Which Credit Cards Automatically Give Delta Bonus MQDs Toward Medallion Status?

I recently had conversations with several people who weren’t clear (or even didn’t know) about certain Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards that automatically give cardholders generous MQD deposits toward next year’s Medallion status earnings.

In situations like this, I figure that if a few people have questions about something, then hundreds or thousands of our readers, too. (Some folks are shy about speaking up. 🙂 )

So, let’s do sort of a basic overview Delta Amex Cards and earning 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.)

$2,500 MQD Headstarts

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.)

This is a new card feature that launched in February 2024.

SkyMiles members can earn up to $10,000 MQD each year for holding those Delta Amexes. In other words, $2,000 in annual fees for having one of each of the above cards earns you $10,000 MQD. You’re basically “buying” Gold Medallion status for two grand.

Here’s another example. If you have the personal/consumer Delta Platinum and Business Delta Platinum, that’s $700 in annual fees and you get $5,000 MQD. That alone gets you Silver Medallion status.

I have a Delta Amex Business Reserve Card and a personal Delta Platinum Amex. Here’s a screenshot of my SkyMiles account reflecting that I earned $5,000 MQD from the two cards.

All four cards also come with Companion Certificates (available the second year of card membership). The Platinum cards’ are valid for select Main Cabin fares. The Reserves’ are good for select First Class, Comfort+, and Main Cabin fares.

The Delta Reserve and Delta Business Amexes also allow cardholders access to Delta SkyClubs and American Express Centurion Lounges.

The Delta Platinums earn $1 MQD for each eligible $10 spend on their respective cards (not across cards). The Platinums earn $1 MQD for every $20 spent on eligible purchases (again, per card, not pooled between cards).

Those may or may or may not be worth it for you.

Should You Get the Delta Amex Cards Just to Get the MQD Headstart?

“What do you think I should do?” a few people asked me about their respective situations regarding Medallion status and the MQD Headstarts.

It depends on how much you value different Medallion status tiers. And as I often say: each person’s budget, travel preferences, and travel goals are unique.

Only you ultimately know what’s best for you.

But if it helps, here’s an example using my wife and me as subjects.

Both of us are Platinum Medallion members. (Platinum Medallion requires a person to earn $15,000 MQD each year.) I mentioned before I hold the Delta Amex Business Reserve and Delta Platinum Amex cards. Mrs. Carley has the personal/consumer Delta Reserve Amex. We shell out $1,650 total in annual fees.

• 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 Delta SkyMiles® Business Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.

What do we like about being Platinum Medallions? The ability to upgrade to Comfort+ pretty much immediately after booking tickets is a big plus when we travel with our daughter. (I’m fine in an exit row if I’m alone.) The occasional First Class upgrade is also great — though those have significantly gone down in the past year or two. (The upgrade lists on my flights to/from LAX and Atlanta recently were both, like, 78 or 79 deep. For real.)

To each get the $10,000 MQD Headstart, we’d need to spend another $2,350 total in annual fees. Is it worth it?

Here’s what we’re considering.

• If we maxed out at four Delta Amexes each, we’d have eight Companion Certificates to burn during a year. We take probably four, maybe five, Delta domestic trips with our daughter each year. I don’t know that we need the extras. (One of the people in our travel circle earned a permanent ban from using our Companion Certificates because of their propensity to cancel or want to change plans.)
• We could probably buy Comfort+ for flights when we really want them ahead of time — and still spend less than $2,350 during a year.
• We could also use that money to buy cheaper fares on other airlines.
  • We do that anyway and fly Southwest several times a year. We survive just fine — though we have yet to take one of their 737 MAX planes, so…
• We’d have eight more Delta Sky Club guest passes (four each per Reserve), which we probably would use. Each visit to a Sky Club — even if you’re connecting — still requires a separate guest pass for admission. When we flew to Indiana for the total solar eclipse, my daughter used two of our guest passes in one day: the first at LAX and the other in Minneapolis-St. Paul during our connection. That changes next year when the cards go to “Visits” — enter as many clubs as you want during a 24-hour period while traveling Delta.

Then we’d need to earn another $5,000 MQD each for Platinum — before that requirement goes up at some point.

Earning the $5,000 MQD each wouldn’t be too difficult. We take advantage of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express‘s 35% Pay With Points rebate several times a year. (Earn back 35% of the Membership Rewards points you use to pay for an eligible flight booked through Amex Travel, on up to 1,000,000 points back each year.)

We can also use Ultimate Rewards points at a rate of 1.5 cents each when purchasing Delta airfare through Chase Travel℠ because I hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

Not to mention, we can take partner trips on other airlines (hello, point.me Mileage Run team!)

Plus, SkyMiles award tickets earn MQD.

Or we can use our points for better redemptions in premium classes on different airlines. Just a thought.

Final Approach

Using the MQD Headstart feature on Delta Amexes may or may not be worth it for you. Consider if the extra money you’d spend on fees is worth the steak — or if it’s just too much sizzle.

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.