FlyerTalk Forums - The Official Medallion Qualification Update Thread

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- - The Official Medallion Qualification Update Thread (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1428771-official-medallion-qualification-update-thread.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grevz (Post 30388295)

I am currently platinum medallion and should qualify for diamond medallion within the next two weeks.

I have yet to select my choice benefits for platinum and I am unsure what happens once I qualify for diamond. Do you get the option of additional benefits once you have already selected the platinum benefits?

I can’t seem to find any info on this. Would appreciate some guidance.

They don't take away your PM Choice when you become DM ;)

The PM Choice and the three DM Choices can be selected independently and in any order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelingwilbury (Post 30381391)

NYC-based FO for two years in a row.

Looks like I'll be $241 short of Gold after holiday travels. Paid up to C+ on some upcoming transcons, and am not ready to take the $900 plunge on D1 FCM.

Is a quick day trip to BOS/DCA my best bet?

Or RDU which is lovely in fall. Just pick a city you want to see that costs $250, it'll be fun!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMK10 (Post 30392034)

Or RDU which is lovely in fall. Just pick a city you want to see that costs $250, it'll be fun!

Should make sure base fare is at least $241 (which works out to about $290 total with taxes on a domestic roundtrip on non-stop flights).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grevz (Post 30388295)

I am currently platinum medallion and should qualify for diamond medallion within the next two weeks.

I have yet to select my choice benefits for platinum and I am unsure what happens once I qualify for diamond. Do you get the option of additional benefits once you have already selected the platinum benefits?

I can’t seem to find any info on this. Would appreciate some guidance.

I'm in the same boat that I should qualify for DM shortly. I had already chosen the 4 RUC's for my PM benefit.

I'm debating what to choose for my Choice Benefits. It seems the GUC's are the most valuable (and I can almost certainly use 2, although I'm not sure about the remaining 2), so I'm debating between 2 GUC and 4 RUC's or 4 GUC's. My experience using RUC's has not been stellar, and it seems GUC's are pretty tough as well, so taking 4 may not be worthwhile.

For the second and third choices, I'm likely going to gift my wife Gold (she flies 4- 8 times/ year) and take the 25,000 miles, as I get club access through my DL Reserve card. Anyone have any other strategies that make more sense?

From Delta website:

Quote:

See How Much You’ll Earn

Any eligible flight that is not Delta-marketed will earn miles according to these partner airline rules. For certain partners, earn will be determined based on marketing and ticketing carrier. Not sure what Delta-marketed means?

How do I know if a flight is marketed, operated, or ticketed by Delta or a partner?

The marketing carrier is determined by the two letter airline code in the flight number. For example, DL2368 is marketed by Delta and VS18 is marketed by Virgin Atlantic.

Delta-ticketed flights feature ticket numbers that begin with “006”. Any flight purchased through delta.com is ticketed by Delta. Other airlines have their own unique ticket numbers. For example, Virgin Atlantic-ticket flights feature ticket numbers that begin with “932.”
The operating carrier for a flight indicates which airline flies the plane. For example, a Virgin Atlantic-operated flight means the flight will be on Virgin Atlantic aircraft.

Travel to or from Cuba on flights operated by partner airlines is not eligible to earn miles.

Delta

* * *

I am new to all of this. The partner earning stuff is just not sinking in. I have never purchased a partner flight.

If I purchase directly from KL or AF or AM or MU I should be good? But sometimes not? What if the AF marketed flight is on DL metal?

I want to maximize the earnings of MQD and MQM. Flying with the partners seems to be the best way to earn.

Is there a cheat sheet to earning the best / fastest? What to avoid?

Thanks!

I also found this at Delta:

Delta

Quote:

Earning Miles

General Rules for Mileage Credit

Mileage earned under the SkyMiles program will be credited to your account within eight weeks after qualifying activity occurs, unless otherwise provided in the individual partner's terms and conditions. Partner offers are subject to the terms and conditions of each individual offer. See individual offers for details. SkyMiles partners, offers and benefits subject to change. To ensure credit:

For air travel: Provide your SkyMiles number at time of booking or check-in for each flight. The name on the reservation must match the name on the SkyMiles account for mileage to be credited.
Hotel and car rental partners: Provide your SkyMiles account number and name as shown on your SkyMiles membership card at time of hotel check-in or car rental pickup. Mileage is credited only to the Member whose name appears on the bill for the hotel stay or car rental.
All other partners: Provide your SkyMiles number and name as shown on your SkyMiles membership card at the time of transaction.
Compliance: Mileage earned is subject to compliance with all requirements of the individual partner's mileage offer, such as in some cases membership in the partner's loyalty program.

Delta is the final authority on qualification for mileage credit and reserves the right to deduct mileage from a Member's account at any time if mileage was credited in error.

Calculation of Mileage Credit for Air Travel

Mileage earned for air travel flown while you are a SkyMiles Member will be calculated as follows:

For Delta-marketed (flight numbers that include the “DL” airline code) or Delta-ticketed (featuring a ticket number beginning with “006”) flights, SkyMiles Members will earn miles based on ticket price, at the rate of 5 miles per U.S. Dollar (USD) spent, including base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges, but excluding government-imposed taxes and fees.
For flights marketed or ticketed by Delta and purchased in a currency other than USD, the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges will be converted to USD based on the IATA 5-day currency exchange rate at the time of ticketing. Miles will be credited to your account once travel is complete.
Miles earned per segment will be calculated based on a pro-rated amount of the total ticket price eligible for mileage accrual and will not be subject to minimum mileage accrual.
Members will earn a maximum of 75,000 miles per person per reservation, including any Medallion mileage bonuses or class of service bonuses. Promotional mileage bonuses will not count toward the 75,000 maximum mileage accrual per reservation unless otherwise stated in the promotion’s terms and conditions.
Prior to January 1, 2018, flights marketed and ticketed by Delta’s partner airlines earned miles based on distance flown* and fare class paid as published at Airline Partners at the time of travel. Starting January 1, 2018, flights marketed by Delta's partner airlines earn miles based on a percentage of distance flown as determined by the fare class paid as published at Airline Partners at the time of travel. Some partners will continue to earn based on both marketing and ticketing carrier.
For itineraries ticketed by Delta’s partner airlines that contain both partner-marketed segments and Delta-marketed segments, the partner-marketed segments will earn miles based on the distance flown* and fare class paid as published at Airline Partners at the time of travel, and the Delta-marketed segments will earn miles based on the total base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges prorated as a percentage of total distance flown.
Certain specialty tickets, including but not limited to bulk, consolidator, cruise, vacation packages (including Delta Vacations® packages), inclusive tour and other opaque fare products will earn miles and MQDs based on a percentage of distance flown* determined by fare class paid as published at Exception Fares at the time of travel.
Award, Miles + Cash, free, barter, pass travel and certain other tickets are not eligible for mileage accrual.
Tickets purchased through Pay with Miles will earn miles for the portion of the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges remaining that is paid in currency after miles are applied to the ticket total.
All other ancillary purchases or fees do not count toward earning miles, including but not limited to:
- Checked baggage fees
- Priority Boarding
- Delta Sky Club memberships
- In-flight Wi-Fi passes
- In-flight food and beverage purchases
- In-flight entertainment
- Unaccompanied minor fees
- Pet travel fees
- Mileage Booster™ or mileage purchases
- Ticket change fees
- Direct Ticketing Charges (DTC)
- Same-day confirmed or standby fees
- Administrative Service Charges (ASC)
- External Reissue Charges (ERC)

*For purposes of mileage credit, “distance flown” means the calculated distance between origin and destination, as determined by Delta in its sole discretion, regardless of the actual distance traveled on any individual flight.

Upon request at the time of enrollment, mileage credit will also be awarded for travel flown up to 30 days prior to enrollment.

The amount of mileage earned when flying with Delta is subject to change. For current information on the amount of mileage earned on Delta flights, please visit Earn Miles with Delta.

The amount of mileage earned with airline partners varies from partner to partner and is subject to change. Alliance partner airline benefits are subject to change and subject to the terms and conditions of each alliance partner. For the current list of our partner airlines and the SkyTeam Global Alliance airlines, and up-to-date information on the amount of mileage earned when flying on our partner airlines, please visit Airline Partners.

This is complicated. I hope someone can simplify this for me! Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pocatello (Post 30739536)

I also found this at Delta:

Delta

This is complicated. I hope someone can simplify this for me! Thanks!

Let me take a stab at it, ask about what I miss. Flying on partners is a great way to earn extra RDM and MQD, you'll generally earn MQM the same regardless of who's ticket or who's metal you're flying. The cheaper your ticket, generally the more advantageous it is to fly a partner; conversely the more expensive the less difference it makes and at some point it may become better to be on DL metal (I wouldn't know, I don't buy expensive tickets). The first partners on the Delta partner earning page (AM through Virgin Australia) earn the best return, partners toward the bottom of the list can actually return less than flying on DL. Always look before you book.

For example, I recently flew JFK-MEX-UIO R/T in AM Z class, BIS miles 8058, ticket was about $800. I earned 12,088 MQM, which is what I would have earned on DL metal/ticket. BUT, I also earned 25,700 RDM. My best guess is that I'd have earned maybe 15,000 if I'd been on DL metal (pure guess, no time to run the calculations). I'm ex-US based and so I don't worry about MQD, but the calculations are similarly skewed toward partner flights to earn significantly more MQD for the same flight. One of the best ways to earn MQM is to flying MU from JFK to Asia in Y, crazy earnings on those and the MU 777 isn't bad in Y. Someday I'll fly it in J, but Y's okay.

Someday the airlines will get their IT poo in a sock and this will come to an end, but for now it's a great way to really maximize earnings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChuckieB (Post 30765179)

Flying on partners is a great way to earn extra RDM and MQD, you'll generally earn MQM the same regardless of who's ticket or who's metal you're flying.

Right! The ratio of MQD to what you spend in real money is as high as 3 to 1, 4 to 1, or even 5 to 1. On a long flight of 20,000 miles you can earn 40% MQD which is $8,000 MQD and almost enough in one flight to cover the MQD portion of the Platinum status.

I still would like to know about this specific situation:

If I booked a flight on Air France... and some of the AF marketed flight is on DL metal... how is the MQD credited?

Finally, what about Priceline and Expedia? I have read here at FT to avoid using these OTAs. But I have found routing in ITA Matrix that is not available on Delta or AeroMexico. If I purchase a fare from these OTAs how do I know in advance how the fare will be credited with MQD and MQM from Delta?

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pocatello (Post 30771827)

If I booked a flight on Air France... and some of the AF marketed flight is on DL metal... how is the MQD credited?

If marketed by DL with DL flight numbers, you will earn based on the DL earnings chart, even if sold on AF stock. Marketing carrier determines rules -- and if a mixed itin, you wil have mixed rules. For example, I flew US-NZ, ticketed on DL 006 stock, 2 DL flights with DL flight numbers earned on DL rules, 1 VA flight with a DL flight number earned on DL rules, 3 VA flights with VA flight numbers earned on VA rules. What you have to watch out for is that sometimes with schedule changes, the flight numbers will get changed even if the flight stays the same.
As to OTAs -- I've booked 2 of these trips using OTAs and not had problems with the posting. Most recent was an MU ticket booked on Expedia. Another was booked using Chase Sapphire rewards points and cash -- for that one, even using the points bonus for part of the price, the ticket receipt was for full cash value, although the MQDs were mileage based.
Even if you can't see booking class, etc while booking, once the ticket is booked you can see ticket number and fare class. You do have the 24 hour cancel option if it isn't what you were expecting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pocatello (Post 30771827)

If I booked a flight on Air France... and some of the AF marketed flight is on DL metal... how is the MQD credited?

Late FU to this, there have been a couple of times that I found a flight on Matrix (IE, CHO-AMS-ACC), couldn't replicate on Delta.dum, called the Plat line, and they replicated it for me after I gave the pertinent details - fit #, fare class, and price. I haven't done this in a couple of years so YMMV, but it could be worth a shot.

If only I'd known about partner earnings back then I'd be much richer in Skypesos.