Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Medallion Program

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations | Medallion Program - SkyMiles vs Medallion Miles?

DVA1379
Senior Captain, B747-400
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2,219 legs, 6,568.4 hours ACARS
58 legs, 136.4 hours event

Posted onPost created on October 13 2023 11:18 ET by Kyle Weber

Neat idea for this new program; always good to have another achievement to strive for. I'm wondering, what's the difference between SkyMiles and Medallion miles though?

(Or is it supposed to be just as confusing as the real world frequent flyer programs :-P )

Kyle Weber (DVA1379)

DVA10641
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1,987 legs, 4,456.2 hours
1,865 legs, 3,929.2 hours online
1,967 legs, 4,422.4 hours ACARS
638 legs, 1,290.5 hours event
18 legs dispatched, 157.2 hours

Posted onPost created on October 13 2023 12:46 ET by Jason Boche

I don't know the answer but I just want to say that I like your water cooler signature banner. I miss NWA tails.

Jason Boche

Assistant Chief Pilot, B757-200

DVA11652
Captain, MD-11
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6 legs, 8.3 hours online
542 legs, 1,466.7 hours ACARS
3 legs, 3.8 hours event

Posted onPost created on October 30 2023 10:15 ET by Jason Spiskey

I could be wrong, but the skymiles are for the actual miles flown. So lets say you do you a 1000nm flight. You would get 1000 skymiles. The medallion miles though are actually higher. You get bonus miles on top of the base. For example, if you use simbrief, you get 250 extra miles, if it is a new plane that you have not flown before, you get 500 extra miles, new airports visited get you 250 miles each. You get a good landing bonus and you get a bit of extra points for your medallion status. That is to say that as you reach silver, gold, and so on, you get bonus miles. So for you your 1000nm flight, you would 1000 skymiles, your medallion miles though could be over 2000 medallion miles.

Jason Spiskey (DVA11652)

Posted onPost created on October 30 2023 12:27 ET by Jason Boche

As Jason said above, you are eligible for bonus miles in certain categories. Here's an example.

http://boche.net/dropbox/2023-10-30_11-25-53.jpg

Jason Boche

Assistant Chief Pilot, B757-200

DVA043
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75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,342 legs, 9,424.9 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours

Posted onPost created on November 03 2023 11:00 ET by Luke Kolin

To shed some light:

In the beginning, there were miles. You flew 500 miles from point A to point B, and you got exactly 500 miles. Airlines published redemption charts for status and free tickets, you traded in your miles and off you went. We saw it, and it was good - or at least simple.

Once the MBAs got involved, the airlines started tinkering. They sold miles to third parties which could then award them for purchases. Once you could start getting miles for non-airline travel or spend, the airlines created a new category of miles for actual status. Then the MBAs got involved once more and you could get "status miles" for credit card spend. Then the lounges and upgrade lists started to overflow and the MBAs decided to narrow it down to dollars spent, not miles flown. At least they're honest. smile

DVA's Medallion program faithfully replicates all of the complexity and nuance of Delta's Sky Miles program. It doesn't represent the changes coming into effect in 2025, but I'll try and explain how the real-world program works and how we mirror it (and where we don't).

The basic currency is SkyMiles. This is what you use to get free flights and upgrades. It's essentially given out like candy. Depending on your status level, you get a set number of SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta airfare, multiplied by your status level. I'm right now flying from KATL to CYYZ which cost me roughly $300 - as Platinum medallion I'll get 9x the miles or around 2,700 miles for this leg. I also get 3x miles per dollar spent on Delta using a cobranded Amex card, so another 900 miles just for buying the ticket. If my luggage is late in Toronto, Delta can give me another 2,500 miles as compensation. I've gotten 5,000 miles compensation because my first class AC plug didn't work. Again, it's candy - and they call them SkyPesos for a reason. A few years ago I booked Delta One to Europe for 130,000 miles. Today that costs north of 400k.

At DVA, you'll notice that the number of SkyMiles we award is significantly higher than the great circle mileage for a trip. There's a bonus for a new aircraft, a new airport, no time acceleration, good landings, on time performance and there are accelerators for Medallion status. We give them out as easily as Delta does.

If you want to get status with Delta, SkyMiles won't help you. Delta has the concept of "Medallion Miles" which are mostly great circle miles flown. There are no boosts, with one exception - if you book in First Class, you get a 50% Medallion Mile boost over the great circle distance. In the past ten years, Delta and Amex have introduced the idea of Medallion Mile boosts from their cobranded credit cards. If you get a Delta branded Platinum card, you can get 80% of the way to Silver with $50k of spending in a year. A Reserve card can get you to Gold with $120k of spend (and free SkyClub access). At DVA, we represent Medallion Miles simply as Great Circle distance flown.

For those folks who don't fly a lot of distance but a lot of flights, Delta also has the concept of "Medallion Segments" which are flight legs. If you fly JFK-BOS 120 times a year, you will get Diamond Medallion even if you don't have enough Medallion Miles to qualify (that distance barely gets you Gold). At DVA, we duplicate this ability to get status - you qualify based on Medallion Miles or Flight Legs. I've never seen anyone in real life who qualified based on Medallion Segntns, but I am sure they exist.

The last concept that Delta has is the idea of "Medallion Dollars" which bluntly is how much money you spend on fares. Until this year, you need to spend a minimum amount to get status, no matter how many Medallion Miles or Medallion Segments you get (but again, this can be waived with credit card spend). Starting in 2025, this will be the core currency of the SkyMiles program - but with enough quirks and wrinkles and credit card tie-ins to keep the MBAs happy. Since you don't pay to fly at DVA (although the staff has a vested interest in figuring out how to do this, and constantly brainstorms!) we don't represent this at all. So the Delta acronyms are as follows:

MQM = Medallion Miles
MQS = Medallion Segments
MQD = Medallion Dollars

Right now, we're pretty close to real world with Medallion Segments and Medallion Miles to gain status, and with accelerators for regular SkyMiles. What we haven't figured out is how to use regular SkyMiles for status. The system has the capability to do so, but we haven't completely settled on all the bonuses and boosts to apply. We also don't have a good model for how to "spend" your accumulated miles, because ultimately we model the pilot experience, not the passenger experience. I am optimistic we will be able to do so eventually, we just need to see some patterns emerge and get some ideas.

Hopefully this gives a good overview on the real-world Delta program, and how we're trying to emulate it. I've been a rodent on this treadmill for a few years now, so happy to answer questions on how the real world program works as well.

Cheers

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on November 03 2023 12:24 ET by Jason Boche

Luke,

Thank you! This helps a lot. If we take:

+ the Medallion Miles and Medallion Segments you explained above
+ apply the math explained on the 10/13/2023 front page news bulletin
= this should equal the status each pilot has

As for the SkyMiles, I'd be happy to redeem mine for coffee or an NHL or NFL championship for a Minnesota franchise.

10/13/2023 Introducing the DVA Virtual Medallion Club! Chris Frasure
Delta Virtual Airlines is happy to introduce a brand new reward program for our pilots; The Virtual Medallion Club! This new program will mimic real world Delta Airline operations and will reward pilots based on their flying statistics. The program is dynamic and reward levels will change year to year based on the activity of a pilot as compared to their peers over the same calendar year. So, while one year you might earn the top tier with a certain number of flight hours or legs, the next you might fall to a lower tier as you are continually compared to the statistics of other pilots. Rewards come in the form of badges that will appear next to your name in various places on the website, including the water cooler and ACARS.

Current reward levels are as follows:
Diamond - 95th percentile
Platinum - 90th percentile
Gold - 80th percentile
Silver - 60th percentile

So, as you can see by the percentile rankings, in order for you to earn the top honor (Diamond status) you would need to have flown a number of legs and/or hours more or equal to 95% of all pilots. Thus, the more you fly, the better the upgrade you can earn!

Delta’s real world medallion schedule rolls on a 13 month calendar system and it can be a bit confusing. This means that your status for the current year was earned from the previous year’s flights. For example, if in 2022 you flew enough flights (from January 1 to December 31) to earn Diamond status, you would maintain this status from the date you qualified through the end of January 2024. So, in order for us to implement this reward system at DVA, your default first award level will be based on your 2022 flights. Once implemented and flights continue, your status will change yearly on 2/1. Beyond the specifics, all you need to do is enjoy flying and you will be rewarded.

Jason Boche

Assistant Chief Pilot, B757-200

DVA6739
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Posted onPost created on November 03 2023 17:02 ET by Bruno Israel

That was a very comprehensive overview! Thanks!

What would be the 360º category? I know there are some few in it but doesn't read anything about it.

Thanks

Bruno Israel (DVA6739)

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Posted onPost created on November 10 2023 08:29 ET by Kevin Miller

Luke Kolin wrote:

I've never seen anyone in real life who qualified based on Medallion Segments, but I am sure they exist.

I'm one of those that has qualified for Medallion status (I've been a Diamond Medallion since they introduced it back in 2010) based on Segments.

IRL, I fly 99.99% within the U.S. only and because it is for work, can only book using a Corporate Card through the company travel portal (so no Delta branded Amex card) and have to purchase the cheapest "logical" airfare (read: deeply discounted airfare). Most years I'll hit the MQM/MQD thresholds without a problem, but there have been a couple of years where I was short on the MQMs but had the MQS that allowed me to keep my status.

Kevin Miller

Captain, B737-800

Posted onPost created on November 11 2023 09:48 ET by Kyle Weber

Kevin Miller wrote:

...and have to purchase the cheapest "logical" airfare (read: deeply discounted airfare)...

That sounds like language of someone who has to use the Concur system for travel.

Kyle Weber (DVA1379)

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