Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Reader comments reflect the views of the individuals who wrote them, are not reviewed or endorsed by Eye of the Flyer or by any advertiser, and should not be treated as advice. Some 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.
Readers are reporting that Delta has rolled out notification for those who made the cut to join the Delta 360* club that is those who spent a boatload of money flying Delta. This invite only Medallion level is a step above Diamond but unlike United and American’s invite only top level, the Delta benefits are less guaranteed. Also interesting, per a FlyerTalk thread, users are reporting “reasonably” low yearly spend numbers depending on where you live (45k-100k+).
I spent a lot of time in the air last week in and out of New York. I have always signed up for Delta notifications about flight delays and have found them reliable and very useful. Between emails and the Fly Delta App I am never in the dark about where my incoming flight is, what gate it arrives at and the status of my flights. This year is the first time I received email notice when there was not an issue – just that my flight was on-time and the gate. Nice Delta!
Next up Delta has a spend with partners bonus offer (up to 10k max bonus points) to start 2019. It looks like it is non-targeted and all can sigh up for the promotion. Having said that, I would not actively chase this one. Yes, I will enjoy some bonus miles when I do use Lyft, I may selectively use SkyMiles Shopping portal here and there but there are so many other amazing offers via TCB or BeFrugal right now that they will be my Q1 focus.
Lastly today, the Delta Amex spend bar has updated with the new Medallion year across all your Delta Amex co-branded cards. Last month it was stubbornly stuck at 25k but now is showing all your spend for the year (including creative spending) up to the max 250k number. Each year I always try to get my 25k spend in ASAP as yes it does have an impact on free upgrades and I am all about getting as many of those as I can (fyi I am 100% on upgrades this year as a Diamond).
This is going to be a busy week of posts and you will NOT want to miss this week’s Rookie Wednesday post as I will share info that so many get wrong! – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Reader comments reflect the views of the individuals who wrote them, are not reviewed or endorsed by Eye of the Flyer or by any advertiser, and should not be treated as advice. Some 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.
My Delta Amex spend bar has been updating regularly every few days as always. I know you and some others had an issue with it but it was not system-wide.
My delta spend bar has not updated at all. Using GCM for purchases.
@KT – All my GCM buys counted fine. Same with GCC and others.
Word was I was going to be given Delta 360 status. When the bean counters discovered how little I spend to maintain Diamond Medallion status, Delta did a 180.
When does Delta actually extend invitations for 360? If not contact by now do I assume that I am not a candidate?
@Joseph – During January most years. If you have not go the invite by month end you were likely not a candidate. However, I do have reports of mid-year invitations on high spend flyers.
@Rene I have ~30k purchases dating from 1/13 with a statement close date of 1/25, and nothing has updated on the tracker. Any ideas what might be going on? Would I contact Delta or Amex to make sure that I receive my MQD waiver?
@KT – I would give it a few more weeks. After that, you must contact Amex.
@Rene – when you log into your amex website, can you view your skymiles balance? When I log into amex, it displays the correct skymiles number but says the skymiles balance is “Not Available.” Sign up bonus and statement close miles are posting to the correct skymiles account.
@KT – Happens from time to time. See: https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2019/01/08/when-will-your-delta-amex-spend-update-on-your-my-delta-for-2019-is-communication-with-amex-broken/
Any news on Delta changing $250000 requirement for Diamond?
@Sammy – No. Expect it to stay in place.
Think they will offer a third mileage boost at 75k/90k again this year?
@bd – Only if they raise the annual fee for the cards. I can see Platinum going to $250 and Reserve to $595 and then yes they add 3rd bonus for each card. Time will tell.
My Delta card spend is still stuck at $25,000, although I have spent >25,000. Still waiting for it to be fixed.
My Delta card spend is still stuck at $25,000, even though I have spent over 25,000.
I was invited to join the Delta 360 club for the first time. My invitation was sent out by email on January 31st. To be very honest I am not that impressed with the extra perks. I don’t see a single one that will make it different than what I currently have as a Diamond.
I received my invite. However, so far, I have not seen anything special except the free Skyclub membership.
@Jack – Expect to be underwhelmed
Same, upgrades have been underwhelming, I haven’t seen any different treatment even when flying international business class. Don’t they usually send a bottle of whiskey or champagne or something? I got a Christmas gift basket in 2017 and I was nowhere near 360, less then 1/2 what I did in 2018.
It’s mid March and I have not seen this years 360 gift. I got the enrollment package at the end of Jan. Usually the gift comes by now.
As far as perks, there are three that I find valuable, 1. The support line is awesome, no waiting and 80% of the reps do whatever they can to get you what you want including upgrades and no charge changes and waiving fare differentials both for me and my family (even if I’m not travelling). 2. I have a 100% upgrade rate in the US and 30k per flight for transatlantic, 3. The sky team club access including 2 guests is very nice. Though air France denied me on a layover in CDG after an overnight flight. They figured out the error and came out and found me to correct it.
The LAX dedicated 360 counter was a good idea poorly executed as it ends up being just another line. They need to do things like Emrates or Etihad – they know how to treat first class travelers!