Originally Posted by
rkoechel
Thanks! I did have a look before posting but didn't really find anything relevant, at least in the first 20 or so minutes of digging.
Originally Posted by
sydneyracquelle
Get a Delta Amex credit card and prepay IRS taxes or whatever to get the necessary MQMs. As a foreigner you can always file a tax return and get a refund.
I wish it was that simple! As a non US resident, getting a US card would be pretty much a mission impossible.
Originally Posted by
CarmenOM
At the risk of stating the obvious, can you not fly from somewhere in Europe to the US when you fly to SFO? I realize that Delta doesn’t serve Malta (or doesn’t appear to, on a quick search), but you could fly from the nearest European city served by Delta or an eligible partner.
I had already booked that flight before the status match come through. Otherwise this would indeed have been the best/obvious way and would've gotten me the 12.5k in one flight with no issues.
I thought Air Malta was part of SkyTeam (I've seen them in T4 at heathrow back when Delta was still there), but apparently not. However, they do codeshare with KLM/AF.
While they do fly from T4, they're not in SkyTeam (or any alliance). And they're longest route is around 1,800 miles :-)
Originally Posted by
ethernal
Fair enough. If that's the case, then my recommendation would just be to forget about the status match. You're status matching to Gold which really won't get you much on Delta (first class upgrades will be rare unless you fly at very off peak times). Unless you will fly a whole lot of short haul, It will be cheaper for you just to pay for Comfort+ seats while you fly organically (Comfort+ provides virtually all of the benefits you would get as a Gold medallion).
Oh, I'm not at all bothered about Delta itself, as I'll only be flying them very-very occasionally. It's the SkyTeam Elite+ that I want/need, as the vast majority of my flights are outside of the US. Under normal circumstances, I would also have no issue with racking up the miles, but it's the fact that I'll need to do it in less than 2 weeks and with no actual travel scheduled for that time which makes it a bit tougher.