Everyone’s offering Elite Qualifying Miles… (Part 3): Delta’s “caveat emptor” offer is a scam
by Captain G on Mar.24, 2009, under Airlines
It took about a week … but Delta finally responded with their own Elite Qualifying Miles offer (actually it’s Medallion Qualifying Miles aka: MQM). Delta has up the ante by offering TRIPLE MQM miles for flights between March 23, 2009 to June 15, 2009. Here’s the link for you to register if you’re interested.
HOWEVER, we believe this is a huge ghetto Delta scam. The Triple MQM announcement is a pubic relations play in response to UA, AA and Continental’s offers. Upon reviewing Delta’s ticket prices and fare class restrictions (see below), you will not qualify for double MQM unless you are willing to pay for an above average priced ticket. To get the triple MQM, you will need to pay an arm and a leg.
As a frequently flier between JFK/LAX myself, Delta’s round trip JFK/LAX flights are usually $280 which are L, U, and T classes. For the H, Q, K class bookings, you are looking at $400 to $500 for the round trip JFK/LAX ticket. I did not even bother looking at the other classes as they are last minute purchases or same day prices which can run $800+.
Furthermore, the fine print on the Delta offer states that you will not get your triple MQM bonus miles until 8 weeks after the promotion ends - so roughly mid-August.
In summary, Delta is making you pay for the MQM/Elite status. I am sure Delta will see a backlash from the public after this promotion ends. There will be many people out there who hasn’t read the fine print or the chart and believe they have earned status come August only to find they are only 1/3 of the way there.
Guess this offer is Delta’s way of saying: “caveat emptor” or “we found another way to scam you.”
Check out my previous posts for links to UA, AA and Continental’s offers. Continental by far is the most transparent and generous offer.
Everyone’s offering Elite Qualifying Miles… (Part 1)
Everyone’s offering Elite Qualifying Miles… (Part 2)
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April 22nd, 2009 on 1:45 pm
I don’t travel enough to worry about status or miles. But it sounds like a lot of people will be upset by this.
May 2nd, 2009 on 11:57 pm
[...] Triangle Trip’s recent post regarding Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM or MQM for Delta). :Airlines, american, delta, delta mqm, [...]
June 30th, 2009 on 9:03 pm
I tried the Delta Elite B.S. today. Ansolute bunch of crap! Coach ticket to the U.K. is $2,500 R/T. Upgrade to 1st/Business not available!!!!!
July 8th, 2009 on 7:05 pm
[...] is right after the Triple/Double MQM offer ended — which wasn’t really an offer (see previous post). I am guessing Delta is feeling guilty that it actually did not offer or gave anyone real MQM with [...]
July 20th, 2009 on 12:51 pm
[...] MQM and bonus miles offer to September 7, 2009. Similar to the first Double/Triple MQM offer (see previous post), there’s a catch! You will need to book and fly on higher (more expensive) class fares. [...]
July 31st, 2009 on 6:38 pm
[...] a great perk as Delta didn’t devalue its mileage program with the Double/Triple MQM scam (see previous post) - I only earned 1 double MQM from all my [...]
August 2nd, 2009 on 12:01 am
I know this is old, but I did not see it mentioned.
for the triple miles, you only get triple miles off of base milage.. You have a 1st class ticket, you were already going to get 150%… so that means, you REALLY only got double, not triple, as they neglected teh extra 50% you were already going to get.
So in effect there is really not a single triple in the whole “bonus”
By the letter they are right, morally they were WRONG WRONG WRONG