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It is good to be a Delta Diamond. Delta REALLY takes care of those who reach this top tier of elite status (well there is Delta360 but that requires a TON of spending). Think about all the perks & choices:
- Ability to select Sky Club membership (individual)
- Ability to select Global Upgrade certs worth thousands each
- Able to select Diamond & Platinum Choice Benefits
- Best shot at upgrades (soon to include your +1)
- Unlimited SkyMiles ticket re-deposit (up to 72 hours)
- A bunch of fees waived with Delta and Skyteam
- Boarding with 1st class even when in coach
And on and on. OK so we know it is great. We know it is impressive. We also know it is WAY out of reach for most. Really? Maybe not. When I fly I run into many who are Gold or Platinum and they say I never fly enough to make it all the way to Diamond. This current month provides an opportunity for you.
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express <—LINK
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express <—LINK
The current doubled (vs. standard) Delta AMEX Platinum card MQM bonus could be just what you need to push you over the top. Look at the math. You pick up (if you have never had them before) both a personal and business Delta AMEX Platinum card and start by meeting the minimum spend on each card. Then do more:
- New card bonus two cards 10,000+10,000 = 20,000 MQM
- Spend $50,000 on personal card = 20,000 MQM bonus
- Spend $50,000 on business card = 20,000 MQM bonus
- Total MQMs earned on two cards 60,000!
Now if you simply look at this post from the beginning of the year you will see that, with some work, meeting such a LARGE spend threshold is not impossible. Not just that, there are many folks who have large spend requirement for their business or paying taxes and on and on. Even though the spending must EACH YEAR be completed by 31DEC it is possible for many of you. This means, with the 60,000 bonus MQMs you would “only” need to fly 65,000 MQMs to reach Diamond Medallion status. You would have it for the rest of this year and all of 2017 and it would end 1FEB2018.
Others may look at this as the opportunity to rise from Silver or Gold to Platinum for the first time ever. Platinum is the lowest level I ever want to have because with such a massive stash of un-spent SkyMiles having the ability (like Diamonds) to change SkyMiles tickets for free all I want as much as I want is priceless to me. I can tell you, and have blogged about this before, that there is rarely ever a SkyMiles ticket I book that I don’t in some way make changes to. It may be that I find a cheaper price and change free. It may be I back up a day or find better times and so on. The bottom line is, following the idea above, you only need to fly 15,000 more miles with Delta to be Platinum Medallion. Impressive.
- Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express <— Link
- Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express <— Link
Lastly we have those who are simply in need of more SkyMiles. Many of you may have already held the personal Delta AMEX Gold card. It may have been the first card you ever held with Delta for all the perks and waived bag fees etc. But I am guessing few of you have held before the Delta AMEX Gold business card. The current 50,000 bonus point offer after spend is a great way to get you those bonus SkyMiles you may need for some trip you have been planning for. Congrats for waiting for this time to go for this card. – Rene
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
This post made me think of something else. I am only 46,000 miles short of million miler status. I earned all those miles the old fashioned way with butt in seat. I now only travel for pleasure. Is there any reason to get the million miler status? Does it do anything for me?
@John – Yes. Lifetime Silver status. Not amazing but better than no status. Plus MM gift is nice.
Rene,
Thanks for all you do. I have a question that I can’t get a straight answer from anyone………including Delta and their Medallion line. The way I understood the website was that if I used “Pay with Miles”, I earn MQM’s and MQD’s for the entire ticket. Is that right? So, in essence, if I’m short by a few MQM’s andMQD’s, in theory, I could use PWM to get to that next status…….Correct?
@John – You will 100% earn MQMs and MQSs. MQDs have in the past paid out in full as well as SkyMiles but latest reports are only on base fare not paid with SkyMiles. See my old post when I used them for a 1st class and coach tickets: http://renespoints.boardingarea.com/?s=pwm
Rene,
You are a “Savior”! Thank you so much. This advice just saved me allot of trouble.
@John – Happy to help. On the plus side you should earn full SkyBonus (if not kicked out like most of us) as well as Crossover Reward points! 😉
I have never had these cards before. am also flying KLM/AF (tickets issued by Delta) from SFO to IST early next year in business (bought the tickets a few days ago at fire sale price), so should be getting around 26,000 MQM, if my understanding is correct. Can I roll these 20,000 MQM to next year, So, that way, I will have 46,000 MQMs by Feb…get another 20,000 MQMs by credit card spending and that way, I will have to fly around 50K miles to reach Diamond?
@jediwho – If you Rollover 20k then you need 105k next year to be Diamond plus mqd spend or mqd exempt via $25k amex spend
Rene, Can you use PWM with a companion certificate? Also, can you use PWM and regional upgrade certificates?
Thanks.
@JohnHace – Nope and nope.
How many Delta MQMs do you earn on deeply discounted business tickets on AF/KLM? Next year I will be flying just about 13,000 miles on AF/KLM business class. Thanks!
@jediwho – See Delta.com here http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/earn-miles/earn-miles-with-partners/airlines.html
What’s your take on the current Delta business class fare sale to Europe with resulting mileage opportunities?
@BJ – You make a great point. Even at a VERY good sales fare of $1500-2000 where you can earn 10-15k MQMs vs the card that gets you 10k MQMs for net $95 or both Platinum cards for under $200 gets you 20k MQMs. Again, the cards are a flat out STEAL of a deal when you need MQMs!
I can’t help but think about that your mention about “boarding with first class even when you are in coach”. If you have top tier status id think it should be rare the remain in coach on most flights. But I’m not that familiar with Delta upgrade process for Diamonds.
@DaninMCI – For many Delta elites Comfort Plus is all we can get due to Delta selling 1st class seats (and upgrades) so cheap.