Originally Posted by
jdrtravel
How? It's one cert per year and the card has only been around for about 10 years, right? Even with two cards that's only 20.
Sorry to question the numbers, but again, how? The plat card is a max of 20K MQM's per year and the reserve is 30K MQMs per year, so at best you can reach Gold without stepping foot in a plane. Last year they allowed some people to hit a third benchmark, but even with that you'd only reach 75K MQMs with both cards (and extra 10 + 15), which would just get you to plat. I don't see anyway that these cards can get you even close to Diamond without stepping on a plane, not to mention the minimum spend.
I think the answer to both questions is a combination of spouses and business cards. If you and a spouse both had Plat and Reserve cards, that would be a total of 4 certs per year (not that I would do that - that's $1250/year in CC fees for those "free" tickets!)
By the same token, if one held personal and business versions of Plat and Reserve and spend $220k between them you would be at 110k MQM. If your spouse also had a reserve, spent another $30k, and gifted you their bonus MQM, you would be at 125k MQM without ever stepping on a plane, and just another $30k of spend shy of the spend waiver.
So..... Husband and wife with a business, 5 Delta AmEx cards, $1,800 in annual fees, and $280,000 in annual spend would get you DM without ever stepping on a plane. Or, you could put $150k on a DPJ card and get DM instantly.