Thinking About a Delta Medallion® Year end Mileage run for Status? Why You Probably Shouldn’t!

For a great many years in December you could find me taking one last year end mileage run to wherever to top off my points needed to again fly the following year as a Diamond Medallion®. Most times they were a BLAST! Heck some years I even started the year with a mileage run to lock in my status for two years and avoid the stress at the end of the year.

I have fond memories of “EAT’s” runs in a B fare class that all but guaranteed upgrades on every single leg and bonus points on top of it. Oh and we only made it to EAT a few times due to weather but still got full points. One year I flew two “MAD” runs, that is, to Madrid, Spain and back and with those two AeroMexico flights alone in business class I almost earned Diamond status for two years.

Those days are GONE!

While it is true you can still get bonus MQDs flying Delta partners a very long way in business class the yields are lower than before and the rewards are nothing like they were before Delta destroyed the Medallion® program.

So that brings us to today’s post and the question of should you consider a Delta mileage run to earn MQDs to earn whatever status for 2025. For most the answer will be NO NO NO and HECK NO! Here is why:

“Free” Upgrades. They are all but dead. Here is an example of a Delta Diamond who for the past 6 months has flown at least twice a week and has NEVER had one single first class upgrade. And that should not shock us as Delta is selling 1st class upgrades for as low as 2500 Delta points. Disgusting! But we saw it coming for years and this is why I gave up the chase each year.

“Premium” Delta. The justification, after Delta gutted the Medallion® program, was that there is still rationale for flying Delta exclusively because they are such a premium airline compared to say United or AA. That is no longer the case and all the things that once made Delta premium is also now dead and gone.

“Bonus” SkyMiles. If you think earning bonus SkyMiles as a rebate is sweet because of the elite multiplier vs. low or no status you are living in a dream world. Unless you happen to be able to take advantage of some kind of flash sale you are paying SOOOO much more than just about any other program so don’t be fooled by this marketing ploy.

OK so now we know why most readers should not go for an MQD year end mileage run. Are there a select few who should? Well keeping again in mind the number one reason for status is “free” 1st class upgrades if that does not matter to you then these reasons are why you justify the effort:

Customer service. I was flying early this weekend and into Monday (and almost Tuesday as well due to endless issues) and as a Gold Medallion® (free because I am a Million Miler) the hold time to talk to a rep was 4.5 hours. The text phone reps are worthless and pointless so if you fly often and don’t want to wait forever to get service then this could be a reason to take one more run.

Skyteam partners. If you find yourself flying Skyteam partners a bunch then yes Gold Medallion® or higher is worth a bunch. Being Skyteam Elite Plus matters and has saved me, not just money, but a lot of time and stress. If this is you then yes maybe run or get a number of Delta Amex cards and earn it from home the easy way! 😉

Silver medallion domestically. Good old lowly Silver is not hard to get. Heck my wife made it and we only flew Delta a few times thanks to the bonus MQDs from an Amex card. The perks of even the lowliest Delta status helps if you fly even on a semi regular basis with Delta i.e. exit row seats and free bags and so on.

If you see that I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel for reasons to justify a year end Delta mileage run in 2025 – you are right. Now that I am living life as a “free agent” and only take a few Delta fights a year I simply work the system to get the cheapest 1st class seats I can find or if a short flight wait for a cheap cheap cheap buy-up and fly first that way taking away even more upgrades from “loyal” Diamonds who pass by me on their way to coach.

Bottom line – Delta top status is all but dead. SkyMiles is on life support. What once made Delta great is gone. If you are thinking about a year end mileage run you better be able to do the math to justify spending that cash vs. saving it for better things in 2026! – René