You’re probably tired of hearing about the 2014 revenue requirements to earn elite status with Delta but the change is profound and therefore elicits a great deal of commentary. So sit back, you’re going to hear more and more on this topic of revenue requirements for elite status, Delta is just the first.

When you’re currently sitting pretty with Delta Diamond status, having achieved it through discounted fares that total nowhere near the $12,500 in revenue that will be required next year, and are experiencing the greatness of this status, you’re bound to have another take on the changes.

My friend, who is also a Delta Diamond, and I have long sung the praises of those “Diamond Moments,” those over the top, unexpected acts that make Diamond status worth achieving. They come in the form of a free bottle of champagne handed to you in a black bag just before the end of your flight. Or perhaps your mother goes into a Delta club because her flight is cancelled and the attendant remembered that you had brought her in there earlier so she gives her a phone card and meal voucher and lets mom sit there while she waits for me to drive back to the airport. Or perhaps LGA is shutdown due to a snow storm and hundreds of people are stranded at the airport the night before New Year’s Eve. You are one of them and you’re in the Delta Club. The manager finds you and tells you that you cannot spend the night in the club, gets you a hotel room near JFK and makes sure you are on the first flight out the next morning.

Or, you run up to the gate trying to get on that earlier flight and the gate agent tells you he’s sorry, the flight is closing. “We’re Diamond,” we exclaim. “Oh, well that’s different,” he says and proceeds to give us two first class seats. You are in Europe and you want to get back to the United States on an earlier flight, you go to the check-in counter and ask to for a “same day confirm” on an earlier Delta flight. No problem, there are seats, you’re on it!

You’re settled in your seat on a flight to Singapore, waiting for takeoff. You’re in a bulkhead seat in coach. The head flight attendant comes back and asks you to come with her. You’re escorted to business class. “We’re upgrading our Diamonds,” she explains.

While any one of these scenarios may happen to me as an AA Executive Platinum or United 1K, the frequency and level of acknowledgement and appreciation I have received as a Delta Diamond is by far consistently superior.

With that said, Delta has a lot of shortcomings. Award availability is lacking, it costs an arm and a leg to book an award ticket, no affordable one-way awards, etc. You’ve heard them all. When you fly as a Diamond however, you are treated like royalty. In my opinion, this trumps any of their shortcomings.

So what does all of this mean when it comes to maintaining my Diamond status in 2014? It means I’ll be flying those 125,000 miles and making several visits to the drug store, office supply store, or other venues of “spend” to get the revenue needed on their credit card to keep my status. Sitting at about 200,000 miles short of Two Million Miler status, at this point I’m planning to hang in there with Delta for a little while longer.

I agree with Howie, the changes make Delta Diamond even more elite.

So how about you? Are you planning on trying to keep your status with Delta or are you out come 2014?

Christine Krzyszton lives in Northern Michigan and has been writing about her weekend adventures for over five years for weekly newsletters, a baby boomer blog and a regional men’s magazine. She is the author of How to see the World in a Weekend, available in print and KINDLE on Amazon.com. Christine currently has top status with three major airlines (AA, UA, and DL) and is working on a fourth (A3).