My brother received Delta’s email yesterday outlining the changes to the Skymiles program, then wrote to me and asked this question:

“What the hell does this mean?”

I know every travel blog has written about this already, but I thought my answer to him was succinct enough to reprint here for those of you who didn’t want to read thousands of words:

To get elite status on delta going forward u will need to spend a certain amount on tickets ($2,500/$5,000/$7,500/$12,500 for silver/gold/platinum/diamond) AND fly a certain amount. Previously there was no spend requirement. If you have their credit card and spend $25k a year on it, they’ll waive the minimum ticket spend requirement.

That’s pretty much it. Carry on.