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Please note that this post has been updated and edited since we received word back from Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines told us last year that Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) would not roll over from 2024 to 2025.
Since then, the airline hastily retooled several of its (very) unpopular changes to the SkyMiles Medallion program.
But then it suffered a massive and high-profile IT meltdown as the summer travel season started.
And that brings us to this little nugget:
Reddit user No_Description_2134 posted:
My husband, who has Diamond status through 2025, called the dedicated line today and was told that his excess MQD’s will rollover next year. I thought that maybe the person was mistaken, so I messaged through the chat and was told that yes, this is a recent change, MQD’s will rollover and notifications will happen soon. I’m still having a hard time believing it because I can’t find this anywhere else. Including the Delta website. Has anyone else heard this?
Not Gonna Happen
Since our original post went live on Tuesday afternoon, a Delta spokesperson returned our request for comment and confirmed that MQD will not roll over to 2025.
Now, does that mean no more changes are in store? Delta announces its Q3 earnings on Thursday, October 10. (And what a spicy little conference call that will be, what with the IT meltdown that took place in July and those ramifications being discussed.) So, maybe we’ll hear something — if anything — then. There’s also Investors Day next month, and the juicy rumor is that Delta will unbundle business class.
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Aren’t they effectively rolling over? You can choose right now to roll them over for automatic status down the road. Some people have said they will be diamond until 2030 and beyond. Perhaps that is what the agent was referring to. That aside, I would much prefer segments to still count for something. Someone doing 150 segments a year should be Diamond.
This would (allegedly) be like the MQM rollovers of days past. Whatever MQD you have above and beyond the tier you reached would roll over to the next year. I’m skeptical but stranger things have happened.
And, yes, I agree that time spent on planes should also be rewarded.
That was the 2023 into 2024. The decision of what to do with your 2023 roll over.
At this point they claim that 2024 excess just goes poof into thin air.
My bet is they are going back to 35k for DM, but they soften the blow with rollover
Looks like my bet was off. New bet….they raise Diamond to 35k and no rollover….which I a ok with as I will make the 35k and with no rollover less Diamonds…
I don’t think that will happen until next year. But I’m very curious for that call next week!
Make MQDs earn via the hotel portal permanent.
I’ve already met the 28K MQD requirement for Diamond status for 2025 and still have 321,172 Rollover MQMs remaining which qualifies me for a 3 yr rollover for Diamond status. If I select the 3 year rollover, the MQDs that I already accumulated for 2025 are deemed to be a duplication and essentially worthless for 2025. Suggest that Delta recognize that the MQDs I’ve already earned be added to the rollover and not duplicative.
Agree with this! I wasn’t sure I would would meet the MQD requirement for 2025 so I opted to rollover 100k in MQMs to secure Diamond in 2025 early on. Now I am going to hit diamond for 2025 organically thru my MQDs and am being told the rollovers won’t apply so basically I lost 100k in MQDs that I should’ve held then converted at years end to miles. Delta clearly hedged their bets that fools like me would react quickly and screw ourselves.
I am in the same exact position and its beyond frustrating that I gave up all those miles, but essentially there is nothing I can do about it now.
Maybe you should listen to what delta is telling you and fly them less except to use UCs and domestic Y award fares. Unless one is 1.) hub captive or 2.) Corporate contact bound or maybe 3.) Close to 1MM or 3MM thresholds I see no reason. Spend goes on transferable cards. Credit PE and J fares on partners to skymiles to refill coffers for those reasonably priced domestic Y awards.
You should just convert them to miles and keep them. That’s what I am considering doing.
Maybe I just missing it …. But here is my question…. If we rollover or MQMs and get the Diamond Status for the next 3 years…. Do we also get the choice awards each year? Usually we get two rounds… when hit platinum and the Diamond. I just want to make sure we still have the ability to get our international upgrade vouchers?
Or are we just get title status of Diamond and
You should get your Diamond Choice Benefits each year. If you organically earn Platinum, then you’ll earn those, too.
You do not get your choice benefits. You still have to earn ready level platinum and diamond to receive the choice benefits. I know from experience.
You get them at the end of the qualifying year if you choose to exchange 100K MQM for an extra year of Diamond, but only get platinum benefits if you earn them as Chris said in this thread.
When you go to choose what to do with your MQM, if you have more than 100K it says:
Note: If you select extended Status, it will go into effect on February 1, 2025. Platinum Medallion and Diamond Medallion Members may choose their Choice Benefits on February 1, 2025. Members with multiple years of extended status will receive their respective Choice Benefits on February 1 of each Medallion year.
That is the reason you haven’t received them yet.
Perpetuating unfounded rumors. Gary? Gary Leff? Is that you?
If you’re going to let bloggers live your head, might we request you upgrade the residence a little?
Regarding choice benefits — if you roll over and are awarded Diamond with the rollover, you will not be able to select your choice benefits until 1 Feb.
What does ” Delta will unbundle business class,” mean?
Delta will likely offer a “Basic” version of business class. Something along the lines of no priority boarding, no checked bag, no lounge access, no advance seat assignment.
Boarding is boarding, especially upfront. Baggage and lounge access come with co-branded card(s) and biz class(esp D1 lie flat, all aisle access) has dedicated overhead. I can’t imagine the cost delta(no pun) is going to be a game changer.
Chris’s comment makes zero sense. You don’t get lounge access with business class, that comes from Delta Reserve or Amex Platinum (or a straight membership with the lounge).
Checked bags and priority boarding are all done through medallion or credit cards anyways – and regardless I seriously doubt Delta is going to force someone to pay to check just one bag, or make them board last, if they paid full price for a first class ticket. The value of selling a full price ticket is much more than whatever trivial amount it costs them for that person to board in zone one or get in the sky priority line through airport security.
Same thing with no advance seat assignment. Is that a joke? If someone wants to pay $1k for a business class flight from Atlanta to New York, there is zero chance Delta makes that seat assigned at the gate.
“Chris’s comment makes zero sense. You don’t get lounge access with business class…”
Then you might want to tell Delta that they’re incorrect. According to them, Delta One passengers get Sky Club access. And they better close those Delta One Lounges then because I don’t know who those are for if they don’t come with some business class tickets and not Amex Cards.
This will be a fun exchange to save and see what ends up panning out when Delta makes their announcement whenever that is.
I think they should and maybe will rethink this. For those earning status through card spend, what Delta is essentially telegraphing is, “don’t spend on the card or use our services beyond the status level you want to earn.” Which is what I’m doing. The Amex card is frozen till next year and I have no intention of flying Delta for the remainder of the year. Waste not. Want not.
I really think the decision not to allow MQD rollover is a serious miscalculation on Delta’s part. I easily reached the $75K threshold on club access early this year – and met the Diamond threshold through spend on flights. But I kept spending on my Delta Reserve card in case they came to their senses. I’m way over the MQDs needed for 2025 Diamond, but I’d like them to rollover to give a head start next year. If they really aren’t going to do this, in the future I will stop spending immediately on the Reserve card once I meet the thresholds, and switch to a different (non-Amex) travel card that will pay better rewards.
My thoughts exactly. I can spend to 75K and fly just enough to be platinum but I’ll never make above that. No need to run so much money on my card after that.
Question: I have reached DM through MQDs for 2025. I have 100K in MQMs in my account. Since I qualified for DM can I use the MQMs to extend DM through 2026? I believe I’ve seen some posts that say this but not sure. TY, in advance, for your clarification. Aloha
Aloha! Nope. There’s no “extension of the extension.” Delta’s words.
A stupid question :
I am 44,000 miles away from 2MM
I have 190,000 points to use for whatever.
I paid forward 200,000 miles to perpetuate my diamond status through end of 2026.
Will my 190,000 points roll over?
Will my $13,000MQD roll over ?
I am already DD for 2025
Not a stupid question, Nina!
If your 190,000 points are SkyMiles, don’t worry. They don’t expire until you do.
MQD will not roll over.
I’m so confused. Read through all of these posts about MQDs rollovers, and it sounds like MQDs will reset to $0. I have 417,000 MQMs, $6,300 MQDs to hit DM. Do I rollover my $21k MQDs for DM? Will my MQMs rollover for free flights? Or do I have roll those over too? Hellllp! Thanks!
If you have 417,000 MQM — NOT REDEEMABLE SKYMILES — you can convert to up to $41,000 MQD. Or you can extend your current status for four years (100k per year); if you’re Diamond, that’s what I’d do.
You can convert MQM to MQD, SkyMiles (which are redeemable toward award flights), or both.
MQD will reset to $0 on January 1, 2025. That’s when people start earning toward 2026 status.
It sounds like so many have opted to
Use the conversions for Diamond Medallion extensions ! It makes DM be not worth much for anything like upgrades or Boarding Zones!! You need to be a 360 to have any real status!!
I’ve reach just reached DM for 2025. I have 250,000 MQM in the bank that would give me an additional 2 years of DM. If I did this, it would be DM for 2025 and 2026. Would my regularly earned 2025 DM basically be forfeited?
What’s your current status?
Ijust hit MM on my last flight and I am Diamond thru 2025
Congrats!
I find this so perplexing…so, I decided to convert my extra MQMs to MQDs and will be making Gold (down from Platinum this year) in 2025. But I now find myself needing to book travel for early 2025 but know there is no way I will ever hit the next MQD threshold (for Platinum status)…so what incentive do I have at all to book early 2025 flights with Delta if I’m not going to ever realize the benefits of those MQDs towards 2026 status? This seems so stupid. Am I missing something?
Hey, free exit row seats and Sky Priority check in. 🙂 . Remember you can also get $2,500 MQD boosts with four Delta Amexes. That might be worth it and could put you over the Platinum hump.
I am 900 MQD from Platinum for 2025 and probably want spend that much additional money on reserve card. Any suggestions? Open a business reserve or is it too late? Suggestions appreciated
Hi, Tim —
Well, aside from spending $9k on a Reserve card (gross), you have a few options we outline here.
You could take a Delta trip for a little over $900. The cheapest way to go is opening a Delta Platinum Amex or Delta Business Platinum Amex. Those have a $350 annual fee and get you the $2,500 MQD. The MQD posts take 6-8 weeks to hit your account but Delta and Amex say they’ll still apply retroactively to the year you open the card (i.e., 2024). If you haven’t gotten either one of those cards, that’s what I’d do.
I think I understand the process, but would like to confirm. I am $9,515 MQDs away from Diamond. I have available $10,094 MQDs from Rollover MQMs. I plan on waiting until the 31st of December, to see how many MQDs I need to make Diamond for 2025, and then convert what I need to make Diamond and take the rest as miles.
Just want to make sure that my Rollover MQM conversion to MQDs count toward status and will qualify me for Diamond for 2025.
Thank you!
Sounds to me like you have enough MQD from the rollover to hit Diamond!
I stopped flying Delta in June when I hit Diamond for 2024 – switched to Singapore Air. There’s no reason to keep flying with Delta after status is met for the year. I’ll pick back up with them in January.
I’m still confused on this one. My 2025 Status Progress is as follows:
$17,087 MQD’s (which is Platinum). I need $10,913 MQD’s to get to Diamond Medallion.
My rollover is $3,857 MQDs so I would still be short just over $7,000 to make Diamond. If this is the case should I just take the miles which would be 19,284?
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Unless you want to take a stab at getting three different Delta Amex products or spend over $7,000 on Delta or partner flights, then I’d just take the miles and stay with Platinum.
Well isn’t this some BS, poof 3K MQD’s just gone. Alaskan sounded better and better.