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.
@RenesPoints Twitter follower Joe Lobsinger posted the above that he was successful this year requesting the Amex spend waiver for the 2019 Medallion year. Congratulations, Joe and enjoy your Diamond status this coming medallion year.
Just to bring everyone up to speed on what I am talking about today, it is this. A while back I broke the news that Delta was changing the old $25,000 Delta spend requirement, across all your combined Delta Amex co-branded cards, to $250,000 to be exempt from the MQD spend requirement for Diamond Medallion status. Delta left the old spend number for Silver, Gold and Platinum Medallion.
But then something happened. Again I blogged that they were offering a waiver for those who did not reach this astronomical spend level and were granting just about anyone who asked a one time waiver if they were able to accomplish what was the old rules for reaching Diamond Medallion.
The real question was would Delta extend the waiver ONLY last year and ONLY for the 2019 Medallion year or would they keep this one time waiver going? Clearly they are in fact still offering the waiver in 2019 but so far ONLY for the 2019 Medallion year not for the 2020 Medallion year and I have other data points from readers via email to back this fact up as well including those who were waiting for Amex spend bonus MQMs to post.
Per the email from the Delta Diamond Desk it seems to indicate that this waiver will be made “one time over the lifetime of a SkyMiles account“. But does that mean in 2019, for the 2020 Medallion year we are right now qualifying for that we will have the shot at the waiver under the old rules (i.e. 125,000 MQMs and $25,000 Delta Amex co-branded spend)? Also, say in 2020 for the 2021 year will we have a shot then if we have not used it in 2018 or 2019? These are the data points I look forward to finding out.
Personally I will earn my 2020 Delta Diamond Medallion status the hard-ish way via flying BIS or my butt in Delta and Skyteam airline seats. But I may consider it for the following year if offered.
I look forward to any data points you readers can share if you are able to request the waiver for the 2020 Medallion year and have it granted! – René
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.
Rene!
My Delta Reserve spend as listed on the Amex site was just over $30,000. However Amex is saying it’s just short because of the annual fee. I don’t see any spending / charges total on the Amex site that matches the internal Amex count for spending. This feels misleading.
Any folks still having luck getting an exception?
@Greg – Ouch. This is why I always overspend by about 1k. I have no data points of anyone getting amex to give mqms when short of spend goal.
I can also confirm that I was granted the waiver as well.
My spend was 150k
Delta’s One Way Loyalty has chased me to Southwest.
My Delta Segments
2017: 139
2018: 59
2019: 20 (estimated)
I still have 130k rollover miles and will spend $25k on a Delta Amex to retain Platinum status for thru 2021 in case Delta does something to win me back.
Meanwhile I’ll hit A-list on Southwest by the end of January with 100% BIS points.
@greg
In the “Statement and Activity” section of the Amex website, there is a drop down that will allow you to sort for all of your 2018 spend. Is that what you were looking for? Good luck!
I received the waiver in December as a PM the previous year and never having been a Diamond. They asked a couple times if I was sure I wanted to use the waiver for 2019 because i wouldn’t be able to use it for 2020.
I’m currently Platnium for the last 5 years. I tried going for diamond in 2018 but missed it because of the 250k spend. I managed to spend 237k this year and have 150k earned MQM
Is the waiver only being granted to previously diamond members? What’s the email or phone number to give this a try
Thanks
@Michael – I have a few lone data points of it working for PM. Call them and try. HUCB if they say no later same day even. Make sure they ask for SkyMiles desk to help out.
Congrats Mr. Lobsinger!
I called and asked (called the Diamond Desk while being a Diamond) about being granted the waiver 3 different times. All three times were after I had exceeded the old rules of 125,000 MQMs and well over $25K spend on the right AMX card. Each time I was denied! From where I stand Mr. Lobsinger, you are a lucky man! Unlike what Rene says, Delta does NOT give the waiver to just anyone who asks.
Mike
@Mike – Call and have DM reos reach out to SkyMiles desk.
I will be very interested if anyone is granted AMEX $25,000.00 spend to qualify for 2020. Please keep us posted!!
When can we try for 2020? I had $15,009 MQDs last year thanks to some MU flights in J, so I haven’t needed the waiver yet.
Good news – Amex called back and will credit the MQMs for $30k spend – and pass on the feedback that the website totals are confusing.
Am I the only one that questions this stronghold Delta attempts to take on us not only on our loyalty to the airline but also their mimimalist benefits credit card? I can get 5x points on Delta spend using my non delta platinum card, and I can get multiples on restaurants using the gold card. All of these can go back to Sky miles one for one, so doing anything over the $30k where you start getting the upgrade tie-breaker super power really is lost opportunity cost. They really need to wake up to reality, take the waiver spend down and add benefits to the over expensive reserve card.
Do we have any data points for the waiver extending to 2020 yet?
@Jeff – I will be trying for the 2021 waver in Feb of 2020 so I will let you know. Clearly the 2020 waver is in place and being granted. It is a 1x lifetime offer fyi.
Thanks Rene! I’ll be a couple (haha) dollars short of the 250k amex spend otherwise not quite sure if i’ll meet the 15k mqd so it’s good to know that option is still available. Thanks
Just hit Diamond for MQM’s but am short on MQD and Card Spend.. called to see if I can get an exception and the Delta agent “checked with the Skymiles desk” and said they are not running the exception this year- that was last year. He did say there might be some other programs to help with MQD/MQS qualification but they won’t know those programs until next month (Nov 2019).
@Dennis – Yep. Many data points that Delta is not going to offer the waver again. Sad but true.
I don’t think they are offering it this year either. Not surprising, there is not really much point in making the rule if they are going to break it every year. The “Elevate Your Status” promotion isn’t going to cut it and even if it would generate enough MQD to top $15K, it seems to say on the site that it’s not for Diamonds that want to stay as Diamond. It’s just irritating that this whole thing doesn’t apply to people outside of the USA. I never had any reason to complain about lack of upgrade space as a Diamond.