ninerniner8

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to skymiles and mileage programs in general. I've found a lot of information about not buying miles at 3 cents or more, and even most opinions saying not to buy miles for anything over 1 cent each, but I have not found a lot of info on what is a good price for buying MQMs.

I have the Amex Skymiles Platinum card, and with their 10,000 MQM bonus at 25k spending I've worked out that I can hit that for a little under $700.

So is 25,000 miles and 10,000 MQMs for a little under $700 a good deal?

One way I was looking at it was: assuming 1 cent for each mile, would be $250 for 25,000 miles. From 700 that leaves about $450 for 10,000 MQMs which is about 4.5 cents each.

rylan

Sounds like you are referring to something along the lines of manufactured spend to hit the 25k threshold? This wouldn't be the appropriate forum for that discussion... however I think that the miles and in particular MQM make that cost worth it.

gooselee

What MQMs are "worth" is a) highly dependent on what those MQMs will actually do for you and b) highly dependent on your personal situation and how you value benefits.

Most here will probably tell you that if you only fly 16,000 miles a year, and the 10k MQM will just get you silver status, it's not worth $450 (I'm assuming that the $700 are fees you'd incur via manufactured spending, CC fees on a tax payment, or something similar). OTOH, if 10k MQM is the difference between Platinum and Diamond status, $450 might very well be worth it for the SkyClub Membership, GUCs, more upgrades, etc.

But basically, there is no one answer to the "good deal" question you pose. Perhaps if you post additional information about your individual situation, you'll get more answers. Or even recommendations for how to hit your spend requirement for cheaper.

Also, welcome to FT!

ninerniner8

understood. I'm not looking for a discussion on manufactured spending, just looking for opinions on the value of miles, but as was mentioned, it ends up being highly subjective and specific to personal situations.

orca15

If the 10K MQM bumped you up an elite status, maybe (if you will fly a lot afterwards), otherwise, $250<<$700. You can MAYBE get one RT ticket domestic for 25K if you are very lucky and flexible, but $700 will almost certainly get you that without being very flexible. And if you are not seeking status, the 10K MQM = $0.

3Cforme

Search on 'worth'. Alternately, search award flights of interest to you that can be had for 25,000 miles. I see lots of $400 tickets for which DL wants 40K miles, although with great flexibility one can do better.

rylan

Agree on the status opinions... what will those 10k MQMs do for you? Will it get you to gold, or provide some rollover buffer for future years?

ninerniner8

No, it would only get me silver this year. But with roll over for next year could be pretty close to gold.

bgriff

This may be implicit in your question but keep in mind the Amex Delta Platinum card earns you 35,000 redeemable miles for $25K in spend as well as the 10K credit toward your MQM counter.

As others have said it really depends what that will get you. If it will only get you to silver -- or won't even get you there -- it's not worth much. If it puts you over the threshold to Platinum or Diamond, it could be worth a lot, depending on your situation.

Also keep in mind that as long as you are likely to make some level of Medallion status regularly, you never lose those MQMs thanks to rollover. So if you currently expect to fly 115K MQMs this year and the 10K bonus will take you to Diamond, but then you end up doing more flying than you expected and hit 125K anyway, you don't need the 10K you earned on the card for that year, but they do roll over and start your counter toward earning status next year. So they're not lost, which can be nice.

But if you ever have a year where you fail to qualify for any status (earn less than 25K total MQMs, or fail to earn at least $3,000 MQDs or the MQD waiver from spending $25K on the Amex), you don't roll over anything so in that case the MQMs truly would be lost.

iflyalexair

You'd have silver until Jan. 31, 2018. One of the other benefits you'll find with reaching a minimum medallion threshold is that you will be able to rollover MQMs for the next qualifying year.

Also, I'm not sure how much spend you can put on a card in a calendar year, but you can greatly improve your MQM balance with careful planning throughout the Amex products.

I have been DM for years because of Amex. I still fly a lot, and I greatly enjoy the benefits I have when flying.

bgriff

And one other consideration ... keep in mind that you can double up the benefits if you hit $50K in spend on your card in a calendar year. So that would presumably be enough to hit Gold this year, or you may decide that the large amount of rollover to next year is better for now, and then work to earn two 20K MQM credits next year which along with rollover would put you close to earning Gold next year, and with some flying might even get you to Platinum. If you rolled over ~20K MQMs, hit $50K in spend on your Amex in January 2018, and did two very long trips to South Africa or Australia or Singapore or something in the first quarter of 2018 (and/or found some appealing long-haul business class fare deals), you could earn Platinum status from the end of those trips through to Jan 31 2020.

Platinum does start to get more valuable, and also makes your miles somewhat more valuable thanks to free cancellations and changes on award tickets. But you'd be out of pocket for hitting a total of $75K in Amex spend, plus the long-haul trip(s) next year, and then you'd need to be doing a decent amount of flying while you have Platinum status to get any value out of having the status.

orca15

Don't you mean 2019?

[added]

If you are considering, for example, paying college tuition that has a ~3% credit card fee, the $700 has to be reduced by the value of everything you get, namely 35K miles (as pointed out above), 10K MQM (if it gets you something like Silver).

I do this to put me over Diamond sometimes. The 15K MQMs (Reserve card @ $30K) plus 45K miles plus RUCS and $200 (choice benefits) is well worth the ~$800 it costs me rather than writing a check. If I was doing it just for the miles...wouldn't make sense.

C W

Another way of valuing MQMs, assuming you actually have use for them incrementally, is by comparing what they would cost to earn via flying.

The very best mileage runs clock in around 2cpm, squeaking under once in a blue moon. These are not often available and often depart from outside the US.

Typical good mileage runs that are more widely available from US gateways are often 3-4cpm.

Non-mileage-run domestic flying in Main Cabin often comes in at 10cpm or worse.

iflyalexair

Indeed I do. Sorry, I went to a school run by Betsey DeVos, and lookin' at calendars is hard and stuff.

dinanm3atl

And again at 50K. More bonus