LR3GuyJoe

I've been thinking of upgrading to the reserve card. I've already received my 10k MQM for the $25k threshold and I'm currently at $35k right now. If I upgrade to the reserve card will I get a 5k MQM bump for already being over the $30k threshold or do I start at $0 when I get the new card?

MSPeconomist

My understanding is that you would not get 5K MQMs, but you would have credit for $10,000 in spend toward the $30,000 for 15,000 MQMs. I would suggest trying to get AmEx to answer this is writing or, at the very least, asking several phone agents since apparently it matters to you.

dagnyt

Definitely ask Amex, but when I did this two years ago, it played out exactly as MSPeconomist notes. It was earlier in the year, though, so I still had time to get my spend up.

Give some thought to the timing here. You won't get the 5K of MQMs you've already earned, and you'd have to close another $20K of activity that credits before year-end. If you need it for next year's status, you'd have to make sure the bonus MQMs are available to transfer, and that you transfer them to your account (it's not automatic) so they credit before 12/31 so they're not on next year's tally. There may not be time to pull it off unless you upgrade ASAP and have a big, BIG charge to make this month.

ATLpat

I upgraded Plat to Reserve last month. The way it was explained to me is that to qualify for any spending, it has to be done on the specific card (e.g. once you upgrade Plat to Reserve, you start back at $0).

mfracassa

If you already have the Platinum card are you eligible to get the 10k MQM bonus for signing up for a Reserve card? Does it matter if you signup for Regular vs Business Reserve Card?

MSPeconomist

I think this was the original rule, but then they started transferring spend over if it had not already been used to obtain MQMs on the first card.

MSPeconomist

Welcome to FT. This is your first post, but you registered almost two years ago. That's a lot of lurking.

apolloms

100% wrong.

any spending up to a threshold is carried over to the new card.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK if the $30,000 (or $60,000) spend posts to your Reserve account by NYE, the MQMs count as earned in 2012, even if you make your selection whether to keep or gift them during the first few months of 2013. If you don't decide, they revert to your account as 2012 MQMs after about 90 days. In any case, you start 2013 with zero toward the two spend thresholds.

bsagator

I currently have $52k in spend on Amex Platinum. Can I gain anything by switching to Reserve now if I plan to spend $10k-$15k more? I just received my second 10k MQM today.

MSPeconomist

You've received two sets of MQMs from thresholds on your DL Plat card and would transfer $2000 to any new Reserve card. That would require an additional $28,000 in spending by NYE in order to reach a threshold. Even if you did this, there might be a limit of two threshold MQM sets which would prevent the transfer of the $2000 remaining spend.

If you were to get a new (Reserve) card (rather than upgrading your current card) and spend $30,000 by NYE, you *might* be able to get the 15,000 MQMs as well as some minimal welcome miles (in excess of what you received for the Plat card relative to current new Reserve offers) for a smaller initial spend. Having one personal and one business card could help here if you're eligible for a business AmEx card.

mfracassa

I think you misunderstand my question. I'm not referring to the spend threshold, but are you elgible for the One time Signup incentive of 10k bonus MQM for the reserve card if you already have the plat card and previously received a signup incentive on that card?

if the answer is no, does it matter if you signup for the business reserve card?

ATLpat

I got 10k MQM's when I upgraded from Delta Platinum to Delta Reserve a few months ago.

As a head's up, it took about 4 weeks for those MQM's to post.

Not to hi-jack this thread, but hypothetically let's say you spend $50k on the DL Platinum card and get your 2 x 10k MQM bonuses and then switch to the DL Reserve card....are there any additional bonuses to be had (either at spending $30k on the Reserve card by itself or at spending $10k on the Reserve card which would get you to $60k on the year)?

samonyc

I upgraded from the Platinum to the Reserve last October. I did get a 5,000 MQM signup bonus, but because I had already reached the $25,000 spending MQM bonus on the Platinum, my Reserve spending was reset to 0 for 2011. As for confirming with AmEx, beware. The first rep I spoke to told me if I spent $5,000 more on the card in 2011, reaching $30,000 for the year, I could get another 5,000 MQMs as incremental bonus for having the Reserve. This was false. I think the MQM bonus policy is:

• Signup: Any difference between what you got for the Platinum card and what is currently offered for the Reserve Card.
• Spending bonus: If less than $25,000, spend is credited to Reserve. If any MQM spend bonus awarded for Platinum, spend for Reserve resets to $0 (or perhaps whatever difference there is between the last and next spending threshhold).

ATLdoc

Yes you are eligible for it even if you already have a platinum card and received a bonus. I added a personal reserve card this year and received a bonus for this card as well.