Hello everyone. I have one more trip this year which will put me at 49,244 MQM. I can fit another quick MR in (company trip) if I need to, but have a couple of questions for you experts. I do see the benefit in achieving gold, given I will travel roughly the same amount next year and will have one international flight that I know of. Anyway, on to my personal dilemma:

I was thinking of applying for the Delta SkyClub membership using the MQM bonus as a way to push me over the 50K for gold. So, if I was already thinking about spending the $400

Would it make better sense to apply for the Delta AMEX and pay the $450 annual fee instead? I see that this card gets me 10K MQM with my first purchase which posts within 2-4 weeks. This would then put me around 60K so I could rollover the 10K, right? And for just $50 more I would still receive SkyClub access for the year. Is my thought process correct?

And, just to make sure, if I get the Gold through the 10K MQM kicker, I would still have access to the shorter security lines, SDC, EC seats, etc. for 2012?

The Reserve card only gets you into Delta clubs when flying Delta.

The Delta SC membership gets you into DL SCs even when flying other airlines, as well as getting you into Alaska Boardrooms when flying DL or AS. It also gets you into other partner lounges internationally, but GM would do that for you if you are flying Skyteam.

And yes, GM is GM no matter how you get the MQMs.

Something else you might want to consider - the Delta Skymiles Platinum card gives you 10,000 MQMs after you spend $25,000 (and another 10,000 MQM's if you spend a second $25,000). Many people charge everything to their card, which can add up to that quantity of spending. That won't help you this year, unless you are planning a HUGE purchase. However, the cost of the credit card is less than half of the Reserve card. You also do get a free companion ticket and the usual double miles for all Delta purchases. If you go the credit card route to achieve the necessary miles, make sure you do this quickly to allow enough time for the miles to post in 2011.

The delta plat Amex comes with a 5000 mqm sign-up bonus

If you get the Platinum SkyMiles Card you are left without Sky Club access. I would go for the Reserve. I have it as well, and it plus my GM status is a good combination for getting me in to Sky Clubs and Sky Team Lounges.

Will you be able to put your business expenses on this card? If so, you probably won't have too much trouble hitting the first yearly bonus at 30k for 15k MQMs and maybe even more.

If you have Gold status, you can purchase Sky Club membership for 50,000 FF miles, giving you access to all the Sky Clubs and their partner lounges.

Unfortunately, no, my business expeses need to be put on a corporate green AMEX. Too bad as I easily rack up $60K each year.

Oh great...another option that I had not considered!

I'd say free SDC is worth the jump from FO to gold.

Thanks for everyone's input so far. To clarify, I do know that I want to get a MQM kicker to push me from Silver to Gold. Lounge access is my primary reason for wanting to either buy the membership for $400 or apply for the AMEX reserve.

Free SDC is nice, but 95% of my travel is business related and I would expense any change fees

I typically only fly Delta and if not, Southwest. Accessing non-Delta lounges would probably not be a benefit that I would use.

The extra roughly 10K MQM for the $50 difference in the AMEX vs. Sky Club Membership is enticing given that I would rollover almost that whole amount.

The free companion ticket would also come in handy as I would use that for my wife once a year to go on a trip with me.

In that case, go for the Reserve. One added benefit, not mentioned above, is that DL uses it as a tie-breaker for upgrades, which can't ever hurt.

OK - after weighing all of the options, I think I will stop short of Gold at 49.5K MQM for the year. Roll 24.5K over into next year. I will apply for the AMEX Reserve Card in January and the 10K MQM will put me at 35K sometime mid January. I should make the 15K needed to hit the Gold threshold sometime in late Spring or early Summer (call it May). If that is the case, I will have Gold status guaranteed through 2/2013 - correct?

My logic is that with similar flight patterns planned for 2012, if I were to upgrade to Gold in 12/2011, I would struggle to renew with an additional 50K MQM. If I did miss it, I would only have Gold through 2/2013 (or for roughly 14 months). By rolling over and holding Silver through May 2012, I will get gold for 21 months).

Make sense or no? (sorry for the newbie questions, but this is new to me and I don't want to screw it up with faulty reasoning)

Of course, this is a personal decision only you can make for yourself. If I was that close to gold status, I would make a one day round-trip flight to Atlanta before the end of the year just for the mileage, then go ahead with plans for applying for the Reserve credit card. It makes such a HUGE difference having gold versus silver status. I'd hate to delay those significant benefits for a full year! However, that's just my own opinion.

Go for Gold now and let next year take care of itself. The over 15k miles needed in 2012 to reach Gold means perhaps as many as 30 segments. FO upgrades are hard to come by. Enjoy Gold with the Delta reserve advantage (more upgrade priority). Use the Sky Priority for faster check-ins. take advantage of the companion upgrades. Book by phone at no charge.

Enjoy now.

If I did do a MR to hit Gold (without needing the Reserve MQM), then it honestly would not matter if I applied for the card in December 2011 versus January 2012, correct? As if I did it in 12/2011, the points would rollover anyway?