FO Medallion, Close to Gold - Get AMEX?

Doing the MR would give you the best of both worlds. There's still plenty of time to do a quick and short flight somewhere. If you're based in CVG, ATL would be the easiest to schedule with the most flights since you're going from one hub (although an increasingly smaller hub) to another hub. Good luck!

OP, are you likely to put $60K on the DR next year? If so, I would apply now, put the 10K MQM in your account now and rollover 9K MQM for next year. That along with 30K MQM from the spend would put you at 39K MQM for next year--before you have 1 BIS MQM. And if you are not going to fly 11K MQM next year, would all of this have been worth it?

I'd probably make the first spending threshold, but not the whole $60K one. Again, with a realistic flight pattern giving me somewhere around 50K MQM, I would hit 15K around May or so.

Does anyone know how long it takes for the 10k MQM to post to your SM account after the first purchase is made with the Reserve card? The AMEX people told me if I needed the card soon they could have it expedited to me in a couple days. Would the miles make it to my account before the years end?

I am GM at 65,403 MQM, so making PM would be the reason for getting the card so soon and wanting the miles to post somewhat quickly...

Bonus Amex MQMs post a couple of days after your first purchase. No need to wait for the statement/period end for them to post

I'm in a similar position and ended up booking a mileage run to get to 50K. My reasoning was 100% mileage bonus vs 25% for silver and a slight chance to get 1st class upgrades.

I'd find the cheapest route and do a quick mileage in your shoes. Silver is about worthless IMO.

I called the Delta Amex people today and they said it would be 2 to 4 weeks for them to post... Did you do this and it only took a couple days?

I was in your position recently, here is my experience, with dates added:

Nov. 10th: Signed up (and qualified for) Delta Reserve card
Nov. 21st: Received card in mail, made first purchase
Nov. 22nd: Paid for first purchase and called AmEx + Delta to see when 10k MQMs will post, was told not until a few days after Dec. 9th when my statement would be cut. Talked to a supervisor at AmEx and they said they would look into having the miles posted in the next few days
Nov. 23rd: AmEx supervisor called me back and said they could not have miled posted earlier. I said thanks for trying.
Nov. 24th: 10K MQMs posted anyways. Not sure why but happy to see them.

In short, make sure you have card delivery expedited, should take 2-3 biz days, not the 9 it took for me. Then call AmEx and ask to speak to supervisors to see what they can do for you. Speaking to Delta will not help you at all. You should have your MQM by year end if you order card soon.

BTW...Flyertalk is great, that was pretty long for a first post!

I applied for it yesterday, and they said I would receive a response in a week or so?! (I already have the AMEX Platinum Card)

I will call them again tomorrow and bug them, it really seems like you get a different answer with each person you talk to. The 2 people I spoke with yesterday now both tell me that there is no way to have my car expedited...

OK...OP here and I have an update and question for a few of you here. So I just finished a MR and now have my MQM status up to 51,294 and have officially crossed the threshold to Gold.

Still toying with the idea of buying the Sky Club membership (which now dropped to $350) and gives me an additional 1500 MQM that I could obviously roll over to 2012.

Or also considering going the AMEX Reserve route and spending the $450 annual fee which gives me the Sky Club access as well as the 10000 MQM with the first purchase. This would not be my primary card, however, and I am not sure of how much use I would give it in 2012 and make the spending gates for the additional MQM bonuses. To me, that means I should probably not go this route.

Anyone recently decide between the two options for Sky Club access and the MQM bonus that can share with me their logic in their decision? Or anyone else that has an opinion on what might make more sense?

Thanks in advance everyone and happy holidays.

Tough choice. Questions are what are 10,000 MQM's worth and what about better upgrade priority?

If you will make Gold easily again next year, the MQMs may not be worth a lot. However, they are insurance and if not needed will roll into the following year.

The card turns your gold into Platinum - as it gives you upgrade priority over all non-reserve card Gold flyers. Depending on the routes you fly that could be a big deal. You have to be the judge there.

I'd go with the card. MQM's at cent each are hard to pass up and the better shot at upgrades appeals to me.

Good point about my planned flight activity in 2012. I would assume that my flights would be fairly close to what I did this year. Quite a bit of short hops that give the 500 minimum with maybe one international leg thrown in there. For perspective, I hit the Gold threshold with MQM, but did have 55 segments as well. So to answer your question, I don't think I would hit gold "easily" but would probably make it again in late Nov or early Dec 2012.

Oh...and if I do end up applying for the card, I want to do it obviously in January 2012 (versus the next couple of days) to make sure that my first use of the card nets the 10000 MQM bonus in 2012 so it could roll over into 2013 potentially, right?