MrSurfer

I have been gold many times and silver when I am not and only really see benefit at the gold level. This year I am at the threshold of platinum and short 5,147 miles. I don't really have the liberty of time for a mileage run (kids home from college - wife not so tolerant of me being away AGAIN) and am wondering if platinum flyers see enough value for the elevate your status promotion that would get me to platinum for the $1,599 it costs. I already am a cardholder (reserve) and am pretty sure I hit both boosts this year. It is always difficult getting the boost info from AMEX but I am pretty sure they are both used. Appreciate your insight!

bloc0102

If you're flipping between gold and silver, and see value in gold, I would take the rollover to help hit gold again next year(s). $1600 buys a lot of FCM (vs RUCs) and award redeposits, which are the main value of PM over GM.

cnc2002

Amex statements show spending accumulation through the year, so you should be able to see if you spent $50,000 and earned two 10K MQM boosts. You should also be able to check your skymiles account to see if 10K was deposited to your account twice.

goldmedallionflyer

The big benefit to my flying pattern is the upgrade to C+ shortly after ticketing. If I had to pay $ for every C+ upgrade I've had between SEA-ATL/DTW/LAX/CDG, it'd be far more than the $1600. But that's my flying habits - yours may be completely different, and the C+ upgrade isn't a big deal for you

Mr. Tickets

OP has Amex Reserve, so he potentially should have gotten TWO 15,000 MQM bonuses at $60K of spend. .

rkoechel

If your flying habits are going to stay the same in 2020, I'd just use the rollover in hopes to achieve platinum part way through 2020 and for all of 2021.

Alijan

Hello all,

hope someone can give me suggestion, I just became silver medallion in December 2019.

47660 MQMs needs 2340 for Gold
5850 MQDs needs $150 for Gold

what would you do in my situation buy Status by buying a bundle of Mqms or keep the silver?

Zorak

You may wish to peruse the main thread here: Consolidated: Should I try to get the MQM/MQD/MQS for the next medallion level?

to skim for opinions on Silver vs. Gold. Also the wiki at the top of that thread lists the benefits of each tier over the next lowest tier, after which it's mostly a personal decision of what your expected travel is for next year and whether you think you'll make use of those benefits enough to make up for paying $1k+ for it.

Also consider remaining Silver and rolling over 22k as a head start into next year. In that scenario if you can earn another 28k plus the MQD requirement or waiver in 2020, then you'll get GM through Jan 2022 instead of just Jan 2021 if you bought up now.

Alijan

I am sorry I didn’t quite get that, i am confused I just earned silver which is good until December 31 2020 right ? If in 2020 I earn another 28K and also meet the MQD requirement I am Gold for 2021 and 2022?

bloc0102

Status earned in 2019 is valid until Jan 31 2021 (IE your current silver). Status earned in 2020 is good until Jan 31 2022 (if you took the rollover and tried to hit gold next year).

A big plus of gold is free SDC/SDS. I'd say it depends on your estimated travel for 2020.

Edit: I think it rarely makes sense to take the buy-up offer, as the money spent there would pay for a lot of $75 SDC charges. Instead, try and take stock of where you are earlier in the year and mix in a mileage run.

rogo

Anyone who is considering buying up to Delta Gold should really check Coupon Connection.

(If this post is unacceptable, please remove mods)

Zorak

Your MQM etc activity in 2019 determines your status for 2020. Likewise your activity in 2020 will determine your status for 2021, and so on. If, in 2020, you hit the GM requirements, that will give you gold for 2021 (expiring Jan 2022). And as a bonus you will also be elevated to gold for the remainder of 2020 as well. This is true anytime you achieve a higher level of status than you currently hold at the time.

However note that, similar to wiki editing privileges, you have to have a minimum number of days on FT and a minimum post count before Coupon Connection becomes visible/accessible.

FBplatinum

THE biggest difference between the 2 levels (in my opinion) is the lounge access on international flight.

To go Gold depend if you flight international flights or domestic one.

From my personal perspective, if you flights intl. I will do a small trip to reach Gold...

no_juice

Apologies if this is not the appropriate thread for this post. Have been a Diamond for the last two years, after flipping from UA to DL in 2014 (did a 1K to Platinum status match after a move from London to Brooklyn). Missed 2020 Diamond by $197 in MQDs (was over on MQMs by roughly 14k miles). Moved to Philly in April, but stayed loyal to DL (despite my primary destination being SFO; in hindsight, probably not the smartest move). Put up with having to connect to get to most of my destinations (upgrades were more plentiful, but those started to wane toward the end of the year).

Lowest "Elevate your Status" package that I've been offered is $2399. After falling $197 short? Kinda ridiculous. Guy at the Diamond desk agreed, then transferred me to Customer Care. Said he'd be surprised if they didn't grant an exception, or at least a better Elevate offer. Customer Care? Not so much. Pretty much told me to pound sand. Her exact words: "I can't help you". When I asked who could help me, she said, "No one". I've sent an e-mail, as well. But don't have high hopes. Actually comes across as if Delta is actively trying to cull the Diamond ranks.

I suppose this is more of a rant than a search for help. Though if anyone has any suggestions, I'd certainly welcome them. At this point, I'm now looking into switching back to UA, as well as status match options. I know that Philly is an AA hub, but I'm not particularly interested in what amounts to starting over (and everything I hear about AA is not very good). At least with my UA Lifetime Gold, and based on my usual routes, UA gets part of the job done. Just surprised that Delta clearly doesn't care.

Zorak

no_juice, welcome to FT! It is definitely ridiculous, but the "Elevate" offers always are -- they're "how bad do you really want it?" pricing.

Exceptions aren't completely unheard of, but I wouldn't count on one.

Being PM with 65k rollover isn't the worst thing in the world either. The only other suggestion I have is to start tracking future MQDs in a spreadsheet so you can anticipate potential similar issues at the end of this year :-/