question about mqms
 

What is the difference between your current skymiles balance and your year and previous year mam balance??? I'm confused because I have 31,479 as my current balance most of which were bought using my skymikes suntrust debit card.

Welcome to the FlyerTalk Delta forum! :)

I'm not really sure I understand your question - - it's phrased a little strangely . . .

Your current SkyMiles balance is similar to a bank account balance, in that, it's a readily spendable amount of miles that you can use to get award tickets. These miles can be earned by flying, or many other types of retail purchases including using the Suntrust card.

Your MQM total is the actual number of miles that you flew in a calendar year (Jan 1 - Dec 31). This tells Delta (more or less) how good of a customer you are, and your SkyMiles tier level each year is based on this total, and it is reset to zero every year on Jan 1. These miles are NOT spendable miles.

Did I asnwer your question?

Hi Shanda!
You probably don't need 2 threads in the DL forum asking essentially the same question.
If you look closely at your SkyMiles statement, it will show the miles coming from your debit card, and there will be no MQM's attached to that line item. That is, miles from your debit card are not MQM's, and do not help you get elite status. MQM's are essentially a measure how many miles you actually flew (although there are other ways to earn MQM's, but we won't dive into that here).

Everyone above is correct. I'll just add the following:

SkyMiles balance - This is the amount of SkyMiles you have available to redeem for award flights. For example, you need 25,000 SkyMiles to book a round trip domestic flight, so you have enough SkyMiles to book one round trip domestic flight and will have 6,479 SkyMiles left over.

You earn SkyMiles every time you fly, spend money on your SunTrust Debit Card, and numerous other ways.

MQM balance - this is the amount of Elite Miles you have earned over the year to determine your elite status. If you earn 25,000 MQMs in a single calendar year, you'll achieve Silver Medallion status and you'll get a few benefits as a consequence. If you earn 50,000 MQMs in a single calendar year, you'll achieve Gold Medallion status and you'll get a few more benefits. And so on with Platinum at 75,000 MQMs and Diamond at 125,000 MQMs.

MQMs are earned mostly through actual flying. So yes, when you fly, you earn BOTH Skymiles and MQMs. But, when you spend money on your SunTrust Debit card, you are earning only SkyMiles.

As a side note, you can earn some MQMs using the American Express Delta Platinum or Reserve card. If you are trying to attain status on Delta, you may want to consider putting your spend on an Amex Delta card instead of your Suntrust Debit card.