We found a mileage run that may help you jump an entire level up on most Delta Medallion status tiers.
Los Angeles to Dubai Mileage Run
This Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB) premium economy trip on Air France currently costs $1447.67. It’s a Air France “A” fare class. When you credit the itinerary to your Delta SkyMiles account, you should earn:
- $5,343 MQD (3.6X return on airfare!)
- 26,718 MQM (5.4 CPMQM)
- 26,718 Redeemable SkyMiles (before any applicable Medallion bonuses)
Delta Silver, Gold, and Platinum Medallion status tiers are each separated by 25,000 MQM and $3,000. So, you could go from no status to Silver with this trip. Or Silver to Gold. Or Gold to Platinum.
Do not purchase the trip through Delta Air Lines.
Again, this is a premium economy trip — not business class. But if you have Global Upgrade Certificates (GUC), you may try calling Air France and applying those to your reservation. That might get you upgraded to business class.
Here’s the itinerary:
This LAX to Dubai run seems to be the quickest, easiest itinerary. There are other trips with stops in Amsterdam (AMS) and/or New York (JFK) and/or Atlanta (ATL). But they’re longer and a little more expensive. That may be worth it for you, though, if you have the time, budget, and desire.
November has the most available dates. There are also options to spend a few days in Dubai and sightsee.
Here is a Google Flights link to help you get started.
Book Soon
These deals have a tendency to disappear not long after we blog them. Why?
- The airline hikes the price ASAP, or
- Readers snatch up the available inventory, or
- Both of the above
“Can Someone Help Me Book This Mileage Run? Or Find Something Different?”
This run may not be your cup of tea. Maybe you need some handholding when booking a Delta partner mileage run (that’s okay!).
If either (or both) are the case, please get in touch with the mileage run department at point.me (formerly Juicy Miles). They can tailor a mileage run according to your schedule, airport preferences, etc. Let them do the heavy lifting do you.
They can also help book hotels and arrange some other trip details for you.
We trust point.me to take care of our readers.
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Can someone please walk me thru the math to calculate the MQD’S this trip?
17,812 miles flown X 30% of that distance (Air France premium economy tickets “A” earn that when credited to your Delta SkyMiles ticket.) 17,812 X.30 = 5343
I just completed an MQD-focused run last week (Wednesday – Friday, LAX > CUN -> MEX -> SCL and the same in reverse) that John at point.me setup for me. The thing I liked about that trip over my usual international travel was still going a long way (over 14K miles traveled), but not changing anywhere near as many time zones as Europe, or even further to the middle east.
A trip like this may be a good one next year if I need some more MQDs.
Thanks for all the info you and Rene send out!
Thanks, Dave! It’s our pleasure. How long did it take for the MQD, MQM, MQS, and redeemable SkyMiles to post to your Delta account?
That was the ‘impatiently waiting’ and regular refreshes of the Delta app part. It was about 2.5 – 3 days after the travel for the AeroMexico metal segments. For the LAX -> CUN and reverse segments on Delta metal (AeroMexico coded), they were only an hour or two off the plane and already posted.
For those doing this same run, a couple worries I had on the way south (getting a QR code for the ‘rona form to enter Chile, and the time on the ground to go through Customs) turned out to not be a concern. First, the time on the ground there (I was departing on the very same 787 I arrived on) was only two hours, and asking the FAs ‘About how long to go through Customs?’ with the answer being ‘two to three hours’ I figuratively crapped there that I didn’t have enough time and would miss the plane. Then there was the damn ‘rona form you ‘needed’ with the QR code and having to supply an address of where you where going to stay, as I was only ‘staying’ the two hours and never leaving the airport.
I was first off the plane and in my best fast walk pace, where after about five minutes and around 0.5miles I saw some signs for International Destinations so I just followed those, went through a security screening where I didn’t even have to jettison the water bottles I was carrying and right after that I was back in the departure gate area of the E terminal. Just barely into the E terminal is the SkyTeam lounge on the right. I’d started the stopwatch getting off the plane and it was only 12:08 and 0.73 miles from the plane to the lounge. From the lounge to the E gates it’s only a couple minutes and there’s horizontal escalators running in the ‘to the gates’ direction.
So the answers to the concerns, no ‘rona form needed and you don’t even go through customs, you just loop back around to the departure gates.
I’d do that trip again if needed for MQDs.
Thanks for the data points — and quick trip report, Dave!
How do you get the ticket class information confirmed. I tried a variation of this run for approximately the same pricing and ask Amex to tell me the ticket class and they could not tell me. At least the couldn’t tell me properly. And then is the ticket class the same if I get the Am Ex slight pricing discount as Platinum Am Ex member?
You can always book the ticket, get it issued, then confirm directly with Air France. If something went wonky during booking, you can cancel within 24 hours.
Yeah, I fly AF/ KLM to DXB several times a year. Price always good, and often half the price of a simple transatlantic flight to Europe. I get good Skymiles earnings. Gotta book through the AF/KLM websites and not Delta website for best earnings.
Ok, I’m obviously stupid but I still see these prices on ita and google flights for premium economy, but when I attempt to go to klm or Air France to book the price jumps for premium economy by >$1100. I’m a novice so go easy on me, but how on earth do you get the price as seen?
Stop it, you’re not stupid. It’s possible that inventory at the good prices is gone. Even when you click through from Google Flights to KLM or AF, it doesn’t populate correctly?
Correct. If I do lax-dxb (thru chg) nov 26-29 in premium economy on google flights or ita it shows Air France at $1442. If you click thru on the google flights it directs to standard economy (which is a very good price IMO), and if I try to modify to premium economy it says the flight is >$2500. When attempting directly on Air France or klm site it’s the same way where its >$2500. It’s been like this (for me) since the article was posted on 8/22 and I’ve tried each morning and evening. I figured it was because I just have always always booked directly through delta.com (I’m learning how silly that is…) that I didn’t know what I was doing.
Ahhh, the daily dilemma of getting a found fare to ‘pass through’ to a booking engine. Our team at Point.Me (formerly Juicy Miles) has licensed travel agents and partners with the largest ticketing agency in the country just to help with these kinds of issues.
We do have some tricks up our sleeves, and because of our relationship with travel providers (including airlines) we can pull from many resources. Add that to customized Mileage Run design and follow-through to even cover hotel and cruise bookings to complement your travels we feel we are the only choice for those seeking rewarding and leveraged Mileage Runs!
Feel free to reach out to us!
Miles Jackson, Point.Me
Correct. If I do lax-dxb (thru chg) nov 26-29 in premium economy on google flights or ita it shows Air France at $1442. If you click thru on the google flights it directs to standard economy (which is a very good price IMO), and if I try to modify to premium economy it says the flight is >$2500. When attempting directly on Air France or klm site it’s the same way where its >$2500. It’s been like this (for me) since the article was posted on 8/22 and I’ve tried each morning and evening. I figured it was because I just have always always booked directly through delta.com (I’m learning how silly that is…) that I didn’t know what I was doing.
Delta.com and the Fly Delta app have nothing to do with booking the trip.
I think I’ve flown through LAX maybe twice in my life, so I don’t know how competitive the fares can be, in comparision to the airports in the big cities of the Northeastern US, where I can compare transatlantic flights from BOS, JFK, EWR, and IAD. JFK usually has the best transatlantic fares, but I balance that against ground transportation or positioning flghts.
But now I do my overseas bookings on AF and KLM websites. Not as user-friendly as the Delta website, but I get better miles earnings, and I usually can find the fares that I want.