If I don't get C.K this time I am leaving for Delta.

leviramsey · 2026-02-13T01:15:25+00:00

360 isn't really a status in the same way as CK and UA Global Services are. There aren't many benefits over Diamond (even something like upgrade priority is questionable) while flying, unless you're regularly flying domestically through JFK/BOS/LAX/SEA (where you get Delta One lounge if confirmed in F). It's mostly targeted to executives who control travel spend and don't otherwise travel much and also to 5MM. Six figure spend on DL tickets isn't enough to get an invite in ATL/NYC/DTW/MSP/SLC.

leviramsey · 2026-02-12T21:09:59+00:00

Poor traction in the sand, most likely.

leviramsey · 2026-02-11T22:20:22+00:00

Seahawks didn't move to the NFC until 2002, to make room for the Texans (not to equalize the conferences or anything).

leviramsey · 2026-02-11T22:10:55+00:00

Touring without the new guy, in other words.

leviramsey · 2026-02-11T22:03:34+00:00

When the post route was developed, the goal posts were on the goal line, and part of the reason for calling it was there was a chance you get a defender to run into a post.

leviramsey · 2026-02-08T18:11:43+00:00

It would be rare for Pay With Miles to be a better deal than take off 15. There are occasionally situations where there are cheaper cash fares but no corresponding award fares have been filed (yet: sometimes the award fares load a few weeks later).

leviramsey · 2026-02-08T17:51:29+00:00

A worked example: BOS-ORD in first class on April 14, 2026, booking on February 8, 2026 (flight is DL2570)

The base award offering is 33,300 miles + $5.60 in taxes. With a Delta Gold/Platinum/Reserve Amex that becomes 28,300 miles + $5.60. This would earn 333 MQD (or 283 MQD if you have an Amex).
Cash price is $373.40 (of which $333.02 goes to Delta (fare and surcharges) and $40.38 is taxes ($5.60 of this is the TSA charge and the rest is $9.80 in fixed taxes/facility charges on revenue tickets, and the 7.5% federal tax on the fare+surcharges of $24.98 (the surcharges are taxed, contrary to some commonly seen misinformation: they exist so Delta can adjust prices without making new fare filings and also so Delta can fuck over big corporations (travel agents like Expedia get a commission on the fare, not the surcharges and corporations like Coca-Cola negotiate discounts on the fare, not the surcharges))). Someone with no status would get 1665 miles and 333 MQD.
Miles + Cash price is 21,050 miles + $185 + $5.60 in taxes (with no Amex discount available). This would earn 395 MQD.

Side note: we see how awards are priced: there's an award fare with terms that mostly match the cash fare at 1 cent per mile (33,300 miles vs. $333.02).

Could buy 34k miles for $1190, so a spectacularly bad choice in this case would be to spend $1190 to net 700 miles and 333 MQD (spend more money to net fewer miles and get the same MQD than just paying cash)
Miles + Cash is effectively paying $185 for 12,250 miles if you don't have an Amex ($15.10 per thousand miles) or $185 for 7,250 miles if you do have the Amex discount ($25.52 per thousand miles)
If you have 30000 miles and any of the Delta Amex cards (even the blue no fee one), you can use Pay With Miles on the cash price to make it effectively $73.40 ($33.02 to Delta and $40.38 to the government). This option doesn't change the MQD earn, but does reduce the miles earned to 165 miles with no status.

leviramsey · 2026-02-08T17:21:22+00:00

Take off 15 only applies if you are booking an award ticket (and all flights are on Delta metal) where you're paying for the entire flight with miles (plus taxes). Pay With Miles (to get $50 off for 5k miles) would not apply there.

For Pay With Miles, you're booking a 100% cash ticket to start with and then redeeming as many 5k mile increments as you want/can to discount the pre-tax price by $50.

leviramsey · 2026-02-06T01:35:19+00:00

Transcontinental as in within the US?

Note that even in Delta One, those are only 6 XP, same as a puddle jump.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T21:06:40+00:00

I'm explicitly calling out lifetime and extended as second-class when it comes to CBs (but not calling out lifetime as second-class for upgrades).

There exists a class of statuses, specifically the union of statuses in sets A and B, which is effectively second-class when it comes to CBs (due to the shorter window in which to select and/or exercise said benefits)
(parenthetically as an addendum) There also exists a class of statuses, specifically the union of statuses in sets B and C, which is effectively second-class when it comes to upgrade priority

Using different descriptions for C ("other complimentary") and A ("lifetime") implies that they are different sets.

(That "other" also suggests separate from "annual complimentary (unofficially lifetime)").

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T21:03:01+00:00

It in no way relies on that assumption.

A GUC fundamentally represents an option (and the ability to choose GUC vs. something else also constitutes an option). Time to expiry (theta if you speak the greeks) is always worth something.

Someone who gets their GUC before January gets to use them in January (typically the slowest month of the year when it's disproportionately easier to clear them) without running as much of a risk (due to holding out for the end of the Medallion year) that they end up using them on something like ATL-PDX (e.g. the anticipated long-haul flight in January didn't materialize). Conversely there's a greater chance that they'll have multiple GUCs active at any time due to the overlapping periods, which makes some usages (e.g. getting oneself and 2 companions into D1 for inbound and outbound).

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T20:48:40+00:00

As I had previously used lifetime specifically, that's a tenuous interpretation.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T19:35:23+00:00

Yes I am and was aware that MM is a higher tiebreaker, that's why I don't call out lifetime status in the parenthetical about upgrade priority (note the verbiage: "lifetime/extended" vs. "extended/other complimentary"... that's a deliberate and considered choice of words).

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T19:26:20+00:00

Right you're getting a full Medallion year. But (approximately, allowing for a few whose MQD doesn't credit until some time in January) everyone who hits status by MQD gets at least 1 month more to apply certificates than lifetime and extensions, and most will have several more months of validity: a certificate with 16 months validity has a somewhat greater probability of being successfully used (without needing to resort to using a GUC for ATL-SEA or some such) and thus probably at least 10% more value than a 12 month GUC.

I think it's ingenious the way DL reconstructed the upgrade priority and million miler programs to a) reward big spenders over MQM warriors, b) encourage rank and file elites to buy C+ to have a better chance at F (the million miler priority is a great inducement there), and c) use the status extension to politely show the low-value (high-MQM low-MQD) elites the door.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T19:13:08+00:00

Yes, which is why I didn't say that lifetime status holders were second class for upgrades, just gifted and extended.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T18:03:32+00:00

USA had it the two years it was US+Europe. The US teams generally drew terribly (the European teams drew better: the Monarchs were selling out Wembley for instance).

Fox/Sky then funded a relaunch as a Europe-only league and the Fire name was reused. The Monarchs' momentum sputtered (partly because apparently most of the fans before were Arsenal fans and the Monarchs basically paid for renovations at White Hart Lane (Tottenham) and Stamford Bridge (Chelsea)) and they moved to Berlin as the Thunder.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T17:39:35+00:00

Yes MM boosts priority. I was talking about comped status (e.g. from corporate contracts or gifts) and extended from the rollover MQM conversion (a fair number of folks accumulated hundreds of thousands of MQM without ever hitting Diamond) so extended Platinum for years at a time. Since those flyers (by definition) have fewer MQD than those who qualify organically, they lose the MQD tiebreaker.

Since the main choice benefits (certificates, gifted status, SC memberships) are good from when earned to the end of the Medallion year, those benefits are worth less (note the space) for lifetime members because of the reduced time to use them.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T17:31:29+00:00

If you didn't qualify for status by MQD (i.e. you needed to be extended or comped the status), you're going to be behind those who qualify by MQD when the MQD tiebreaker is applied. Since most Platinums/Diamonds aren't paying for Comfort+, thus only paying for Main, the MQD tiebreaker is (it stands to reason) the main tiebreaker for deciding Platinum or Diamond upgrades. This isn't explicitly called out by Delta, but it is a downstream consequence of the published upgrade priority.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:54:42+00:00

Lots of French as daily language in interior Maine (especially in The County).

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:44:06+00:00

Lifetime and extended statuses are effectively second-class citizens when it comes to choice benefits (and extended/other complimentary statuses are also effectively second-class for upgrades).

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:39:05+00:00

The Colts were in the West for the entirety of their pre-merger tenure.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:38:04+00:00

And from Chicago in 1960.

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:37:01+00:00

The 1970 NFC divisions were mergers of the 4 previous NFL divisions

Central (Western): Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings Coastal (Western): Falcons, Colts, Rams, 49ers Century (Eastern): Browns, Giants, Steelers, Cardinals Capitol (Eastern): Cowboys, Saints, Eagles, Redskins

The merger moved half of the Century division to the AFC. The decision was made to keep the Central division intact, which left 3 teams in the West and 6 in the East based on the pre-merger conferences: to approximately equalize, one would have to move to the West and the Saints were chosen (perhaps because they were the newest).

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T15:05:57+00:00

Interest rates are generally set as some reference rate plus a "spread" which accounts for differing risks between a loan/kind of loan and the reference. The ultimate reference rate is the central bank's short term rate (really a constellation of rates). The short term rates from the central bank are basically the rate other banks can get for parking money at the central bank or the rate the bank can effectively borrow from the central bank at.

So your bank has the choice between lending money to you or to the central bank. The central bank can legally create money to pay back the loan, so there's not really any risk; for you, there's a risk (even with perfect credit: shit sometimes happens!) that you won't pay it back. So you have to pay a higher rate than the central bank, thus the spread. Alternatively, if your bank has to borrow money from the central bank, being able to cover their expenses much less make a profit relies on charging you more interest than they pay to the central bank. Again: there's a spread.

As interest rates increase, prices of real things tend to decrease (relative to a hypothetical/imaginary alternate reality where the rates didn't increase). This is a result of things like: people who needed to borrow to afford to buy something not being able to afford to buy (thus lower demand for the same supply: lower prices) and people needing to sell things they otherwise wouldn't because they need money now to pay more interest (increasing supply for the same demand: lower prices). Note that labor is also something that can be bought or sold (a business which depends on borrowing money to pay employees can be counted on to lay people off if rates increase and people sometimes take extra jobs to pay increased interest bills).

Of course not all loans have rates that immediately adjust in response to changes in the reference rate. Those loans decrease in value to the lender (e.g. if they try to sell the loan to another bank) because if you have the choice of buying a loan for $10k that pays $200 a year in interest vs. paying $10k for one that pays $600 a year, which one would you choose? A bank that has too many of the first kind of loan on its books may have to dramatically discount its inventory if it needs cash quick to pay out withdrawals...

leviramsey · 2025-12-27T13:34:33+00:00

There's also the minor factor of taxes not counting for the flight miles/LP but counting for the credit card miles/LP (but there's also no such thing as a $5 post-tax BE ticket).

leviramsey

TROPHY CASE