Originally Posted by
ContinentalFan
If you hit Platinum you'll earn six SWUs from Delta; though I have found it pretty easy to get an international upgrade on Delta using miles.
The PMUs (the DL name for SWUs) require a ticket purchased in one of the top three fare buckets (Y/B/M, I believe) and upgrade into restricted inventory (I, I believe). So they are there but they have some reasonable restrictions on them. I know that my father (DL Plat) has had trouble redeeming them on occasion. Not sure if that is typical or not, but it has happened to him.
The partner MQM earning can be ridiculous, depending on what promos they are running. I believe that in both 2007 and 2008 it was possible to make Gold without ever getting on an airplane.