For well over ten years, Delta Air Lines offered elite Medallion flyers who were short of their desired elite tier an opportunity to simply buy what they needed to make it happen — by basically donating a massive amount of cash to the airline.
During the pandemic, Delta decided, for whatever reason, not to accept cash from the elite to jump their status. To be fair, they were rather generous in pushing and rolling over elite points since anyone with a brain was not flying for the better part of a year (unless they absolutely had to, that is).
Delta has dumped so many of the old ways of qualifying for status (i.e., racking up actual flight miles), or even making it a part of the formula that helps you reach your elite goal. Starting earlier this year, the only thing that matters is how much cold hard cash you spend with Delta* (Notice I put an asterisk at the end of the statement above because you can still do mileage runs on Delta partners — that is, flying a really long way and still earn a ton of dollar point credit for how far you fly and how much you spend really does not matter – just the fare class the ticket falls into).
But back to the topic at hand. Four Delta American Express cards annually each give cardholders a $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) Headstarts: That means you can easily earn up to $10,000 MQD — for a fraction of the price you’d spend on airline tickets and without even leaving your home.
- 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.)
But you are, in effect, “buying” $10,000 MQD for $2,000 in fees. That is cheap if you value status.
So, will Delta bring back the “Elevate Your Status” promotion for those who want to simply donate cash to Delta and the 1 for 1 USD translate to MQD numbers?
I can not comprehend why they would not — when Delta has shown for years they only care about how much you spend on tickets and nothing else!
The only real thing I am not sure about is if Delta will pull a fast one and tell us a US Dollar is not really worth a real Dollar when it comes to buying MQDs that is, say, like exchanging dollars for British Pounds. You don’t get full value from your cash and you have to say pay TWO USD to get ONE MQD!
Now, don’t shoot the messenger or yell at me, “DON’T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS,” because I am 100% sure they are way ahead of me in extracting cash from anyone still chasing status with Delta (I got off that ride, btw).
When are we likely to learn if the “promotion” will be back this year? For many, many, many years, it was right around December 1. But a few times, it has come mid-November. So we likely will not have very long to wait to find out. And then it is up to you if you wish to give your hard-earned money to the charity known as Delta Medallion Elite Program (without a tax deduction as far as I know, but I am not a tax advisor).
Know this: we here at the blog, along with our partners at point.me, will keep looking for much cheaper partner elite MQD runs because, to me, flying is much more fun and often way cheaper than just donating money to the mothership! – Rene
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.
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“because, to me, flying is much more fun and often way cheaper than just donating money to the mothership!”
I agree wholeheartedly. It is pointless for someone to chase status with card spending and associated fees if he or she doesn’t fly much. It could be better just paying for the upgraded seats.