My beautiful wife desperately needed some Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) to reach Silver status on Delta Air Lines to start 2023. She has more than enough Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQM) to hit Platinum. But we both decided this fall not to reach our $25,000 Delta Amex MQD Waivers. (Instead, we focused our spending on new credit cards and their welcome bonuses — and will roll over tons of MQM to start next year.)
We’re hosting Christmas and Hanukkah this year (because they overlap), so we’re pretty much down to our final days to accomplish anything travel-related before 2023.
So, she cashed in some SkyMiles for an award ticket and treated herself to lunch the other day — at the Delta Sky Club in Honolulu. (Remember, you may earn MQM, MQD, and MQS on Delta award tickets.)
She used the five-hour plane rides to get caught up on to-do lists, other work, and some rest.
But when she tried to board her flight home, the Fly Delta app’s boarding pass suddenly became invalid — never mind that it worked for the Sky Club’s scanning devices. (#KeepDescening, Delta IT.)
(Quick aside: She called me in a panic and said, “Do you think I’ll be stuck overnight in Hawaii?” Her mood shifted after realizing what she said. She repeated the question, barely concealing her glee at the prospect of spending the night on a tropical island.)
The helpful HNL gate agents solved her problem and got her on the plane. She showed me her Fly Delta app when she got home around 10:15 PM. Her MQD spending numbers hadn’t surpassed $3,000. She wondered if that had anything to do with the boarding pass glitch. I doubted that. But given Delta IT’s interesting past, I wouldn’t have been terribly surprised.
We checked her Delta account early the next morning.
The good news is that all her MQD posted. But the bad news, as you can see, is her 2023 status still showed as “SkyMiles Member.” I wasn’t terribly worried. We could call Delta and prove that she had more than enough MQD to reach Silver. But we’d rather avoid that time suck.
The problem was easily fixed.
I logged out of her account. Then logged back in. Whaddya know?
Congratulations, Mrs. C! I can’t wait to enjoy those Exit Rows and Main Cabin 1 boarding with you! (Let’s hit that Delta Reserve spend ASAP next year! Or get point.me to find us some amazing Delta partner runs.)
Final Approach
Have you met your MQM (or MQS) requirements and also crossed your MQD or Card Spend thresholds — but your Medallion status isn’t correctly posted in Delta’s system? Don’t panic. It’s probably a simple fix. (Yes, you’d think your status would automatically update.) Just log out of your account and then log back in. Then enjoy your Medallion benefits!
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My MQD waiver spending took about 1 or 2 weeks to catch up but now it’s showing me at the first level for 2023. Happy Chanukah to my fellow Jewish readers!
I am a DM and my wife is just a member. When she flies, it is always with me. Is there any benefit to her having Medallion status?
Not really. Before our daughter came along, my wife had maybe Silver (she organically earned the MQD and MQM) and I was Diamond. That worked just fine.
Question: why did you cover up your Skymiles, MQM, and MQS balances…but blatantly leave your MQD balance visible?? Like, do you think someone can “steal” your miles by merely knowing your balance??
That just doesn’t make any sense to me and I genuinely need you to please help make it make sense.
The MQD balance was the vital part of my wife’s needing status. We simply chose to keep the other parts private. I get emails all the time from readers who send me questions about their loyalty program accounts. They redact what they feel are irrelevant data. I don’t question it nor does it keep me up at night.
“I genuinely need you to please help make it make sense.”
If there’s something pertinent to your account and are trying to figure out something, I’m happy to give my two cents.
My app stops working in airports! It logs me out and sometimes cannot get back in for hours??!! DELTA IT..I could not book a flight on a route that I know D fliesso called DD line and they said they could not either and call back tomorrow??? Got it eventually booked.
Mine took 48 hours to reflect but it eventually got there on its own.
You must possess that “patience” trait I’ve heard so much about.