Thank you so much for responding. I have a lot of questions and I apologize if it gets too much.

1) [Off topic question deleted by moderator]

2) Do I need to buy a certain class fare ticket? For example husband has the reserve card...which I may be getting to help with upgrades for me and my parents traveling on sale itinerary. Last trip had the V class on it. Did that make us get less miles? Because I bought it on the delta website, and now making me nervous as people are saying V fare isn’t good?

First, as LBJ pointed out, if you are registered with Delta in the United States, then you have to meet both mileage and dollar requirements to reach Platinum status.

Does a certain fare class matter? If you are flying Delta then the business and first class fares earn more MQMs and MQDs but for the economy fare classes, MQM is based on the mileage flown and MQD is based on the cost of the flight minus taxes and fees.

If you are flying with partner airlines then fare classes really do matter as some fare classes do not earn mileage at all. You need to check on the Delta website which gives information on the MQMs and MQDs earned with each fare class on the different partner airlines. For example, in the Virgin Atlantic example I gave for an Economy Delight fare ticket to JNB, MQMs earned are 125% of mileage flown and MQDs are 25% of mileage flown – roughly 5000 MQDs.

3) How many of these should I complete. Example as you said IAD-JNB will be almost 22,000 miles. Does that mean I need to do that about 3 times? Since I’m looking to get the platinum status? (Or I mean...do combination of flights to other place...to get to 75,000)

To reach the 75,000 MQMs for platinum, there are no set routes that you have to fly. Just earn the mileage through a combination of flights. Of course, if you find a really good price/earnings to a location, you may want to fly it a few times (e.g. the popular mileage runs to Singapore.)

4) Do you possibly see any good runs to BOM (mumbai India) and again any time in May can be during the week not just weekends. (I started my designing there and would be nice to say hi to a few friends and come back) even from Msp

For Bombay, tickets are as low as $1131 on Virgin Atlantic if you stay for a few days (i.e. not immediate turn around) earning about 16,000 MQMs. MQDs earning at this fare class are 5% so you would only get about 815 MQDs.



5) I’ve been seeing people say to buy Premium/Business/First class to get them faster. But I know those are so ridiculously high at times. [Off topic portion deleted by moderator].

6) Depending on doing all these segments to reach that platinum status...what are is the price criteria I may be spending around? Since I’m flexible the whole month of May and trying to do that status with the least amount of dollars spent...like everyone else obviously. I have approximately 13,000 miles and if I get approved for Delta reserve...I know it’s 5,000 MQMs and 70,000 mile offer.


Traditionally, the earnings ratio of 5 cents / mile is the benchmark figure for a mileage run. Sometimes deals are available that have much better earnings (e.g. $500 tickets from JFK to SIN) but it will depend on when you can travel. This benchmark has less importance now as airlines require a spend amount as well.

I know these are a lot of question and I’m sure I have a few more. But like I said...would love to get a breather after these rough two years with my dad’s cancer and don’t mind flying around as he’s recovering at home for the month of May. As well as getting this status to fly with my parents and give them a breather and to celebrate going through these rough time...and hopefully to a brand new year and many more to come!