Originally Posted by
Gig103
Welcome to Flyertalk!
Gift cards and cash equivalents are not supposed to count towards spending for your welcome bonus, so it's not worth risking. Amex has a whole team called the "RAT" that watched for what they consider ineligible charges. If you read on flyertalk there is a whole forum for "MS" or "Manufactured Spending" with tips like prepaying your federal taxes (there is a fee for doing this).
Google tells me your Amex welcome bonus should be 5,000 MQM if you spend $1000 in the first three months. Do you have that bonus, and if so is that accounted for in your 6k shortage, or would you actually be only 1k shy of silver medallion after the sign up bonus? Do you have any existing flights booked you can upgrade to first class (for the 50% MQM bonus)?
The bonus should be.....but only if the OP signed up for the card under that offer and hasn't (lifetime) had a DL Plat business card before, regardless of whether it received any bonuses.
I fully agree with the advice not to do MS with AmEx. It's too risky and the rules are quite clear that cash equivalents don't count, including gift cards (presumably of all varieties, which means that even if stuff seems to go through, the MQMs could be clawed back later, when it's too late to do something to get what's needed for status).