Originally Posted by bbbacres

NEED MQMs. I flew a lot while working but now am retired. I will fly much less now but still fly Delta and love the perks of elite status. I am 50,000 MQMs away from lifetime GOLD status. I would like advice on getting that status.

When I retired I sadly cancelled my expensive Delta Reserve card, and gave up on AMEX Delta. But after a few months I got an offer in the mail to sign up for Delta Platinum with some generous up front MQM points. I did it. Now a year later I must decide again. I am thinking about cancelling my Platinum, then hunting for some other way to get MQMs. Perhaps they will offer me a new incentive for a Platinum card (even tho I just cancelled it). Or perhaps I might even go for a Reserve again if the bonus was high enough in MQMs. Is there a bonus if the customer initiates the application? Or do they only send incentives out to select potential customers?

A final question/thought. I know people do mileage runs and that non Delta partners do not always result in full mileage credit. But I don't understand how MQMs work on mileage runs. I'm a little old for this. But while shopping for my ticket to Bangkok I found a few tickets to BKK on delta partners for a very low cost. Maybe I could go to BKK, or Shanghai, and just spend a short weekend. But do you get full MQMs no matter what class or price of ticket you buy? What are the tricks of mileage runs if MQMs are your goal?

So, knowing my main goal is MQMs and that I seek more MQMs than just the standard bonus from annual spending, does anyone have suggestions? Is there perhaps some angle I don't know?