I have been, off and on, a Platinum Medallion with Delta/NWA for a long time. Many years ago, the first time I hit Silver, I was amazed. Acually Lisa & I both qualified on segments back then and we got our fair share of upgrades even at the then lowest elite status (now having any Delta AMEX card is the unofficial lowest elite level). But those old days are long gone.

I have also a few times stopped short of some medallion level to rollover to make it simpler to make say Platinum the next year. I have always contented myself with stopping at Platinum Medallion. The perks it offers are huge. For me, the ability to change frequent flyer tickets all I want and as much as I want is a great value. I have found, with some work, this status level gives me good access to low level seats both international and domestic. Now I have, thanks to a blizzard of MQM’s from my 2 Delta AMEX Reserve cards, at last made it to Diamond. Oh my!

My very first flight as a DM was less than exciting but what I have come to expect on a Pinnacle Air flight out of South Bend. The toilet was broken and the plane stank and the pilot had to have us all acknowledge that we were OK to fly and hold it until ATL. The choice between flying this way or not flying is a simple one – just hold it!

But now to my run as a Diamond. As you have seen on the blog and on twitter, all, I mean ALL of my upgrades cleared. All but one 5+ days out and the last one 3+ days out. Not just upgrades, but I have been very impressed with the Diamond Medallion phone line staff so far. Then on to low level space availability. All those who are looking for low level seats on Delta and wondered where they are, I have found them! They are all in a big bucket for the Diamonds. Wow!

This run, unlike most, I booked some extra time and drove from Phoenix down to Tucson to stay with some friends. I truly enjoyed the tour.

My friend who goes by “Voucher Vulture” was “the” points guy to talk to years back. Now I share a few tips now and then that he does not know about. Anyway, I had never been to the desert of Tucson so it was great to see the sights.

I have so much to share about this “Fun Run” including some great BBQ in Texas. I also had the privilege to fly with Elizabeth or “Lisa” the new Delta in-flight safety video “star” we see each time we fly. She really is as nice in person as she is on the video. Stay tuned more on the way soon!- René

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How is that for an attention grabber? There is a reason for the title. Delta Air Lines does offer much to get a frequent flyer from another airline to come over to the Delta side. Our points never expire (as long as you are alive, that is). We offer unlimited domestic as well as Caribbean and more upgrades! All our mainline jets have WiFi and soon will add international high speed as well. Our business class product both domestic and international is among the best in industry. Our Skyclubs are very nice and offer reliable free WiFi. Our @DeltaAssist on twitter offers very good service and our elite line reps are, most of the time, very good and helpful!

So there are the perks. You should know, however, there are times of the year when it is most advantageous to do this.

I encourage you to check HERE as you will be able to read on Delta.com about the most UP TO DATE info about the match. But for many years these are the basic rookie bits you want to know about.

If you match, after July 1st any year, you then can keep your status much longer than if you put in the request BEFORE July 1st. For example, this year (the data is not yet up to date but should be the same), if you go for it say on July 1st and meet the requirements inside 90 days, you will have your status until FEB2015!

As you can see from the page, there are a bunch of requirements and we call our elite qualifying points Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMS’s) not Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM’s). So here are the big points to keep in mind:

1. MUST complete inside 90 days
2. MUST still fly MQM’s to keep past 2015
3. No Choice benefits until full MQM’s earned

Let’s look at these one by one. The 90 days to get this done is a HARD and fast rule. The points do NOT need to post before the 90 days are up, but you must have taken and completed the flight inside the window. Be sure to check at Delta.com to see that your upgraded status is correctly displayed as you should see your temporary new matched status on your “My Delta” page.

The next part is you must fly. There are many other ways to get MQM’s. You can get 10,000 MQM’s from either the Personal or Business Delta AMEX Reserve card but “officially” these points DO NOT COUNT toward your match / challenge! By all means use these tools to build your balance each year, but NOT for challenge. Clear? If not, ask below in the comments section.

Now on to Choice Benefits. Once you make either Platinum or even up to Diamond Medallion Status Delta will give you some nice perks. You can do things like gift status to those you love or get some credits toward future flights or SWU’s (note these are hard to use on Delta). However, say you match Platinum, you will NOT be eligible for this perk just because you completed the challenge. You will have to EARN 75,000 MQM’s this year to get the benefit, but in this case ALL the ways of earning MQM’s will count like from AMEX cards or even buying MQM’s direct from Delta!

Other information you need to know about. If you want to remain say Medallion past FEB2015, the 2014 travel year will bring some big changes. Delta has added MQD’s or Medallion Qualifying dollars to the mix.

So, to earn your status for the 2015 year ending in FEB2016, you will not ONLY have to fly but also spend. The spend is ONLY the part of the ticket that is money that goes to Delta, not any other fees, add-ons or taxes. The simple way around this is to get ANY of the Delta AMEX cards and spend $25,000 on them in 2014.

The last important info I hope you did not miss. You only have 1 shot in your life to do this. Only request this match if you are ready to join the best airline in the world! Delta! – René

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There has been a fun thread that has popped up on Flyer Talk about someone getting FREE Diamond Medallion status each year from his boss. How does this happen?

Well I have blogged about before that one way is to get the DeltaJet card (was $50,000 prepay, now $100,000) and you get instant Diamond Medallion status or you can give it to anyone you want. If you spend $33-50,000 a year with Delta you get to use this trick to buy yourself status on 01JAN.

Well now there appears to be yet one more unpublished perk from Delta. John, known as “fti” on FlyerTalk, who is just BRILLIANT about all things Delta, and will be speaking with me at the Chicago Seminars 2013, started a thread about the fact that having the Delta AMEX card will get you more first class low level award seats. I naturally reached out to Delta and you can see the results of that HERE.

So now to this post. While I could not get Delta CORP to confirm this, from what we can clearly see, if you spend ENOUGH (some number we just do not know nor is published) on a Delta AMEX card each year, then Delta may just simply give you Diamond Medallion status to keep or to give to anyone you want.

Just to be clear, I am in no way suggesting anyone spend something like ½ a million dollars on a Delta AMEX card. To me, spreading the spend out on many cards will result in much better “points” return for you. Plus, if you are willing to fly a bit, and spend ¼ million on 4 Delta Reserve cards, you could get in one year 120,000 MQM’s thus just about accomplishing the same thing (2 cards for you and 2 cards for you wife, personal and business, spending $60,000 on each card).

Anyway, as time goes by, I do think it is funny just how many unpublished realities with floating goal posts that Delta has. I don’t know about you, but I think 2014 is going to be an interesting flying year! – René

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I have in comments and in emails been accused of being a “one trick pony” when it comes to the “mighty schedule change rule” in booking award tickets with Delta. Now I would not say this is completely a fair criticism but also I do agree that when you ever find something that works (unlike the award booking part of Delta.com) well with Delta you exploit it for all it is worth. To really take advantage of this you need to be Platinum or Diamond Medallion.

One of the keys to this, and one of the reasons I do mileage runs, as well as Delta AMEX Reserve “mileage runs”, that is spend $60,000 a year on the a card, to get 30,000 MQM’s, is so I can keep my status each year I can. The new MQD requirement goes out the window if we spend $25,000 on a Delta AMEX so no stress there. Remember, both the Delta AMEX and your status will give you access to a greater availability of Delta low level seats. It will also let you tinker as much as you want with award seats up to 72 hrs before flight. I mean you could have a ticket reissued 2 or 3 times a day if you keep finding better flights.

Are there ways to take this to the extreme? You bet and I do. Let me give you some examples. Say you have flights you do not like. I am going to simplify this just so you can see my point of this. What you do want is the direct flight from Paris to Cincinnati!

You would love to take the direct flight but for 325,000 points round trip that is just crazy! Maybe it is due to the fact that there are no seats open on that date. That must be why it is so much:

Oh, well, only one seat sold so far. Hummm… So Delta is clearly gaming us (and they complain that we are gaming them?) since only ONE seat sold; should there not be a few more seats open at 100k low level business? Well ok, it takes two to tango they say right.

Now keep in mind you can have up to 4 legs each way without Delta IT adding more points and making it two tickets. Let’s say you can only find seats from CDG to DTW to CVG at low level. OK, then why not see if you can find a low level seat from CDG – NYC – ATL – DTW – CVG. Try to get the flights as tight as you can book and out as far as you can. Again, if PM+ you can keep calling again and again to find better flights. If you happen to have a change so that the flights don’t work, just pick the direct flight for no extra points or cost that you wanted in the first place.

Clearly you can see the value of attaining Platinum Medallion status with Delta. It does make it a little simpler to get seats and it does give you the tools and options to get what Delta does not want to give you!- René

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I have posted about this over and over again but if you have been waiting, and it can make a HUGE impact on your LAST year’s medallion status, you have just a few more hours to buy MQM’s from Delta that will apply to LAST YEAR’S total.

If you are thinking about this read these posts HERE and HERE! – René

EDIT: From DeltaAssist at Twitter they say:

“@DeltaPoints This promo will end at 11:59p EST.”

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During my Delta travels in the Skyclubs I have been “enjoying”, after first handing a medallion my card, asking them just what they think about the change to MQD’s starting in 2014.

The first thing I always get it is “the LOOK“; ya’all know the look I’m talking about! It is the one your wife gives you when you didn’t do what you promised to do! Oh yeah – that look!!!

They then always ask: “Why is Delta doing this to us?” and then they just shake their head and say: “I guess Delta doesn’t want me anymore”!

Now this new program is so new that I don’t think Delta or medallion flyers (other than “us” who are socially tuned in) can fully understand what has been unleashed on us (medallions that is).

This is why I am doing my little field trips to the Skyclubs and pestering medallions who are just trying to enjoy some free drinks, snacks & wifi. I want to see if the normal flyer (you all understand that is NOT us) has a clue about what is to come and what has been announced so far. I can tell you they don’t get it! Those who have seen the email, many think it said EITHER OR not both. Others just are not sure what it means. Once they get it, like at the end of 2014 when they thought they were going to be DM and end up FO, oh my is Delta going to “have some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy“!

Like I said, they really should not let me into Skyclub’s anymore – René

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right side up this time!

EDIT: Delta has made it official and had massive Q&A info HERE!

If you have missed it, FlyerTalk has posted what appears to be a accidental post by Delta of what is on the way for Skymiles. The good news is: it is nothing like the horrid changes to discounter or consolidator fares from September. I have not been able to have DELTA CORP confirm ANY of this but my guess is there will be news out soon. The basics from FT is:

Beginning January 1, 2014, Delta Air Lines SkyMiles members residing in the United States — excluding Guam, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands — will qualify for Medallion status based on an additional threshold: how much the SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program member spends annually with Delta Air Lines, which will be measured by Medallion Qualification Dollars, or MQDs.

Members must also meet the existing Medallion Qualification Miles or Medallion Qualification Segments qualification criteria. The threshold ranges from $2,500.00 to $12,500.00 Medallion Qualification Dollars, depending on Medallion elite level — although details on the exact threshold amounts per Medallion elite level remains to be seen. Alternatively, Delta SkyMiles credit card members can be waived from the new Medallion Qualification Dollars requirement if their eligible purchases total a minimum of $25,000.00 within the calendar year.

For flights marketed by Delta Air Lines, the bonus of Medallion Qualification Miles for First and Business F and J fare classes will double from 50 percent to 100 percent. Economy M fare class will no longer earn a bonus 50 percent of Medallion Qualification Miles, which will apply to tickets purchased on or after March 1, 2013

So are these changes good or bad. Overall I would say good for “US”. Who are “US”? Delta Points readers who:

A) Earn a ton of MQM’s already on Delta AMEX cards

B) Fly mileage runs as we will still get full MQM’s for LUT class flights

C) Those willing to spend a bit more for higher class fares.

What this will do is lower many “normal” flyers from DM down to PM and PM down to GM. I think you will see a great increase in the lower ranks if this comes into affect. I constantly get gripes from DM & PM that there are too many of them. This will change that. I look forward to an official release and as soon as my CORP contact can give me information to release I will get it out.

If this is close to the final draft, Delta has been smart. They are not changing “Skymiles” for the most part, just how we elites earn our ‘wings”. Most of the public will just ho-hum about medallions and could care less. As long as Delta does not make it any hard than it already is for them to earn and burn miles they will not jump up and yell.

For me, I am happy I will be able to run $60,000 on my AMEX Reserve again this year and will from now on be looking to do just that for many years to come. What do you all think? Do you like what seems to be on the way? – Rene

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There are so many good deals out there right now that if you have the time you can get the MQM’s at a steal. If you are thinking of a Delta status match challenge, you MUST earn the miles via BIS according to the T&C. (but you can still get a Delta Reserve card to add to that total after)!

I have my upcoming Chicago to Istanbul trip booked and there are still a bunch of dates open if anyone needs an extra 12,000+ MQM’s for under $600 with 2 days in the air and 1 overnight in AMS or CDG or IST!

But if we look over at FlyerTalk’s mileage run board, there are MANY more choices even some STARTING IN Europe no less:

• DL: MKE-ATL-LAX-ATL-MKE $257 RT (5200 mqm)
• DL: AMS-GRU $643 a/i r/t 3.5cpm
• DL: LAX-JFK-SJU $406 RT (8144 mqm / 4.9 cpm: purchase by Jan 14)
• DL: San-PVD, ai $263.30 4.1 cpm
• DL: SEA-OKC/BNA/DAY/MKE/STL $242 AI RT either direction 4.1 CPM
• DL: PDX-MCI $223 AI as low as 3.9 CPM either direction
• DL: MCI-SAN $216 AI RT Either direction 4.2 CPM

Want to learn more and how to put together your own mileage run? Check out this rookie post to do just that HERE – René

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Gosh I hate today. I hate to see my MQM number reset. To start the work to qualify for Platinum Medallion again (The good news is Delta has EXTENDED the date to buy MQM’s counting toward 2012 until 31JAN2013). For me,  I have booked a few paid for trips already, one in 1st due to a great price and I rolled over 40,000+ MQM’s from last year. I am already looking at what dates a mileage run could be built (a rookie post on the way tomorrow with a how-to guide). I have two 100k low level trips locked in to Sweden, but need a few more MQM’s from here and there.

One of the best ways that does not involve getting on a plane is with the Delta Platinum or Reserve AMEX cards. Personally I like and have the Reserve over the Platinum (hold 2 now, one personal and one business) as you can get the new card bonus for each of them if you have NOT had a Delta Gold or Platinum or Reserve card for the past 365 days. Same rule goes for both the personal and the business card. The 10,000 MQM’s to start, Skyclub access for me and 2 more, moving UP the upgrade list (a buy-one-get-one-free cert NEXT year, if I keep the card, in coach or business class in the continental USA) all make this worth the non-waived fee.

Also, we can then earn MQM’s from spending from both cards and both would dump into your own Skymiles account. Once you spend $30,000 in a calendar year (starting today), you can pick who you want to send the 15,000 bonus MQM’s to (the 15,000 bonus RDM’s automatically go to you – no choice). I will spend $60,000 on my business card again so I will get 30,000 MQM’s that way. I will work on $30,000 with bluebird on the personal card and hope to get 15,000 more MQM’s that way, but it will be hard with all the new card spend sure to be on the way this year with my 3 churns at some point.

Think about this, if you have NO or some level of status today, as soon as you earn 25,000 MQM’s you will have your Silver Medallion status with Delta until FEB2015! 50,000 and you are GOLD till FEB2015. 75,000 and you are Platinum till FEB2015. 125,000 and you are Diamond till FEB2015. (the reason is you earn your status now for the 2014 Medallion year that ends in FEB of 2015). So if you did not make it to your desired medallion level, keep in mind you still have your current status till the end of FEB and with a few AMEX cards, a few trips and maybe some mileage runs, you could be right back up by the time March rolls around! – René

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Welcome to DeltaPoints rookie post Wednesday. Today I will try to explain just what Medallion points and levels are all about and how to get them. Also what perks you can get.

Let’s start with the levels and the terms. Delta has 4 levels of elite they refer to as Medallion status. They are Silver (called FO by frequent flyers) Gold or GM, Platinum or PM and Diamond or DM. To reach the first level you must accumulate 25,000 MQM’s or medallion qualify miles. Gold requires 50,000, Platinum 75,000 and lastly Diamond 125,000 all in ONE CALENDAR year (not the day you start flying). Elite qualifying miles are often referred to as BIS or “your” Butt In Seat miles. There are however other ways to collect them, like the 10,000 MQM’s you can get from the Delta AMEX Reserve card. Please note many do not understand the difference between these miles and NORMAL Skymiles. Getting the DELTA AMEX GOLD card does get you 30,000 Skymiles, nice, but will not help you to earn status. You can also achieve FO, GM, PM & DM via segments or individual flights called MQS’s. You will need 30, 60, 100 & 140. That is a lot of takeoff’s and landings!

Now why would you want to earn status with Delta? It is all about perks and treatment. When you have Medallion status, depending on the level, the airline will bend or break many of the rules for you. Many other rules simply do no apply to you as a Medallion. Let’s walk through what the benefits are as you move up the Medallion ladder.

As you can see, much of the hard and fast info is in the chart above. What I am going to give you is a personal outlook on the real difference in the program levels.

SILVER – The first level of status. You get some very nice perks, but not a lot of love from Delta. The biggest perks are being able to pick exit row seats for you and those traveling with you. You can score a few upgrades, but it will be mostly on off days, off routes. You may get some upgrades 1 day before you fly, but expect upgrades to happen at the gate. Mostly count upgrades as a gift. You do get recognized as a medallion and will get some faster service and get a 25% bump on Skymiles per paid ticket. You do also get a free bag checked, Zone 1 boarding. The last two you can also get from ANY Delta AMEX card btw.

GOLD – Level two is a big jump in perks. This is the first level Delta really loves you. You get so many of the same perks that even the top level Medallions get. Here are the highlights. Everything Silver gets plus free domestic Delta Economy Comfort seats. Better upgrade results and 3 days before you fly. Much faster results when calling Delta. Free lounge access on any class ticket when flying internationally. 100% bonus on paid tickets. Many fees go away, but not all. Your bags will be priority tagged (or should be) so they should come out much faster.

PLATINUM – Level three is again a HUGE jump. Now Delta really knows who you are. You get all of the above plus free Economy Comfort seats on international Delta flights. Your upgrades will begin to clear 5 days out and a lot more of them. Most fees are gone and even change fees for award tickets (up to 72 hrs before your trip). You also get to pick a gift from Delta like a $200 travel voucher or 20,000 Skymiles or Gift someone Silver Medallion status or other goodies. Most times when you call Delta you will hold for only seconds and you will get some very good reps. This is a nice level to reach.

DIAMOND – All of the above plus upgrades over all others 5 days out. Tons more upgrades at the gate. Free Skyclub access. 125% bonus Skymiles on paid for tickets. VIP phone help (Salt Lake calling center) and more gifts including giving GOLD Medallion status to someone! This is the top Delta offers and they will care about you.

So there are the basics and the nuts and bolts of the program. Is it worth going for Medallion status at any level? It all depends on how much you fly. If you can always book seats in business class, there simply is no need, end of story (either with points or with paying for a ticket). Or, if you only fly a few times, you are just better off with a Delta GOLD AMEX card as you can get some of the same level of service. Silver is so worth it even when just flying moderately to be able to pick exit row seats!

Gold and Platinum are the real sweet spots for frequent Delta flyers. You will notice a big difference in interacting with our airline.

So are there other ways to get Delta status? There is in fact a way to get DIAMOND status instantly. I bogged about it but it may be worth it if you spend as little as $16-25,000 dollars a year flying. There is also a status match challenge. If you have status with another airline you can get temporarily equivalent status and then as long as you meet the requirements, you will have the status for the following year.

These are the basics of the program and why you should or not go for it. Have more questions? Ask away! – Rene

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