Garavar

We will finally reach Silver Medallion for the first time ever. We fly 6-7 times per year but never reach the 25K MQMs. We are always 5K or so miles short of the 25K.

However, in 4 days we will fly 5K therefore we will hit 25K and already have all the other requirements.

1) My question is will we be Silver this year or next? I have ready conflicting web pages so confused about that.

I ask because in 21 days we have another flight with FC completely empty. I know at Silver our chances are 0.2% but still higher than before.

2) Do Medallions get FC paid upgrade offers? We usually book C+ or FC. But for this flight FC was overpriced. I check the website daily but the FC upgrade price is more expensive the FC ticket price. I remember in the past I've been able to pay $50-100 to upgrade to FC on domestic. But now it's ridiculous. Did they get rid of paid upgrade for common folk or for everyone?

pvn

1) Once the miles post you'll be silver for the rest of this year and all of next year.

2) ... maybe?

xliioper

The MQM's earned in the 2018 calendar year (1/1 - 12/31/2018) counts towards status for the 2019 Medallion program year which runs from 2/1/2019 - 1/31/2020. However, they give you your status as soon as meet the requirements for a level rather than making you wait until 2/1/2019.

There are no discounts for the post purchase paid upgrade offers for Medallions as far as I can tell. They do seem somewhat higher than they used to be, but that's just an anecdotal observation. Not sure what you mean by "get rid" of. Clearly they are still around, even if the pricing is not to your liking. You do realize that the cheaper they sell those upgrades for, the less likely you will be to get a comp upgrade?

mnbp

In 2018, you are earning status for the 2019 Medallion year. Once you qualify for 2019 status, that status level is in effect starting "now", and continues to the end of the 2019 Medallion year (Jan 31, 2020).
Yes, Medallions get web site upgrade offers. As with other things DL, the "one click" convenience comes with a price. You are doing exactly the right thing - compare any web upgrade offer's price with the current price for an F ticket. If the price of either seems acceptable, book it. For F ticket upgrades, the phone reps will process the ticket change for you for the cost of the fare difference - there is no change fee when upfaring to the F cabin (and there is no phone booking fee at all on DL).

apodo77

At what level are the drink certificates put in your account? I am Plat for 2019 and soon to be Diamond but no drink certificates have been put in my account.

xliioper

I do not get them until the start of new program year. No different than when they used to mail out the physical ones at the start of the new program year with your Medallion credentials.

t1c

Whenever I breeze past gold they show up automatically...within 1 to 2 days.

SomeGuy

Keep in mind that "now" usually means the following weekend. Your status won't upgrade immediately, but usually takes until the first Saturday after hitting the mark.

Zorak

Unless they've changed how things are processed, in the past it has typically been the first day after the qualifying MQMs are posted to your account, not just on Saturdays.

i.e. for a first time Silver, if you fly the last needed MQMs and/or MQDs on Monday, but it isn't posted until Wednesday, you would typically see "2019 status: Silver Medallion" right away on Wednesday, but your current year status would still say General Member. Then by Thursday morning your current year status would be updated to also say "Silver Medallion".

SomeGuy

You might be right. In the old days, it was the first Saturday after you hit the level. But I haven't upgraded levels in quite a while, so if the process has sped up, I'd be out of the loop.