Great thoughts here, appreciate everyone's feedback. I earned Gold 2016 & 2017, but first year was a status challenge, and the 2nd year was due to combination international R/T, plus 20K in MQM bonuses. Then I still needed a mileage run to reach MQM requirements. Realistically, I'm only earning Silver, and not in the first quarter. I do expect to travel more next year on Delta-- I had a few x/c flights that I had to take on other airlines this year.
I'm going to figure out about upgrading my card, and if that works I'll quickly spend $3K and find a short mileage run.Sadly, I'm 6055 MQM short, so I can't qualify with a super short flight as that would leave me with 24,945 MQM.Or I might just dive into Reserve and get a new card, which will give me a head start on 2019.