Less than two weeks remain in 2024 (how did that happen already?!). Your time to earn Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) toward 2025 status is running out.
(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.)
Get a Late Headstart
Probably the easiest and fastest way to earn MQD is by taking advantage of the “MQD Headstart” benefit available on four Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards.
Each eligible card product gives cardholders $2,500 MQD every year toward Medallion status.
Those cards are:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Current annual fee: $650. See rates and fees.)
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (Current annual fee: $650. See rates and fees.)
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Current annual fee: $350. See rates and fees.)
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card (Current annual fee: $350. See rates and fees.)
Let’s say you hold two of the above cards. That gives you $5,000 (enough Silver Medallion status). Three of them scores you $7,500 MQD (that’s currently halfway to Platinum Medallion). Collect all four and you have $10,000 MQD each year you hold the card. (That’s Gold Medallion status without stepping foot near an airplane.)
If you need a certain 2025 Medallion status tier and won’t have enough MQD to make it, you might strongly consider getting at least one of the above cards.
We love MQD runs on Delta partner airlines that allow you earn 2-3X MQD for your airfare investment. The MQD Headstart is basically a credit card version of that. And you don’t need to travel anywhere. (That kind of takes the fun out of earning the MQD but does the job in a pinch.)
But when do the MQD hit your account? We wrote about this not quite two weeks ago. The MQD might not show up in your account until 6-8 weeks after you’re approved for membership. But according to Amex’s terms and conditions, the $2,500 MQD should apply retroactively if you’re approved during 2024:
Per the Delta Reserve Card’s fine print (bold mine below):
MQDs will be deposited within 6 to 8 weeks after an Eligible Card Account is opened, and thereafter every subsequent year within 6 to 8 weeks after February 1 while the Eligible Card Account is open; however, if a New Eligible Card Account is opened during November or December of a Qualification Year, MQDs will be applied to the Qualification Year in which the Card is opened. MQDs earned during a Qualification Year are used to determine qualification for Medallion Status for the subsequent Medallion Year for the Basic Card Member.
Here’s an example. One of my family members needed a new card for her side hustle and some MQD for her Delta status. I suggested the Delta Amex Platinum Business Card. She applied and was instantly approved. That was a few weeks ago and the MQD haven’t hit her account. If the MQD don’t show up, I’m banned from family celebrations until the end of time. That’s how confident I am the MQD will appear in her SkyMiles account retroactive to 2024 (to earn 2025 Medallion status).
(For those wondering about business credit cards: she doesn’t have corporation-LLC for her side hustle yet. Her Social Security Number worked just fine on the application.)
Feel free to double-check each card’s MQD Headstart terms and conditions. In fact, it can’t hurt to save them as a PDF file, print them out, or take a screenshot just for your peace of mind.
- Click here for the Delta Reserve’s terms and conditions
- Click here for the Delta Reserve Business Amex’s terms and conditions
- Click here for the Delta Platinum’s terms and conditions
- Click here for the Delta Platinum Business Amex’s terms and conditions
If you downgraded a Delta Amex (i.e., from a Reserve to a Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card or Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card), the terms and conditions state you can upgrade to Platinum or Reserve card and still get the MQD.
Then, you’ll get $2,500 MQD (per card) in February or March 2025 to put toward 2026 Medallion status. It’s practically an embarrassment of MQD riches. 🙂
When Should You Apply?
That’s literally the $2,500 question.
When you apply for a credit card, you’re generally eligible for whatever welcome offer is available that day. Let’s say a welcome promotion expires on January 31. You apply on January 31 after seeing the promotion language still live on the card issuer’s site. You should qualify for that offer even if you’re not instantly approved that day.
However, the MQD Headstart language says, “MQDs will be deposited within 6 to 8 weeks after an Eligible Card Account is opened…” and “if a New Eligible Card Account is opened during November or December of a Qualification Year, MQDs will be applied to the Qualification Year in which the Card is opened.”
“Card account opening” and similar language generally mean the day you’re actually approved. That’s how we read it in this instance. In other words, just because you apply in December doesn’t necessarily mean you’re automatically eligible for the MQD Headstart.
Because you sometimes don’t know your approval status until 7-10 days after you apply, I wouldn’t wait much longer than maybe December 21 or so. If you apply after that, you might risk not getting the MQD.
But because the offer is available during 2024, there’s a chance you might still be eligible.
Bottom line: if you’re going to apply, don’t sit around.
Welcome Offers
Below are the current welcome offers for each of the MQD Headstart cards. Remember that personal/consumer Delta Amexes have that “family rule,” which means you’re not eligible for a “lower card’s” welcome offer if you’ve had a more premium Delta Amex. For example, you won’t receive the welcome offer for a Delta Platinum Amex or Delta Gold Amex if you’ve already held a Reserve Card. Again, that’s only for the personal/consumer cards. Not the business cards.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Final Approach
If you need MQD for your 2025 status, the Delta Amex MQD Headstart is a relatively fast, easy, and economical way to add MQD to your balance.
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It wasn’t that long ago but I miss the days when you could fly from NYC to a Delta hub in the midwest (MSP or DTW) then on to ATL to somewhere else and load up on the MQM’s.
I’m SO with you. My wife and I really enjoyed taking some of the whacky, multi-leg runs for MQM, sometimes to other countries. I’ve flown Delta less now that MQM are gone. But, hey, if that’s what they want…