I just crossed over the 75,000 MQM mark as well as have met the 25,000 spend requirement on my Delta Amex, so have officially re-qualified for Platinum Medallion status in 2015.
Doing so, I wanted to take a look at the Choice Benefits and decided that I was gonna go for the Regional Upgrades this year.
I was able to select my choice online and the certificates were in my account in about an hour and I just received an email saying that they were ready for use.
Congratulations on selecting Regional Upgrades as your Choice Benefit. Your electronic Regional Upgrade Certificates, which are now available for redemption, can be found in My Wallet.
To redeem your Upgrades on either a new or existing reservation, please have your Certificate number ready when you call the Delta Reservations phone number on the back of your Medallion® membership card.
And just a reminder, Regional Upgrades can be used on all paid published Economy Class fares, except for E and are available on the same routes as Medallion Complimentary Upgrades, but have a higher priority.
Bottom Line
Platinum Medallions are able to choose 1 Choice Benefit, and I think the Regional Upgrades are a decent option.
The new regional upgrades do have some pros and cons compared to the old systemwide ones. One of the biggest pros is they are valid on pretty much every fare included discounted fares so you no longer need to buy a K+ fare anymore.
However, with that enhancement, Delta is taking away the opportunity to be able to redeem them on international flights or transcontinental flights, both which have BusinessElite.
One place I can see a good use for these though, is if you want to book a cheap fare to Hawaii and then want to apply these, you would be able to do so.
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I’m sure you already know this, but flights to Hawaii (except ATL-HNL, which requires a global upgrade) now offer complimentary Medallion upgrades. Last night, FCQ flew HNL-SFO, and all upgrades cleared with about 10 of 24 FC seats empty an hour before departure! Maybe it is different to other cities or on different days/seasons, but it looks like complimentary Medallion upgrades to Hawaii might be easy to score.
I’m about to qualify for plat too and was thinking about this – why not trust compl upgrades instead (per Gene). And how long are these valid?
@Niels These are valid for 1 year from the date of issue. They are only good on routes that offer complimentary Medallion upgrades.
As a platinum, I see very limited benefits to these certs. You can’t use on non complimentary upgradable flights such as JFK-SFO, JFK-LAX, and if you want to go to Hawaii you couldn’t use them them ATL-NHL, you would have to use them from a west coast gateway. As a plat you are more likely to clear a decent % of upgrades. Save a few tough routes. I would feel it to be a waste of a choice just to potentially hop over a diamond, when you might have gotten the upgrade for free anyway (unless you drop down status, read on) IMO there are two valuable uses for this certificate:
1. Burn two while traveling with a companion to nearly “guarantee” your upgrade.
2. Wait until your last day as a platinum, and then get the certs which should be valid for 1 year from date of issue. And use as needed, with your lower / no status. Kind of a parting gift when you drop down to gold, FO or *gasp* general member.