$7k short of spend to get 10k DQM w/ Amex
 

I have been using the wrong credit card for many of my recent purchases and will end the year $7k short of the $25k spend to get the 10k DQM.

If I spend $7k buying Giants tickets for the NFC championship (praying to God that they do not make it, or that I can resell them if I do) - and my purchase gets refunded sometime in January assuming they lose will I still get my 10k miles this year, and be 7k in the whole for next year? (I.e. need to spend $32k instead of $25k because of refund), or will Amex clawback my 10k miles?

the alternative is buying $7k of gift cards on Amazon, but I'd rather do it with football tickets.

thanks

1) What's a DQM?

2) What level of Medallion status will the Amex waiver get you? (I just wonder if all the potential grief is worth it)

3) I have seen a rare but occasional report here where a refund from a prior year's purchase gets the clawback - but nothing confirmable.

Assuming OP means MQM and that's a typo. Amex MilesBoost does NOT award any Delta MQDs (Medallion Qualifying *Dollars*).

For that big of a swing, I would not be comfortable doing what OP is thinking. It's one thing if you have $50 or even $500 refunded in early January, and the quickly spend it again (e.g. before your statement cycle closes). $7k is...a different story.

If you really need those MQMs, is there anything you can go ahead and pay in advance perhaps? A large tax bill, annual insurance, work expenses, etc.? You could also overpay a few utility bills - generally if you do that your account will just carry a credit that gets consumed over the next couple months (though I don't know if they'd force you to take a refund if the credit amount is that large).

Perhaps you have or know of a kid in their late teens/early 20s who needs a nice, new-to-them car?

If all else fails, I can send you what's left of my Christmas list, plus some extra stuff I've had my eye on for the house. I'll even let you pay express shipping for much of it. Of course, I'd be doing you a favor and would consider that my in kind reimbursement to you for those purchases. :D :p

... a laptop that weighs 1.97 pounds :p

(Sorry, someone had to say it :D)

Why not diversify? The suggestions above are all good -- do some of each. Prepay a year's worth of car insurance for you/family, buy a couple thousand in Amazon gift cards (or however much you think you'll spend in the next year or so), prepay whatever utilities you can.

There have also been some Amex fee-free gift card promos, so you could just buy a bunch of Amex gift cards to spend down normally...

Why don't you just buy 7 X $1000 refundable tickets on Delta
And then each month assess your spend and refund the tickets needed to cover your amex spend
Just make sure you check the rules and get a full fare Y or F ticket so there are no fees to refund

^
This

Using 2017 spend to cover your 2016 refunds doesn't accomplish anything at all. Amex can still clawback those MQMs. And, booking flights with no intent to fly is a violation of Skymiles rules.

I'm actually going to hit the $30K spend this year on the Reserve due to a new front door and a sick dog but has anyone ever used their AMEX to pay a relative for services through Paypal to get them over the hump and just pay their fee to PP? I was contemplating that if I had less than a couple of thousand to hit the spend requirement for the extra MQMs and RDMs.

PayPal yourself the money. You have to pay a small fee, but really easy to do. Use two emails, and two accounts. I paid the $2k I was short into my other paypal account, withdrew to my checking account, and was only out the fee.

Does this count as spend on the DL AmEx card? Financial transactions such as cash advances are excluded.

That's basically what I was going to do but legitimately to my son.

I think this would get processed as a purchase.

I don't get it

LOL ^^^^^^

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...2lbs-less.html