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This time of year I always get asked the same questions. So, I thought I would do some “bud nipp’in” as we say here in the Midwest and knock some of them out before the e-mails start pouring in. BTW, I use a TON of advanced terms and short code and if it seems Greek to you, the cheat sheet for these terms is HERE under E15 in the Essentials tab!
Q1) My Delta Reserve card statement does not close till 15JAN. When will I get my MQM bonus, this year or next for spending $30,000 or $60,000 dollars?
A1) All spending toward your 30 or 60k is based on the calendar year. So, all spending that posts on or before 31DEC2012 will count toward this year’s bonus. Any spending posting on or after 01JAN2013 counts toward next year’s bonus. This is the case whatever your statement close date is.
Q2) When will my rollover miles post, it is 02JAN and they are just GONE!
A2) This same fear grips all of us each year until around 10JAN-15JAN when all of a sudden rollover MQM’s post and everyone rejoices again and takes a deep breath. Who knows if the “IT” upgrades will make this year faster or slower.
Q3) I am (insert medallion level here) right now, but did not requalify for next year. I have a trip booked in March, will I still get my same benefits then?
A3) Nope! Delta is very quick to switch you over. Sometime on Friday 01MARCH2013 you will drop down and you will not get the perks you had this year! Even if your reservation now says “upgrade requested”, that will be gone by the time you fly if you drop below Silver Medallion (or say you have an award ticket and drop below Gold Medallion to Silver). The only exception would be say you picked an EC seat FREE now as a GM domestic and dropped down to FO, you would still get to fly free in EC as long as you don’t change your seat (note an equipment change could happen and drop you out of your “free” upgraded seat).
Q4) I was GOLD most of the year but am now PLATINUM Medallion, what happens to my skymiles award trips booked for summer 2013?
A4) As in A3, it is the current level that matters. Even though you booked your frequent flyer tickets as a GOLD, the rules for a PLATINUM now cover them!
Q5) I have an AMEX buy one get one free cert expiring on 15FEB2013. How long do I have to fly after that date.
A5) Zero. You must fly round trip by 15FEB2013. Also keep in mind with these certs you will NOT get free medallion upgrades (if you are one) but you will get other perks like SKY or ZONE1 boarding and free bags etc.
Q6) I was gifted Silver medallion status that is good till FEB2014 and flew just 21,000 BIS miles this year. How many MQM’s will I rollover?
A6) Zero! You must earn 25k+ to rollover any at all. You will still have your status for next year but before 31DEC2013 you will have to fly 25,000 BIS or MQM’s to keep your status until FEB2015. Same for GOLD. You must earn more than 50,000 MQM’s to rollover ANY MQM’s above your gifted level (i.e. You flew 26,000 MQM’s you will rollover ZERO)
Q7) I have a bump voucher (an ETV) that expires 01FEB2013. Can I book a fully refundable ticket before then, say for a flight on 31JAN2014, and then cancel that ticket and extend my ETV?
A7) Yes & No. You can buy a fully refundable ticket, and if you then want to, refund the funds from that ticket to buy another ticket, but you will not be able to get a “new” ETV date (i.e. you would have to rebook right away). Also, you will still have to complete any travel before 01FEB2014 as you have up to one year past the exp date on an ETV to complete travel. But at least you would buy yourself some more time to do something with the ETV (but it could be hard to find a ticket for the exact amount of the ETV).
Q8) I am 2000 MQM’s short of FO/GM/PM/DM will Delta “soft land me” that is, let me slide and keep my status?
A8) 100% NO! With rollover there is no more soft landing. You will want to BUY a few MQM’s and FAST to keep your status as getting the MQM’s from a card is not an option this late in the game for this year anyway! I would get a Delta Reserve after 01JAN2013 and start working on spend right away to make sure you are not short next year.
Q9) I am a DM and gifted my wife GM and it expires FEB2013. I want to gift her again as I requalifed as a DM again this year but Delta.com will not let me as it says she is already GOLD.
A9) You will have to wait until 01MARCH2013 when she drops back down to “nothing” i.e. Just a skymiles member. Now keep in mind you have until FEB2014 to “spend” your medallion Choice Benefits you earned in 2012 as they are technically your 2013 Choice Benefit award. Sounds funny, but I hope it is clear. You can read more at Delta.com HERE.
Q10) I have a flight that departs at 11:PM on 31DEC2012 but lands on 01JAN2013. Will I get my MQM’s for 2012 or 2013?
A) It is all about the scheduled departure time and date wherever you are on the planet. So, as long as the flight is scheduled to depart before the year ends, you get credit on this year.
These seem to be the most common questions asked around the end of the year. Have some other burning Delta question you want to know about? Fire away and I will do my best to answer them! – René
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Nice list! One clarification on the MQMs from Delta Reserve… thresholds are met based on the calendar year, but your bonus miles and MQMs will not show up until the day after the statement closes. In your example, you would not get the MQMs (or associated status bump) until Jan 15. While they would show up on your account on Jan 15, they are posted with a Dec 31 date so they are retroactive in a sense.
@Mark – correct – ya know it is just hard to say all that in a simple way
[and yet you did txs]!
Very informative post Rene. Thanks!
Thanks for the clear update. I was concerned my miles would not rollover if I was not Silver (FO) or above. Glad to have confirmation that I needed to get to 25k miles again this year to have any rollover.
Nice list, thanks.
And thank you again for the Delta Swag. Very much appreciated =]
@Corey – txs and sure!
Thanks for this post Rene. Just to let you know I got a INK card from your link.
I’m Silver until Feb. 2013. If I book a trip with my outgoing flight in February 2013, but my return flight in March 2013, will I get any of my Silver perks for the return flight?
Thanks.
@Bob – doubtful (basically no!). Expect to be a Skymiles member on your return.
[...] the rollover MQM’s post for they year, I will continue to be upset by looking at all those ZERO’s on the main page or [...]
Thanks for the very informative post – I was panicking looking at all those zeros, and I flew _almost_ enough last year to get bumped up to gold. Do you know how they calculate rollover miles? i.e, if I had 48K and change MQMs in 2012, how many will rollover? And if I was silver/almost gold in 2012, will I have to “earn” my way up to silver again, or will I start back where I was in 2012, and get to earn my way to gold like I was doing in 2012?
@Sarah – unless you were “gifted” gold, the rule is, over 25k up to 49,999 rolls over, next level, 50k to 74,999, then, up to 124,999, then over 125,000+ rolls.
Thank you so much! So all of my MQMs will roll over, since I was between 25K and 49,999? (Clearly, I have much to learn still… more exploration of your blog is needed!!)
@Sarah – you are sorta right. For example. Say you are/were Silver Medallion in 2012. You ended year with 30,000 MQM’s. You then re-qualified for Silver again for 2013. You will thus roll over 5,000 MQM’s (ie not all 30 as 25 of them when to your status level) – and yes, please read all the post in the Essentials Tab as a good place to start – Rene
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