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Well I did not make it. I had a personal goal of completing my Delta MQD exempt spending by the 10th of January this year (I completed by the 18th last year). I missed it by 3 days and you know, I can live with that and am quite pleased.
One reader asked me “why the rush” since I do have all year to get it done. That is true, but I sure don’t want to be like one flyer on FlyerTalk who missed it by $300 and thus lost ALL their rollover MQMs. Ugg. Sigh.
But I have a number of reasons why I wanted to accomplish this, this year and every year. It is a short but important list to me.
First, as a blogger, to prove it is possible. I wanted to show that you can, with just a little bit of effort and time get it done in a very reasonable amount of time. To show that both with normal spending and creative spending you can accomplish your goal and not be stressed out over the MQD spend exemption.
Next, I have a number of personal reasons. The first one is that my wife right now holds no status with Delta. I have now, as of 1FEB16 when it updates, earned my 2017 Delta Choice Benefits. So, if I choose them after 1FEB16 and select Gold Medallion status for my wife, she will have it the rest of 2016, all of 2017 and it will end 1FEB2018. That is getting max value out of that Choice Benefit. The downside is I will have to pick my other Diamond Choice Benefit as well, likely Global Upgrade certs, and by making that choice right away I start the clock on the expiration of those certs right away (I would have 12 months). So, I may wait as I can wait a very long time to redeem them (until 31JAN18 in fact).
Lastly I did this to show how inexpensively this can be done. For example, by starting at EBATES and using the code for discounted shipping on GiftCardMall (NewYou2016) I ended up paying less in fees than I got back in cash from EBATES. Granted this was just $1500 of my $25,000 spend but it helped at a net profit plus points. #AreWeLearningYet?
So I can now relax for the rest of 2016. Now I can focus on my next goal of spending $30,000 & $60,000 on my Delta AMEX Reserve card <-LINK to get a 15+15k more bonus MQMs from spend on my way to my final goal for this year that is crossing the 1 MILLION MILE mark with Delta and then we can see what I decide to do with my loyalty $$$ next! – René
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Was most of this MS? If so, how do you do yours? Thanks!
@JT – See linked post. Tells it all.
My total paid spend by 13Jan2016 … $30,236.80 which I am sure that I beat you by a couple hours …
@Ramp – Yes, but I did not have to put up with chickens
Rene, will you be liquidating all of these via money orders?
@Gaurav – Yes, mostly. But not just deposits. Many payments on things. Some deposits but keep monthly numbers low.
I’m at a loss as to how to MS now that bb is dead. I’ve been searching the blogs, but short of re-selling, which I’m not interested in doing, I don’t see a way to generate spend.
@mbh – Read up on the MS board on FlyerTalk.
Hi Rene,
Congrats on meeting your spend goal! I am trying to do the same. Can you confirm you are purchasing VDGCs on ebates and that they are pin enabled?
Cheers,
Michael
@Michael – I have not got them yet. Will advise. The old ones you could no problem.
@Michael – Confirmed they are SUPER EZ to set PINs and they work fine at WM for MO!
Rene,
Ebates clearly says that no 1% cash back on VGC purchases. Just free shipping and $2 off on fee until the end of this month. So you didn’t get any cash back?
@KJ – Yep! Well they have not paid it out yet but confirmed for payout next round!
http://tinyurl.com/zmdn86r