systemwide upgrades with AA than the GUCs with Delta. You also have to pay for Upgrades on American depending on the level you are. I achieved lifetime Platinum with AA before I switched to Delta, and I haven’t looked back. There are annoying aspects of these changes, most notably the change in the expiration that gives me one year to use 12 upgrades. On the other hand, the guaranteed availability of upgrades, when there are seats available, is a huge improvement.
I’ll make no particular effort to reach Diamond in the future. I’ll probably just pay for international business on the airline with the best price and schedule. The global upgrade certificates were the main reason I wished to stay Diamond. Very disappointing.
Ugh, as a 16 year Diamond who recently moved overseas, this is definitely the end of my loyalty to Delta. That was a huge benefit, and it is really hard to justify being with them when they do things like this. Nice folks on the front lines, but corporately they are killing themselves. The worst part is a lot of those FC seats go empty, so it’s not even like they see revenue from this move.
More reason for me to pursue Diamond for 2022! With less competition from other Diamond members, upgrades to D1, just increased
Don’t count on it. Most of the people complaining will still be there when they realize that it’s better than the alternative.
I’m new to status, I started this past August. Delta was generous to upgrade people from main cabin to D1. I fly Comfort+ on short hauls, but when the flight is over 4 hours, I fly First. You’re right! What’s the alternative… United? American? I do enjoy reading all the complainers, though. And the Porsche thing? Haha it’s only a Porsche!
After being Diamond for 12 years I keep hoping they make some improvement to the benefits. Sadly it’s a slow death. The GUC’s have always been a challenge to use and I ended up getting help from Juicy on some recent ones. Well worth the money, not an adv for them btw and note I was skeptical with the cost for 4 people, it took the headaches out of the process. Now this downgrade/limitation makes it harder as we have to look for overseas flights that do not have Premium Select to lower the cost and hopefully make it. That said, the PS seats are not bad and very similar to ones on AF, but who wants to settle for that with a limited/hard to get GUC certificate? I worry more about the idea that Platinum and Diamond numbers are sooooooo high for 2022 with all the rollovers that it will be like a concert exit trying to board with early groups too. Kind of like you see with some of the super cheap no frills carriers.
I’ve been a Diamond since program replaced Platinum as top tier in Delta system. Joined FF program in 1983. Seen a lot of downgrading of offerings. Used to fly to UK BC from DFW-ATL-London for 90,000 points. Used to have Complimentary Domestic Upgrades 95% of the time. Still good service, but SkyMiles is no Frequent Flyer program. Also, I have been picked up by Porsche ONE time and that was with another flyer I didn’t know. I suspect I was a “tag along” and the other rider was the primary benefactor. ONE time in 12 years (2012). Read Chris was picked up, but can’t help but wonder if Delta knows who they are picking up. (Not a knock, Chris. Big fan! I’d have the Porsche get you if I was Delta, too). Is anyone else really getting picked up at gate in a Porsche? Two flights left before I retire. What think chances are?
Thanks for your comment. The one time I was picked up was at an LAX shuttle bus stop between T2 and T3 (when it was still operating). The driver walked into the area and asked if there were any Delta Diamonds. And that was before I took over the blog 🙂 .
Delta doesn’t necessarily love René and me. I’d be lucky if they sent a moped to pick me up.
I have had Diamond status since inception and will earn it again this year (all personal travel but helped by the accelerators). The only benefit I care about is the GUCs. I’ve always claimed them the last week of January. So now I will have 8 certificates to use before 1/31/2023. Had I known about this change earlier, I would have claimed my 2021 GUCs and used them on flights I took to Europe this summer in C+. Because of these changes, I don’t plan on pursuing Diamond in 2022. I don’t want to spend $15k to get 4 upgrades to PS.
I was picked up ONLY ONCE in a Porsche as a second passenger who was Delta 360.
The driver gave me her card which I still have tucked away.
I have made diamond tush in seat for 2022 I’m curious to see if I get a ride which is for me.
Stay tuned
I’ve been a diamond for several years and I’m just 100k to my 2M miles with Delta. Never once being picked up by the car between gates and lately i noticed that they fail to acknowledge my million miles taga more often that not. Love their on board staff… Have a love and hate relationship with their gate agents that are always stickler for some obscure rule or another. I’m disappointed about the GUC devaluation and I’m going to have to take a hard look at other airlines. The delta reserve card is probably the next thing I’m going to shed if i can’t take advantage of their network upgrade as i did in the past.
I have had Diamond status since the beginning, with Delta and NW, and always top tier before Diamond existed. My main benefit is the GUCs. I am not interested in PS, and may take AA up on their matching offer.
I am debating whether it makes sense to select 8 RUCs instead of 4 GUCs. My business travel will not be back to normal in 2022, and I will probably drop down to Platinum using the Amex waiver and banked MQMs. However, if I do decide to go for Diamond, I will do it by racking up MQDs on personal mileage runs on Delta partners, and those trips will probably be enough international travel for me and the GUCs will have less value. Before the pandemic, I found it pretty easy to get to Diamond using a few trips to Asia on China Eastern, which had very reasonable business class ticket prices that my employer covered.
I have generally stopped loyalty altogether. I’ve been a Diamond since day 1 and an NWA plat before then. The rewards of Delta diamond membership have boiled down to simply a better phone line to call. I’ve never been able to get a regional or global upgrade to clear, ever, and have given up on them already. So I buy FC on Delta, AA, or others depending on price and routing. I still manage to be a diamond every year, but fly a lot of AA. I would guess that Delta loses $20-30k per year on flights I take on other lines that they would retain if they were a better airline with a better FF program. But they aren’t. Ask me about the flight I took from DFF-DTW with no water on the plane and wet wipes in the bathroom. I might as well be flying Aeroflot…
I am a Delta long time Diamond member and am a 2M miler. The new policy relating to GUC has already affected my International travel plans. I recently booked JFK-BKK with ANA in the “room” at $3800.00 while Delta was selling at $6800.00. I attempted to use GUC’s on 4 different occasions on other flights and have not been successful. This new policy does not work and will send Delta loyal clients to other airline services. Your upper level management had totally mishandled this situation and at the same time alienated their core base of loyal Delta customers.
Frank