The term “frequent flyer program” is becoming more and more outdated. Why? Many of us know people don’t need to fly frequently — or at all — to earn points and even elite status on several airlines. Several cobranded airline credit cards offer members opportunities to spend their way to elite status.
That really angers some people who do fly frequently. Many are on planes every week — leaving their homes and families — for business trips. They earn their status through good old-fashioned flying and airline ticket spending. (Though at least a few — if not most — of those travelers rarely pay for their business travel. Their employers do. Still, there’s a lot to say about being away from home for so long and so often.)
Meanwhile, other folks climb the airline status charts by spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on their airline credit cards. I know a few successful small business owners who purchase goods on their rewards cards. One earns Diamond Medallion through putting well north of $500,000 on his Reserve Cards each year.
Stuff like this doesn’t go over well with the travelers who earn their elite status through actual butt-in-seat miles.
How do I know?
I see it all the time on social media and in this blog’s Comment section. Stuff like, “Earn your status the right way: through actually flying!” You get the point. (No subject-related pun intended.)
But here’s the issue: the airlines put this system in place and encourage spending on their credit cards.
You can’t blame the people who use the spending methods to earn status. It’s not like they found some magic trick to earn status. The airlines themselves instituted it.
Heck, holding a Delta Reserve Amex card serves as the second tie-breaker (third overall priority) for complimentary upgrades for Delta Medallion members.
Do you know who’s next in the pecking order? Delta Corporate Travelers, whose companies get some elevated service. That’s right—people who actually fly.
After that are card members who’ve earned the Delta Amex MQD Waiver during that calendar year. Again, loyal cardholders are a priority (preferably those who spend a bunch of money on their Delta Amexes ASAP).
”I Don’t Like It!”
If you’re one of the folks who thinks elite status should be earned solely through actual travel, please take a seat. You should hear this from a friend.
I don’t think spending one’s way toward status is going away anytime soon. Airlines selling their points to credit card companies is such a lucrative business model.
For example, Delta says spending on its cobranded Amex Cards accounts for 1% of the United States’ GDP. (H/T: OMAAT) That’s nuts.
But if the spend-your-way-to-status truly is a thorn in your craw, tell the airlines. I have a sneaking suspicion Delta will announce next week that earning status through credit card spending will become more expensive.
I think that’s about the happiest medium.
What do you think?
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I’m not going to lie – I spent my way to platinum last year and I’ll do it again this year. Is that fair to people who fly all the time and who accrue mileage/MQDs/MQMs through time spent in an airplane? Not really, but it is what it is and as you said, it’s what the airlines have created. I use my reserve card to pay for job-related travel items that my employer reimburses me for; airfare, rental car, and food/lodging. The rest is stuff I pay for; bills, groceries, etc. If it’s there why not use it?
Now if Delta decides to up the limits whilst simultaneously limiting sky club access, well, I shall take my business elsewhere. Not because I don’t want to be “relegated” to gold or silver, because that doesn’t really bother me, but because the primary reason why I use my reserve card so heavily is for the sky club access, and for the FC/Comf+ companion ticket (which I’ve used every year). From my local airport, Delta is both more expensive and less available than American so I would move to American (despite dreading the connectors) for better bang for the buck because limited sky club visits would not justify the cost of carrying that card. I’ll go back to a gold card in the event that I do fly Delta just to get the free first bag and to not lose a large chuck of my available credit.
I am one of those who has always earned his status by flying. Well, it’s the only way for me to earn MQMs, there’s no such thing as a Delta co-branded credit card in Germany. Anyway, I don’t care if someone else earns all his MQMs from solely flying or if he profits from some boost from his credit cards. At the end of the day they all provide Delta with some money.
Oh, I guess this big credit card spender is indeed more valuable to Delta than I am. I prefer to book cheaper tickets earning the same amount of MQMs. I don’t like to pay higher prices than I need to … without getting much in return … only to show Delta I am the most loyal person in the world 😉
If the announcement next week will indeed be that earning status will be solely based on money being spent then this would be indeed a major change … going from no spending requirement (no MQDs outside the US) to only spending.
I get chastised for putting $250k+ on my 2 Reserve cards every year and I then only have to fly 5,000 MQMs to make DM. But as a senior DL exec told me, DL doesn’t make much money flying someone on the cheapest ticket back and forth between NY and LA because it is so competitive. I pay my balance off in full each month but Amex makes a fortune charging someone like me 30%++ interest on Amex spend with no plane, no pilot, no flight attendant, no fuel, no baggage handler, no phone lines, etc. And they share this windfall with DL. So DL has turned into rewarding big Amex spenders. We’ll see what happens next week. My guess is the MQD waiver goes to $25/$50/$125/$250 and the Reserve goes to $750 with 10 SC visits per year for those who spend less than $75k on the card. Earning PM status with only $25k spend is such a joke. And for too long people have held the Reserve card (with huge signup bonuses) for the SC and companion cert and put close to either $0 or $25k spend on it then just put it in a drawer the rest of the year. Next week Amex and DL will incentivize Amex spend.
Another thought: If arguing that elite status should solely earned via flying .. well, we could go a step further and yell, “Well, you want status on Delta? Then solely fly Delta and not their partners!”
That, of course, is not my opinion. But somehow this logic would go in the same direction, wouldn’t it? Airline partner, credit card company partner … or whatever partner maybe. Like the potential possibility to not just earn SkyMiles with partners like Lyft, Starbucks and who knows what else, but also MQMs or MQDs or whatever the name then.
I am from Canada and we have not had a Delta credit card in a decade. I have to drive into the USA (Detroit) to fly Delta and I earned PM status by actual flights. I work hard and fly business class prices to Korea, China and Europe multiple times per year to earn that status.
AMEX Reserve just allowed me to finally get a US based card by using my Candian Amex history…. I just received the Reserve card last week and was hoping it would help me finally get to DM…. now they will change the rules, lol…. story of my life right there!!
If the airline companies want to max their profits by being just a credit card bank, then sell the planes, fire the crews and become a just another bank. The whole Sky Pesos thing is a joke IMO. I fly enough in the seat miles every year to qualify for Plat, but barely make the minimum spend for Silver. Why do I even bother? Don’t even get me started on how high the point redemption numbers are now.
So you fly over 75k MQMs, but barely spend $3k?! That doesn’t make any sense, especially with Delta’s prices. This year I have 111 MQSs, just about 125k MQMs, and $25.5k MQDs…and those are all main cabin seats.
Your other points about skypesos are spot on
What’s your First Class upgrade success rate been this year?
There is no question that when it comes to frequent flyer programs, the tail is wagging the dog! First, if there is someone who earns high elite status without flying, well who cares? They are not flying often, so they don’t compete for upgrades or seat in the airline lounge!
Years ago, I was sitting in SLC waiting for my flight to BOS. The inbound was coming from SGO and was delayed. When it finally arrived, I watched as the initial group of FC disembarking passengers were asking about their now missed connections… LAX, PHX, ORD, DFW etc. So these folks, many of whom probably bill many hundreds an hour or more for their services, were willing to waste tons of time connecting in SLC instead of availing themselves of the many nonstop possibilities simply to build up their Dekta miles and segments! And run the risk of a missed connection!
Personally, doesn’t bother me in the least when folks earn status through spend. They’re supporting the airlines’ bottom lines, and their butts are rarely in seats, so they’re not regularly clogging up flights.
My first experience with serious AMEX miles management was in the late 90s when, as a newly-minted Platinum – which was the highest status DL had and I had earned BIS – I was sitting in F next to a woman and started to make small talk – “…Well, I see your upgrade cleared too…”. She went on to explain to me that she and her husband had no status on DL but spent every penny of their business’ expenses on their AMEX card, which amounted to over a million points per year. They traveled exclusively on award tickets (usually in F). Back then, the awards were at a fixed redemption level and availability was a bit easier (those were the days!).
I learned two valuable lessons from that lady. 1) It was people like her that could stretch the rules that caused DL to tighten up (considerably) on award travel and 2) An AMEX card would become a strategic tool in managing my elite level and perks.
We can’t lose sight on the fact that these FF programs and co-branded cards are just marketing tools to encourage you to use both the airline and card. They are not a giveaway show.
For years already airlines do not make a profit selling tickets. Their main source of income is now selling miles to credit card companies, hotels, and various other companies for more than double the redemption value. A large percentage of these miles will never be used so that makes this scheme extremely profitable.
So the result is that they reward only them selves and the programs continue to be diluted to the point of not worth your loyalty. I am a 4 milllion miler on Delta, and don’t buy any economy tickets, so what exactly do I gel for paying a premium price to fly them?
I’m not sure how much status from spend affects those who use the butt-in-seat method. Status only means something if you use it. Spenders, by and large, aren’t on planes as much. Therefore, they are competing less for upgrades or seats in lounges. They may not even be using their choice benefits like GUCs.
Putting large sums on a DL card comes with a high opportunity cost as does membership in Skymiles as a primary ff account. Other airline alliances let their members use miles for international first class (note some misguided souls think D1 is equivalent) and have better rewards for their status that corresponds to STE+.
personally, I get tired of the bash Delta posts. I live in SLC, a major Delta hub and to get anywhere ona non stop other than west coast flights, I choose to fly Delta. I am a Platinum and Delta customer for decades now. I sure do reach my status with my credit card.
As a reader I started following this blog as it was dedicated to keep you informed specifically to being a Delta customer. It is what it is and I want to just make sure I am up to date and informed so I can continue to optimize my Delta experience.
Can we get back to keeping the updates going and stop sharing the bashing Delta rhetoric? It won’t change a thing.
Thanks for the comment, ctut. I’m not sure how I bashed Delta in this post. I simply explained how some people get bent out of shape that it’s possible to earn status simply through spending a lot of money on credit cards. And that Delta prizes its big Delta Amex spenders.
If you want to be informed of Delta changes and not hear anything bad, I highly recommend reading Delta News Hub. You won’t read one negative thing about Delta there.
We call ‘em as we see ‘em. That includes praising individual employees.
You’ve read some of the glowing reviews about the new Sky Clubs, right?
When we like great meals and tasty beverages, we write about them so fellow travelers are aware and can enjoy those products if they’re interested.
And please re-read last year’s Delta Year-in-Review — where the airline received more positives than negatives.
It’s a loyalty program and there are different ways of showing loyalty. Perhaps spending $250K on a Delta branded credit card is very lucrative to Delta. In any case, clearly if someone wants to get Delta status by spending money on a credit card, they must love Delta otherwise why bother?