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Here’s some good news and bad news.
Most of us know Delta Air Lines announced massive changes yesterday about how people can earn elite status, effective for the 2025 Medallion year.
The lone metric to achieve Medallion status will be Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) — how much money you spend on Delta, its partner airlines, cobranded American Express cards, and other avenues.
Here’s the good news: you can still earn elevated MQD on Delta partner airlines when crediting the trip to your SkyMiles number. Those credit to your SkyMiles account based on a percentage of the trip’s actual mileage. The percentage is determined by which fare class you purchase. (Check out this example of an extended MQD run from New York to Madrid. It earned $12,000 MQD for less than $4,000.)
I’m pleasantly surprised Delta didn’t axe that.
Now for the bad news.
As of January 1, 2024, discounted business class fares (i.e., C, D, I, Y-ups on AeroMexico) will no longer earn 40% of the distance flown.
Full fare business (J) will still haul in 40%
For some people, taking these partner runs will be crucial toward earning Medallion status.
I’d rather spend money (or points!) sitting in that seat above earning MQD than spending insane amounts of money on a Delta Amex card.
Where and How to Find Delta MQD Runs
We now know what to look for when searching for mileage runs. (In other words, we won’t waste time combing for MQM runs anymore. Man, this is all so depressing.)
We’ll get started on that ASAP. Make sure to:
- sign up for the Elite Mileage Run mailing list
- follow @EliteMileageRun on Twitter or X or whatever it’s called this week
- follow our Facebook page
In the meantime, get in touch with the Mileage Run Department at point.me. They can create MQD runs tailored to your specifications (home airport, schedule, etc.).
They’re creative and really can come up with some great runs.
Final Approach
We can still earn elevated MQD by flying on Delta partner airlines. Unfortunately, discounted business class fare earnings will drop to 30% as of January 1, 2024.
Will you be taking MQD runs?
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Chris have you ever seen any J class runs that were worth it?
Nothing immediately comes to mind but I’m sure there have been some mistake fares.
@Jim – Yes some China Eastern Js
Guess it is time to start looking for possible decent J fares…….I knew them not making a change with partner earnings when they announced last night was to good to be true.
Classic bait and switch. If we booked our partner reservations as I did in 2023 not knowing about the changes to 30%, too bad so sad. Another punch in the gut for years of loyalty.
Hey Chris…..that was one thing I was wondering about….have you seen if charts for KLM and AF are the same as AM? Separately, I was wondering about earning MQD’s and Million Miler mileage credits on mileage tickets. This year, you earn no burnable miles, but do earn MQM’s and MQD’s, at one cent per mile burned for that ticket, I believe. I did read some article this morning on CNN.com that said they confirmed that you’d still earn that rate of MQD’s, but wondering about Million Miler mileage credit…..yeah, I know….first world problem 🙂 Thanks.
AF/KL: yes
I’ll double check with Delta about the Million Miler.
Hi Chris…..
I did see your more recent post with a bunch of questions answered, but not this one yet. Just checking back to see if you’ve heard anything on this? Thanks.
The Million Miler earnings on partners?
no, sorry….the million miler lifetime miles earned….right now, and for the last maybe 2 years or so, on mileage tickets flown, you still get MQM’s, and MQD’s (at the rate of 1cent per miles cashed in for the ticket.) I read somewhere that you’ll still earn that 1 cent per mile used for the ticket, but nothing about if the actual miles flown on that mileage ticket will accrue ‘lifetime miles’ towards million miler status. Hope that makes sense. Thanks.
I’ll ask.
I think that on the Delta Reserve, this makes the seldom mentioned first class upgrade benefit more likely to clear since theoretically there will be less elites on the upgrade list.
In theory, but Delta has prioritized selling first class or selling first class upgrades such that they have the lowest loyalty/elite upgrade % of the US 3. Last time I saw a stat they had taken it from a high of around 70% to something less than 40% and were planning to keep adjusting prices to bring it down to something under 20% as their ultimate goal.
To answer the question, I might consider doing a couple MQD runs very early in 2024 to secure Diamond for most of 2024 and all of 2025 “Skymiles year” ONLY because I’m rolling over a huge number of MQMs which I think I’d rather burn (even at the outrageously bad conversion rate) as MQDs rather than redeemable SkyPesos (should this become SkyLira or SkyZimDollars given the further devaluation???).
Has anyone seen/heard whether SkyMiles flight redemptions will still count toward MQD’s at 1cpp? I might end up burning all of those to help push me into Diamond next year if that’s the strategy that sticks after I get through the remaining stages of grief over the loss of my Delta loyalty.
check this article on CNN.com that mentions that, and I mentioned above as well:
https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/travel/delta-sky-club-elite-status-changes
Thanks Greg, I see that they are saying they will still count. Less $s I have to put on my Reserve card before I decide if I’m going to scrap it. I think, as Chris suggested, it makes the most sense to hold until your annual fee hits then see what you can get as an inducement to keep or if you should just dump it (or possibly downgrade to the lowest no annual fee version to preserve your credit line).
Huge benefit from my AMEX Reserve has been the bonus MQMs. Does anyone know if there will be bonus MQDs? Otherwise HUGE loss for me as that’s how I stayed PM all these years.
From what I understand, and I could be wrong, the boost will be $1 per $10 spent on the Reserve card.
So, three MQD runs (aka trips one does not intend to take) at $4k each will earn the MQDs necessary for Diamond. Alternatively, one can take the $12k and pay for upgrades on flights one intends to take. Please help me. Exactly what are we getting out of Diamond?
Some people need one or two trips to get them over a certain threshold.
Others enjoy the chase. It’s their money and time — not yours or mine. Live and let live.
My family is looking at extending these trips and turning them into vacations.
What a slap on the face, guys! Wow! When Delta says we can earn MQDs on Delta-marketed flights, does it mean is has to be purchased through Delta? I planned a trip from NY – Mexico – Sao Paulo – Recife via Aeroméxico, and purchased it through a travel agency, and was certainly counting on earning those MQMs. Well, that’s gone. Aeroméxico doesn’t display the business class I’m flying, so with these new rules, how do I know how much I will be credited if anything? I read about the decrease to 30%, but I’m all sorts of confused. Just when I was getting better at this miles and elite status game, they change the rules. What it’s more disappointing is that many of us had already accumulated enough MQMs for status is 2025, and that’s gone.
“What a slap on the face, guys!”
We don’t make the rules!
“When Delta says we can earn MQDs on Delta-marketed flights, does it mean is has to be purchased through Delta?”
No.
“Aeroméxico doesn’t display the business class I’m flying, so with these new rules, how do I know how much I will be credited if anything?”
Ask your travel agency. Look at your entire receipt. You can redact sensitive information and email it me. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
“Just when I was getting better at this miles and elite status game, they change the rules. What it’s more disappointing is that many of us had already accumulated enough MQMs for status is 2025, and that’s gone.”
Oh, don’t worry. You can convert those MQM to SkyMiles or MQD. 😉
Well, that’s cool that it won’t be lost. How does this conversion work?
1 MQD per 20 MQMs
1 redeemable SkyMiles per 2 MQMs
I think I may be able to stay Platinum in 2025, but not sure after that. Thanks for the info, Chris. Maybe it’s time to switch airlines. Any recommendations? Can we still access Centurion lounge with our Reserve card when flying Delta? Will it still make sense to have the Platinum card since the boost is so much lower than the Reserve? I currently have a personal Platinum and a Business Reserve. If there’s enough interest, maybe you and Rene could consider a Zoom call (for a fee, of course) to teach us some strategies for 2025 and on, if we want to stay with Delta. I would totally pay to learn how to put together an strategy to remain Platinum. Maybe other folks here that, like me, can’t spend $200K plus on their card and don’t travel as much would be interested as well. Thank you much for keeping us informed.
“Can we still access Centurion lounge with our Reserve card when flying Delta?”
Yes. But if you regularly visit an airport where there’s a Centurion Lounge, Escape Lounge, or Priority Pass lounge, look into the personal or business Amex Platinum cards.
This way, it doesn’t matter which airline you fly.
For example, I’ve flown out of the Las Vegas airport dozens of times — usually on Southwest. My Amex Platinum Cards get me in to the Centurion Lounge.
“Will it still make sense to have the Platinum card since the boost is so much lower than the Reserve?”
If you’re talking about the Delta Platinum Amex and chasing status: there’s still something to be said for the Companion Certificate. Earnings-wise, tho? Hell, no.
Delta de-valuing the MQDs for partner marketed flights was the final straw. DELTA PULLED A BUD LITE AND THE PENALTY WILL BE AS SEVERE. Already at work preparing for a status match. Already have the United Visa card and dumping the Delta AMEXs we had for years. We are done.
Is it better to book directly with the partner airline (like WestJet) and using your SkyMiles account number or purchase the flight through Delta?
@Chad – It depends on the partner airline and or the fare class booked. Much of the time you earn a percentage of distance converted to MQDs and it can be sweet vs booking on Delta and only earning 1:1 based on the ticket price. That said, sometimes booking direct with partners can result in no points or less than 1:1.
so Delta did not allow Miles Earned for non-Skyteam carriers operating a code share — for example when Etihad flight a codeshare under and Air France flight number.
BUT .. with MQD, there seems to be no restriction.
What is that answer — can I earn MQD when flying a SkyTeam airline but on a non-ST airline.
Here are the Delta partners that are eligible for MQD earnings.