(OK. I’m done with the Delta negativity for a while after this post. At least through the weekend.)
We expected September 14 to be the day Delta would announce major changes to the Delta SkyMiles Medallion program.
We weren’t even supposed to know September 14 was anything special. (No offense to anyone whose birthday or special anniversary was yesterday.)
It seems someone at Delta corporate accidentally published them a little early and the September 14 news turned into the September 13 news.
Thus, our waiting game was trimmed by a day. How fitting it was the 13th when we found out the news. You know, 13 being an unlucky number and all.
Some of the news could’ve been worse.
But a lot of it is pretty ugly.
Buckle up. And if someone could find a screwdriver, that’d be great: I’m a little unhinged.
First Things First
If you’re not familiar, please read this quick, down-n-dirty primer about the Delta Medallion status changes.
MQD will be the only status metric you can earn starting January 1, 2024. (Whatever status you earn in 2023 covers you for 2024, don’t worry.)
Here are the spending requirements for Medallion status.
- Silver: 6,000 MQD
- Gold: 12,000 MQD
- Platinum: 18,000 MQD
- Diamond: 35,000 MQD (about 234% higher than just two years ago)
Spending on Delta Amexes
You have to admit that the Delta and American Express juggernaut partnership is amazing. Delta says the spending on their cobranded Amex cards accounts for about 1% of the entire United States’ GDP.
Say what you want — but that’s impressive.
And Delta wants to go even further. The airline understandably wants people to spend a bunch of money on the cobranded card.
But what I find so confounding are the insane levels of spending needed to earn Medallion status.
Spending $10 on the big ticket Delta Reserve cards will earn a whole 1 MQD. Again, that’s for the airline’s premier credit card. It’s $20 to 1 MQD on the Delta Platinum Amex cards.
That ain’t moving the needle, chiefs.
This tells me Delta doesn’t need any of us Middle-Class folks and below to spend money toward status on our Delta Amexes. And they sure don’t want us rubbing elbows with the business travelers whose employers shell out for their Delta tickets. Delta earns enough money from major, six- and seven-figure Delta Amex spenders that they don’t need us.
Message received.
I’ll be blunt: There is no way in Hell my wife, our company, or I will spend as much as we did in the past on our Delta American Express Cards.
I don’t know if we’ll even spend anything on our Delta Amex cards outside of the odd Amex Offers or various promotions here and there. We might keep our Reserve cards because of the Companion Certificates and lounge access (more on that later).
We both spent well over the $25,000 Delta Amex MQD Waiver each of the past several years (except for the 2020 COVID year) across several Delta Amex cards.
I told my wife that what we spent on her personal Delta Reserve Card (linked to her SkyMiles account) and our company’s Business Reserve Card (linked to mine) will now barely get us halfway to Silver.
Her response? Unprintable. It would earn this blog an automatic R-rating.
For us to both earn Platinum status, we’d have to spend about $350,000 across our two Reserve cards in addition to paid flying on Delta flights.
If I had that kind of money to spend earning status, I’d just buy first class tickets on whatever airline and call it a day.
We already stopped spending on our Reserve cards several months ago because we hit our MQD Waivers. Plus, their points earnings are a non-starter. So, we’ll continue what we’re doing now: spend on cards with flexible points (i.e., Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Miles, Citi Thank You, etc.).
I really wish Delta would’ve kept the MQM system in place — and moved the MQD Waiver goal posts to something like $30,000 for Silver, $40,000 for Gold, and $50,000 for Platinum.
Partner Runs for the Win?
I was pleasantly stunned that Delta partner flights will still earn MQD based on a combination of distance flown and fare class.
However, the key to those are discounted business class tickets. Throughout the rest of the year, most Delta partner discounted business class tickets earn 40%. That got slashed to 30% starting on New Year’s Day 2024.
But it’s still an option. The Mileage Run Department at point.me will come in quite helpful for you. Before you forget, here is a direct link to their mileage run request form. Click on that link, visit the page, and bookmark it for safekeeping.
Sky Club Admission Changes
Delta Reserve Card holders will have only 10 complimentary Sky Club visits per Medallion year. Want unlimited visits for the Medallion year? Put $75,000 in spending on your card. (You know, the one that earns 3X on Delta purchases and 1X on everything else. Hey, that’ll earn you Silver status and get you more than halfway to Gold!)
That takes effect on February 1, 2025. So, we still have a long time to enjoy our favorite Sky Clubs.
The Amex Platinum Cards (personal and business) will see their Sky Club visits chopped to just six annual visits — unless you spend $75,000 on your respective card. That starts January 1, 2025.
This is long enough for Delta to learn if they royally screwed up and need to make adjustments.
The visit limits are ludicrous. I sometimes go through four or even five visits during one roundtrip if I have a connection or want to use the lounge upon arrival.
Neither United nor American limit lounge visits on their top-shelf credit cards. So, why is Delta punishing its SkyMiles members who fork out hundreds of dollars each year on Reserve cards?
I get that overcrowding is an issue. But you know what? United and American don’t let non-cobranded card users into their lounges. I wish Amex would’ve first cut down the Platinum Cards instead of screwing the Reserve cardholders at the same time.
Remember, you can’t buy Sky Club membership unless you’re a Medallion member.
How Many “Thin the Herd!” Folks Are Being Culled?
I’m genuinely curious how many Diamond Medallions who constantly scream “thin the herd!” will be a victim of the huge MQD-only movement.
$25,000 in Delta flight spending and $60,000 on a Delta Reserve suddenly makes you shine less in Delta’s eyes. Spend more — or enjoy the exit rows and Comfort+ seats.
My Family’s Plan
My wife and I will use our Medallion status and Sky Club visits for the next 15 or 16 months. Our daughter just got her passport and is eager to use it. (“Do I need my passport in New York City, Daddy?” she asked. I told her only maybe in the Bronx.) We’re thinking of a trip to London and Paris in early- or mid-December. Our Comfort+ upgrades will come in handy for those long flights.
But our Delta trips won’t seem as fun. We’re disappointed in Delta.
We’ll likely be free agents in 2025. We live in Los Angeles and have a bajillion airlines and a couple of different airports from which we can choose.
(I genuinely feel bad for the hub-captives, such as folks in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Detroit, and Minneapolis. I can only imagine the dirty looks you’ll give Sky Clubs after your visit allotment is exhausted. And you have to trudge back to your non-preferred seat because earning status is ludicrous.)
That said, Mrs. Carley and her mom recently took United home separately and on different days from a funeral on the East Coast.
They both asked something along the lines of, “Does United always suck that much or did we just get unlucky?”
We like Delta’s hard products: planes, service, etc. We’ll still fly them occasionally after 2024 — but when it meets our requirements (or we’re forced to because they have a monopoly at a particular airport).
I’m a pretty loyal guy. (I’ve been a Minnesota sports fan my entire life. If that’s not loyalty, then I don’t know what it is.) But when someone crosses me or a company to whom I’ve been loyal screws me over, they lose me.
Sorry, Delta. It’s not me. It’s you.
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Yes, sir. You spelled it out nicely.
Unfortunately for me, my home airport is Salt Lake City. I’m still weighing my options.
I think I will sit back and see what happens. I think there are a lot of strategy that could be at play. One unknown is what the terms of the new American Express Credit Cards will be. Yes, there is a dollar spending amount to MQD in the facts, but what about welcome offers and bonus thresholds. That could significantly change the analysis. Also, we have until the end of the year to either use MQMs for getting a higher status, or carrying them over until December of next year. Presumably this because if you are short a little bit on making the next status, you could use some of you MQMs to convert to MQDs (at 20 to1) next year, to hit the next status. Because MQDs do not carry over, and there is a large range between Platinum and Diamond, you do not want all of your MQMS to be converted to MQDs if they are simply going to vanish on January 1, 2025. I think I am going to stop at platinum this year, but it is tempting to do a partner run or two and hit Diamond so that I can use my MQMs to best advantage.
AMEX card rules are now known with yet another “enhancement” – once per family lifetime on Delta AMEXes. Possible to go Gold-Platinum-Reserve, but not possible to go Reserve-Platinum-Gold.
Some random comments:
>> The visit limits are ludicrous.
Agreed, at the very least it should be per-day… you can’t be in multiple lounges at the same time, so not crowding up 4-5 lounges at once even if you visit several in a trip with connection(s)
>> I’m genuinely curious how many Diamond Medallions who constantly scream “thin the herd!” will be a victim of the huge MQD-only movement…
Strange they did this given that post-covid-waiver-expiration, next year was supposed to be the cliff anyway in reducing DMs.
>> This is long enough for Delta to learn if they royally screwed up and need to make adjustments.
Not sure how that would be? Next year one could act ‘normal’ and enjoy status and SkyClub visits as this year, and then suddenly 1/1/25 things change and then people will start freaking out, I think. Unless of course folks actually look at the tracker and realize they’re not even going to make PM or something like that!
They could also have thrown a bone and left untouched the lifetime status bonuses for class-of-service etc. There can’t be a gazillion life-timers and those who are close to 1M or 2M etc. might’ve been happy to buy up to J if at least you’d get something for the long haul.
And another loss will be the elite line — even if one buys J as a lowly ‘member’ or ‘silver’ and things go wrong, call the 1212 number and spend hours!
I’m surprised we still haven’t seen some of the other airlines attempt to reach out and formally lure some delta flyers. like this blog said. Hub captives will likely just have to deal with it. Or accept a new reality as a per trip free agent. But all those weekly connecting flyers (which I’m not one of)…
I think Delta is stretching too far here… the truly high net worth people are flying private and could care less about Delta… and in the coastal cities DL has been building up in recently, even couples with children who make $500k+ may feel “middle class” due to the costs of housing, childcare and education. Not sure there is a big enough pool of discretionary high spenders to maintain DL’s marketing goals.
As a SLC flyer I have been quite happy with an AA/UA elite combo for years. I rarely take DL unless it is to burn SkyPesos on cheap west coast 6k options. They are such a smug, deplorable company that I just don’t understand why people still throw money at them. Boggles my mind to this day.
Exactly why I left in March. They basically at me. Then scold me.
DL was the poster child of unsustainable zero interest rate culture of the late teens / turn of the 20s.
Flooded the market with too easy to earn miles and the lowest barriers to get unlimited club access that stimulated demand beyond what they could supply.
Shortages (lines) and quality drops (crowds, diluted perks) ensued.
Now the price is going up to adjust. No more “stimulative” monetary policy.
I think plenty will be willing to pay the extra for unlimited club access and hopefully they’ll get the club experience reliable again.
They were never intended to be a mass market product and my guess is something about the Amex relationship was miscalculated and led to far more demand than Delta anticipated. That doesn’t excuse the mistake on both Delta and Amex sides.
I think Delta’s team did a thorough analysis before proposing these changes. If these changes will lessen overcrowding in Delta Sky Clubs, I won’t complain.
Remember the good ole days when being a loyal Delta flyer meant something? Been flying Delta almost exclusively for almost 50 years and always held them at a company level with few peers. No more. Thanks Delta for encouraging to use other options. On the bright side, Delta is pissing off people the old fashion way…money, and not some woke silliness.
I used to love Delta and never had to worry about MQDs as I live in Europe.. now suddenly I am supposed to spend $35K per year to keep being a Diamond. No way… Especially with the terrible value of redeemable miles. At least with AA you have good redemption rates on partners, DL has even gutted the partner redemptions to/from the US. I appreciate all the posts saying how terrible and aggressive these changes are. But at the end of the day there are so many people who will be Diamonds by spending 350K on the Reserve card… Basically business owners and other self employed people who can run business spending on their card can get top-tier Delta status without ever stepping foot on a plane.
Which brings the entire “Loyalty” equation into question. Is DL running an airline or a credit card company?
This is 100% the fault of Tom Brady.
This is a great site. I have been visiting it more lately. Keep up the stellar work for all of us trying to sort out the Delta mess. However, there are way too many pop-up ads, video links to other posts, and other ads and pop-ups on your site. It made reading this post on an iPhone literally impossible. I tried to read this on an iPhone and it failed and got an error message “A problem repeatedly occurred.…” because of all the redirects happening. I think if you have fewer but more relevant and thoughtfully placed ads, and remove the video pop-up overlays, you might actually see better ad revenue. I understand you need the ad revenue to help support your site, but “more” does not always equal “more”.
Thanks for the kind words —- and turning off your ad blocker. Ad revenue literally feeds families.
It also means we can keep the content free and not put up a pay wall.
I’ll forward your comments to the people in charge of advertising.
Yes, I noticed and thought this too.
On your comment “I was pleasantly stunned that Delta partner flights will still earn MQD based on a combination of distance flown and fare class.”
Yes, but I was disappointed to see the other partner airline I fly regularly – Virgin – to London has just lowered the MQDs earned as of 1 Jan 2024 on anything other than Business Class (fare class J).
See: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-earn-miles/airline-partners
Running the numbers, my monthly trips to London on Virgin may, or may not yield greater MQDs than Delta depending on the fare class booked.
For instance, at 20% of distance flown for MQDs using Virgin’s algorithm, that’s roughly 1,684 MQDs for a round trip to London Heathrow from Atlanta.
Depending on whether the MQDs are on the TOTAL purchase price of a ticket versus the more traditional way of earning MQDs where only Base Fare and Carrier-imposed International Surcharge (YR) are included this could be slightly better or a wash.
If you’re not familiar with international ticketing and MQDs, there is typically around 11% additional charges on a ticket paid for various duties, service fees, etc (using UK and LHR numbers as an example). These do NOT count for MQD today for Delta – not sure if they will under the new prorgam, but I think not.
QUESTION: Has Delta been clear on what is included in MQD calculations for International tickets in the new program per my example above?
Will have to price tickets and do a harsh comparison to see if switching to Virgin helps me get to the Diamond threshold.
2M+ miler who has been Diamond annually for a long time. Struggling to see how Diamond will be achieved under the new plan unless I suddenly discover a pot of money to start buying Delta One to Europe each month as I travel for work.
I have flown nothing but Delta for over 30 years but it has made me a free agent now. For the last few years I have flown Business and even paid more to fly Delta – Not any more. Other airlines offer Business at cheaper rates and if I am getting no perks from Delta then why should I ay more to fly with them? I already gave up my Club membership in favor of an American Express Platinum card that allows entry to the lounge. There are other lounge memberships available cheaper and now most big airports offer sleep pods if a person wants to avoid crowds. Delta just made me throw any loyalty to them in the trash bin.
Delta response
As ATLanta residents, my wife & I have been loyal Delta customers since prior to the launch of ORIGINAL Frequent Flyer program in 1981.
Gradually, we have both “earned” Platinum Medallion AND Million Miler “status” through combinations of flights and Delta AMEX Reserve Card spending.
We almost exclusively flew Delta knowing we were likely paying more, but the benefit seemed to outweigh the cost difference.
NOW, all that has changed.
Delta has given us The Finger, so we are prepared to reciprocate since our loyalty was not reciprocated by Delta.
We’ll use up our skymiles this year but once our Platinum status expires, we’re gone. We’ll also dump the expensive Reserve Card (unless program adjustments are made).
This may be Delta’s “BUD LIGHT” moment.
Stay tuned…..
Taking the hit-worst- I think is the AMex Plat card=6 visits a year fr the $695??? Access to the SKLounges is the benefit we use the most… We can use 6 admits in one day~~It shoud be interesting on how all of these changes will affect the Delta-AMex numbers.
The day this was announced I cancelled my Amex Platinum card which was days away from my annual fee hitting. The only reason I stayed with the card after Covid hit was lounge access. I cannot justify $695 for 6 lounge visits. I am SLC based so I will have to fly Delta for most business trips but I will now be doing it holding my nose.
What Delta doesn’t understand, or value anymore obviously, is the emotional attachment we had to their brand. Like a lover who turns on you unexpectedly, Delta is pursuing a different customer and leaving a lot of us (10+ years PM with 800K lifetime miles here) holding our hearts in our hands wondering what we ever did wrong to deserve this, and who to give our loyalty now. And what Delta will learn is that once they’ve lost our loyalty it isn’t coming back.
For those of us who have already planned our 2024 medallion run prior to 9/14/2024, I submitted the following comment/question to the Delta Skymile team. Let’s see what they come back with.
“Delta has recently changed the MDQ earning policy on partner airlines flights. Starting 1/1/2024, MQD earning for discounted (R Class) business tickets will only earn 30% total miles flown as MDQ, as oppose to today’s 40%. Delta made this change announcement on 9/14/2024. I purchased an R Class Ticket on a partner airline months before Delta’s announcement date. Even though Delta reserves the right to change the Skymile program at anytime, I feel that I should still be eligible for the 40% total miles flown as MQD because I wouldn’t have purchased that class of ticket if I knew. Be that it may, I believe Delta should “honor and grandfather” the old MQD award scheme IF the ticket(s) was purchased prior to the 9/14/2024 announcement date as long as member(s) can prove the original ticket purchase date (EX: submit the original dated receipt). “
We’re still in 2023, not 2024!
Bwahaha! I get it! America is a free market economy but it’s bad when *you* can’t get what you want. Tee hee ha ha yuk yuk to your daughter’s passport question. Great quip about The Bronx which is gentrifying so fast the real estate can’t get snapped up fast enough. Plus, definitely get your passport out for the beauty of the New York Botanical Gardens, The Bronx Zoo, the cannoli on Arthur Avenue, and Latinx people who are the majority of its population. Happy to bring some “woke silliness” (other commentator’s term) to the discussion.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the great summary, very helpful. I am a MM on Delta and hold the Delta Platinum AMEX, which is up for renewal in 2 months. Unless something changes, I will say goodbye to that card and take my chances with United.
It’s all very disappointing, since I have flown 90% DL for the past 20 years.
Many of these comments are quite entertaining. People are behaving as if this was a one-way relationship whereby customers gave Delta their loyalty and got nothing in return. Would anyone be loyal to an airline if they provided really poor service? I doubt that.
I suspect that many of Delta’s customers willingly chose to fly with them because the service was great and the overall value was worth it. Netizens everywhere have indicated they are ready to stop flying Delta, close their credit cards, and write them off completely. And which airline(s) are these people going to? American? Southwest? Spirit? Will these people get the same service and experience they’ve gotten from Delta over the years? I can’t help but see a lot of entitlement. Airlines aren’t required by law to provide any kind of loyalty program. The fact that millions of people are earning major perks such as free lounge access, free travel, and early boarding to name a few is Delta’s way of saying “thank you for your loyalty.”
Maybe the lounges will be a lot less crowded if more people break up with Delta.
So glad for this blog and all you do to keep us ‘used to be Delta enthusiasts’ in the loop, you guys do a great job! I have been a DM for several years and PM prior to that. However, as of 9/16, I have cancelled my Amex Plat card. I will do the same for my Amex Reserve card when renewal comes. Delta and Amex could care less about my 20+ year loyalty to them, neither will I, anymore. I will go the free agent route and buy what makes most economic sense instead of always thinking (and paying exorbitant prices), for “Delta first”. I’ve heard Qatar and Emirates international service and product is way, way better. For years I refused to try them, happy to do so now. Delta just lost a family of 4, who flew international at least 5x per year. So long….
I just recently found this site. I really like it. I have been loyal to Delta since 2008. I have been continuously Gold Medallion since 2012. I travel on average 56,000 miles each year and that came from flying Comfort Class/Premium select, until COVID happened. I’m Silver right now, I will be Gold by Christmas. Since I have lived outside the USA the entire time I’ve been a SkyMiles member. I have never had to contend with MQDs. Now getting $6,000 MQDs is near impossible since I only fly 3x per year and never spend over $1,800 in airfares. Where I live it’s easy to earn 18,000 MQMs for just $1,800. Lately, I’ve flown on partner airlines (Korean Air) because their fares are nearly cheaper by $700 for the same destinations. Now that MQMs are going away, it makes no sense to stay with Delta as KAL, AF, KLM, JAL, and ANA are all significantly cheaper than Delta between Shanghai and Milwaukee.
With these changes Delta publicly batch slapped the sh-t out of its most loyal customers. The Freddy Awards should create a Will Smith Award. Delta elites now know exactly how Chris Rock feels.
If Delta is so smart and has teams crunching numbers, then surely it knew it would have too many elites and too many people with Skyclub access. Delta knowingly created the problems it is punishing us for.
Great post. You nailed all of my objections to these horrendous changes. One issue I’ve not seen addressed is if members must attain elite status in 2023 to be able to rollover MQMs to 2024. I’m thinking yes. Your thoughts? Thanks.
MQM above and beyond a status tier will roll over as usual. Members can convert them to redeemable SkyMiles, MQDs, or a combination of both.
Delta just made me a free agent starting 2025 – I’m Platinum until then. I can usually just as easily buy a first class ticket on American for a lot less money. for overseas trips any first class that as lie down seats will do just fine. Bye Delta.
Hit the nail on the head.
If someone is reaching $35k MQD (likely closer to $45k in actual dollars), then they are almost certainly buying premium cabins only (I doubt anyone is reaching that threshold flying domestic Y). Which then begs the question, what’s the point of status? They’re already getting a seat up front, priority boarding, free checked bags, and lounge access on international flights.
My husband is a Delta Million Miler (almost 2m) from the road warrior days of the 80’s, 90’s, 00’s). Lifetime silver medallion. In 1992, we used 100,000 Delta FF miles (straight miles flown, not $) to buy 4 round trip coach tickets from ATL to Athens, Greece, 7 nights at The Athens Marriott, and 7 days rental car. The Delta Lounges were uncrowded and accessible to all medallion members. No credit card points, just miles. Different world. No TSA either. Truly the good old days.
Has Delta announced yet what will happen to Lifetime lounge membership. Will it retain the Executive level ?