No "Trip to Nowhere" for this Frequent Flyer

I took quite a bit of ribbing for a trip I took a couple years ago.  Mainly because I did it for the sole purpose of earning the frequent flyer miles. 

Once again, here we are in December and my Delta SkyMiles balance is a mere 1,123 miles shy of Gold status.  So I started combing delta.com for cheap flights.  Problem is, my calendar is jammed for the next couple weeks and I don't have a whole lot of flexibility to score the cheapest tickets. 

I spent about an hour on-line and finally settled on a round-trip from White Plains to Atlanta that would consume about 9 hours there and back (no overnight).  I put it on hold until I could juggle some things on my calendar. 

Then I received a Gift!  An e-mail from Delta Airlines telling me that I could BUY the extra miles I needed to round up to the next level.  How thoughtful of them.  Did they know about my little incident at Phoenix General Hospital?

So I went to the Medallion website to figure out if it was worth a couple hundred bucks, and here's what I learned that I would enjoy as a Gold Medallion member:

• priority security line access
• upgrade capability on award tickets
• waived fees for last-minute changes (super important for shuttle flights to Chicago or DC)
• waived fees for standby
• 100% mileage bonus (vs. 25% for Silver)
• international Sky Team lounge access

I say "Yes!".  I think it's worth it.  So you're looking at the newest Gold Medallion flyer of Delta Airlines!  Woot!

The EMTs in Arizona are breathing a collective sigh of relief!