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We’re hearing from readers and seeing posts online asking how people can earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD).
We’re getting to that point in the year when some people scramble to meet their Delta SkyMiles Medallion elite status goals. Perhaps their travel plans didn’t go as planned during the year. Others might have reached their desired tier — but are close to the next level of Medallion status.
So, here are some ideas that might help you.
Flying
You can earn MQD by flying not only Delta Air Lines flights but also trips on Delta partner carriers.
Remember, someone can earn at least Gold Medallion status from taking just one flight — regardless of any loyalty to Delta.
But let’s say you already have some Delta flights booked during the next two and a half months. Check your itineraries and see if Delta offers any buy-ups to Premium Select, First Class, or Delta One. Because you’ll spend more money (or upgrade using SkyMiles), you’ll earn MQD for those upgrades.
Remember that flights on Delta partner carriers earn MQD based on a formula: a percentage of the distance flown — and that percentage is based on which fare class you purchase. You want to shoot for business class or premium economy flights. The key to this is crediting the trips to your Delta SkyMiles number.
Finding decent partner trips is proving more and more difficult. (Especially when people expect the good, old days of 4X MQD returns on the regular. Not happening. You’d be lucky to consistently score 3X.)
We’ll ramp up our searches a little more and see what comes up.
The point.me Mileage Run department is dedicated to creating personalized mileage runs for you. Sign-up is free for a point.me account.
In a few minutes, we’ll talk about ways to perhaps save a few bucks on your trips.
Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards
There are a few different ways certain Delta Amex cards can help you earn MQD. (Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.)
MQD Bonuses
First, four Delta American Express cards annually each give cardholders a $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) Headstarts:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Current annual fee: $650. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link. )
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (Current annual fee: $650. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Current annual fee: $350. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.)
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card (Current annual fee: $350. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, please visit this link.)
If you hold all four of those cards, that’s $10,000 MQD without setting foot on a plane.
Here are the current welcome offers for each card:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases on the card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. (Terms apply.) Learn here how to apply.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: Earn 80,000 bonus SkyMiles after spending $10,000 in eligible purchases on your new card within six (6) months of being approved for membership. (Terms apply.) Learn here how to apply.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. (Terms apply.) Learn here how to apply.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Earn 70,000 bonus SkyMiles after spending $6,000 in purchases on your new card within six (6) months of being approved for membership. (Terms apply.) Learn here how to apply.
Please note that if you’ve held the personal/consumer Delta Reserve Amex that you aren’t eligible for the personal/consumer Delta Platinum Amex’s welcome offer. You can still hold the cards and take advantage of their features. You simply won’t get the welcome offer.
Spending
The Reserve and Platinum cards earn MQD for reaching various spending thresholds.
- Delta Reserve Amex
- Earn $1 MQD for each $10 in eligible purchases
- Delta Reserve Business Amex
- Earn $1 MQD for each $10 in eligible purchases
- Delta Platinum Amex
- Earn $1 MQD for each $20 in eligible purchases
- Delta Platinum Business Amex
- Earn $1 MQD for each $20 in eligible purchases
Choice Benefits
Diamond and Platinum Medallions can select an MQD deposit as a Choice Benefit.
- Diamond: $2,000 (up to two times)
- Platinum: $1,000
(Thanks for the reminder, Bill and Le Piou!)
Delta Vacations
I’ve never booked a trip through Delta Vacations but may consider giving it a go at some point.
Exclusively with Delta Vacations, you’ll earn $1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) per $1 spend on flights, hotels, rides and activities. Which means with just one vacation, you could earn Status! …
The primary passenger who books the package you will also receive MQDs on nonflight portions of the package, such as hotels, rides, cars, and activities.
You can read more here.
Reduce Your Costs Using Statement Credit Opportunities
Several credit cards offer statement credits that can help you save money on your travels. These can come in helpful with purchasing airline tickets, upgrades, etc.
For example, Chase Sapphire Reserve®* holders may earn up to $300 in statement credits each cardmember year for eligible travel purchases.
The The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express both offer members up to $200 each calendar year for eligible incidental purchases charged to their cards. Consider applying Delta gift cards toward some of a trip’s cost and then paying the cash balance with your Amex Platinum or Business Amex Platinum Card. We’ve had great luck with the cash balance crediting back to our cards.
Final Approach
The race is on to earn MQD for Delta status (well, at least for some people). How are you earning MQD toward status?
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles® Business Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this link.
*All information about this card was collected independently by Eye of the Flyer. It was neither provided by nor reviewed by the card issuer.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
One other way.
You can garner MQD’s via a Choice Benefit Selection.
For 2024 Diamonds get $1000 and Platinums get $500
2025 levels are increasing. If you hit platinum for 2025 already you can get $1000 MQDS. Diamonds can get $200 for next year.
Thank you for the reminder, Bill! I updated the post.
The answer to this question probably is obvious but I’ll ask it anyway. I just used my AmEx Reserve for Business card to buy two Delta tickets (myself and wife) for flights next March. I assume that I’ll earn 2024 MQDs for the total purchase price and we’ll each earn 2025 MQDs for taking the flights. Correct?
Correct!
Really? I need to go to Scotland next Feb but didn’t think I’d get mqds this year. If so I’ll but the ticket now. It’s a decent price on delta one.
If you use a Delta Amex Platinum and Reserve card now to buy the tickets, you’ll get the card spend MQD soon. But you won’t get the actual flight’s MQD until after you’ve flown the trip.
Note: Keeping in mind the “spend is either $1 for $10 or $1 for $20 depending on the card. So, it’s something but…
Sorry, not following. Is there an error?
Not at all. Just my too-much-coffee morning brain over analyzing stuff!
I’m barely finishing my first coffee! Give me some time to catch up!
Are there any other ways to get the $75,000 Am Ex spend to attain the unlimited Sky Club access besides spending on the card?
Nope. If you want to hit $75k on the card, you have to spend $75k on the card. FWIW, you can still enter the Sky Clubs after you burn through your visit rations. It’ll cost you $50 for a day’s worth of visits. Or you can get another card that comes with Sky Clubs access, too, and use both to give you extra visits.
Not sure if this is an option for you, but my wife and I each have our own Reserve Cards (not as an AU). That actually gives us 19 visits per year. (15 each plus we each have 4 guest passes to use on each other).
If I open a Delta Biz Plat card now, will I get the $2,500 MQD Headstart now (for 2025 Medallion Year) and again next year (for 2026 MY)? Thanks!
Yep, you should.
If I buy a Delta vacation package which promises MQDs, do I get MQDs in the year I purchase it or in the year I complete the vacation?
After you complete the vacation. Per Delta:
I am 220 MQDs short of keeping my current status for next year. If I book a flight for January 2025, will I earn MQDs now for the purchase price of the flight or not until the flight is taken? Trying to figure out how to keep my status and if I need to open a credit card.
You’d earn the MQD after the flight. Your best options now might be to open a credit card or if your time permits, just take a trip and earn the $220 MQD. Treat yourself to a fun day!
If you purchase a delta flight on your AMEX Reserve, how soon would you get MQDs for that Purchase of the delta flight?
That purchase’s post date should be the date you buy the ticket, maybe a day or so later.
MQD for the flight flown won’t post until after you’ve taken that flight.
What about Delta Cruises?
There’s a limited-time offer running right now: https://cruises.delta.com/promotion/terms-and-conditions.do
Choice Benefit Selection is 2000MQDs for 2025 Diamond (up to 2 times!) and 1000 for 2026 Platinum I belive.
Using Partner Trips is a risky approach. There’s always something wrong with the way you get your MQDs credited after the trip, especially when you upgrade your seat… and it can take a long time before Delta correct any mistakes…
Thanks, Le Piou!
Since some folks here we’re commenting on Sky Club access, I’ll share the two ways we’ve been able to “extend” our access while essentially not giving up lounge time.
First, both my wife and I each have our own Reserve Cards (not as an AU). That actually gives us 19 visits per year. (15 each plus we each have 4 guest passes to use on each other).
Second – not possible for everyone – in our situation we’ve used JFK as a departure and connected through ATL. That has allowed us to use the Centurion Lounge in both locations. (Note: We almost always check bags so using an SC upon arrival usually doesn’t happen.)
As a result, we still have 7 SC visits remaining each (not counting the guest passes) so with 5 trips scheduled thru Jan…we’re good now to just use SC’s wherever we are. (Assuming that the airport has them. We have a trip to Charleston SC coming up. No SC there.)
I would be very cautious about relying on Delta Vacations or Delta Cars and Stays promotions to earn needed MQDs. There are numerous reports on other forums about MQDs either not posting at all or posting incorrectly, and I’ve encountered several issues myself. Also, Delta considers these flights as exception fares, so the primary passenger doesn’t always get a larger share of the overall MQDs.
Some great info here. I’m going to achieve MQD diamond status thru flying and Delta Reserve card spend by next month but have zero flights after that. If I select the Amex credit choice benefit, can that possibly bump my diamond status down to platinum due to the credit making my spend below the 28K required for Diamond?
Great question and thank you for the kind words. As far as I know, it shouldn’t. But we generally recommend spending at least several hundred to a couple of thousand dollars over your minimum spending requirement. We know people who’ve purchased gifts for others, etc. — only for them to be returned and that spending get nullified. Does it make sense how I said it?
I think its crap that Delta only does the 1 MQD per $1 on airline tickets for my ticket only. The other tickets I bought, I only received 1MQD for every $10 spent.