Is It Too Soon To Be Thinking MQD Run?
 

I know mileage runs and MQD runs come up from time to time but the only thread I could find in Search is called "Everybody Is Still Welcome!" which covers many topics including Mileage Runs back in the days when Covid19 tests were required to return to the U.S. So if there's an alternate thread on this subject, please feel free to merge this.

Anyway, with mid-year almost here, I find that that repeating Platinum Medallion this year looks bleak after numerous years of rollovers and a lot of flying last year. I feel that PM is valuable to me and might be worth more than the expense incurred trying to get there. So the question is, are you all aware of some lucrative routes where I could rack-up the 6,000 MQD's needed to get PM again next year? I usually fly Economy upgraded to C+ but am open to your ideas. Thanks!

Are you only chasing MQDs (i.e., total distance traveled is irrelevant) or are you also desiring erstwhile MQMs (such as for million miler qualification)? If the former, a simple D1 trip or two to Asia or Europe is going to be the most efficient use of your time to obtain ~6,000 MQDs. If the latter, you could take many more (painful) trips in Main/C+ with that $6k to rack up the miles flown as well.

If you don't want to leave the US, HNL or even transcon D1 can be at similar price points.

I would also say it is never too early to be "thinking" and planning out your options even if you wait until later in the year to implement them. The year is almost half over. You don't want to be one of the people posting on December 5 trying to figure this out when there are many more constraints to solve for.

There’s a thread from last year but Im not in a position to find it right now.

MQDs is just spend. So do it on a plane, for a limited time you can do it in a hotel, and you can even use a credit card. There really isn’t a secret sauce for it. Just spend money.

$6k MQD is easy if you buy a d1 ticket to Europe. But if you’re this far away, is it worth it to manufacture spend??? Think about just buying C+ instead of spending an unnecessary $6k.

SUPERTRAVEL , do you have both AmEx cards - Platinum and Reserve?
If one is missing, it makes more sense to apply for it and collect another 2500 MQD every year for the annual fee rather than spending $2500 before taxes on flights

Partner marketed flights still earn MQDs based on distance, not spend. Although they lowered the earning percentages a few years ago, you can still find some deals where you earn signficantly more MQDs than your spend on flights.

This Premium Economy trip from MCO-JNB will earn 5039 MQDs for $2727 in spend.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...12e652ac9b.png


This PE trip from MCO-DXB will earn 3950 MQDs for $2178 in spend.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...087ebbcdcc.png

What specific benefits are you trying to get out of Platinum status that it's worth chasing 6,000 MQDs to you, either in direct spend on DL, partner flight spend, Co-branded CC spend, MQDs for Delta Stays/Delta Vacations, or via manufactured spend?

I'm usually one to defend chasing status to a large degree but I can't say PM is worth chasing 6K in MQDs for unless you close a significant portion of that gap through co-branded CC spend that's for expenses you expected to make (or maybe get some of the MQDs through opening an additional qualifying DL AmEx that comes with a 2500 MQD head-start).

Otherwise I have to say the money you'd be spending chasing PM status could buy a lot of C+ or F upgrades (and the F upgrades are going to be more and more rare anyway).

Agree with others that the easiest method is to find a route (or two) you’d enjoy traveling, and buy an F/D1 ticket to gain MQDs. Basically just spend money.

Another option is to burn a Choice Benefit on an MQD Accelerator (1000 MQDs for PM, 2000 MQDs for DM). Note this is only worthwhile if you see where the Accelerator will actually push you to the next tier when factoring in pending MQDs and travel you feel sure of accomplishing.

My husband (DM this year) was rather disappointed he would likely fall to GM next year, but after running the numbers carefully, the Accelerator mentioned above, combined with a paid F ticket for travel that just popped up in a few weeks, he will squeak out PM for next year, which to him is valuable as he normally books Y and enjoys the auto UG to C+.

Thank you everyone!
The key mentioned is getting those 6,000 needed-MQD's without actually spending $6,000.
The second AMEX card is the best one. I already have the reserve card but can get 2,500 MQD's by getting the Delta Platinum Amex card and that only costs $350.
A relative bargain.
If I get that card this year, I do get the MQD's this year too, right?
And I've started looking at various cities to see how much one D1/F trip would cost.
Thank you again, this looks like fun!

How does one search for those PE/Business fares with the outsized return on MQD?

I think I will be about 6700 away from diamond by the end of the year.If I can find a 2-3k spend that results in meeting all or most of that I would be interested in maybe maintaining diamond for another year.

Google Flights can be of assistance there. You can leave the destination blank, narrow down to SkyTeam and then see how the global destinations populate. Destinations like JNB, DEL, BOM, BLR, SIN, etc. that have a connection through Europe and are booked through AF/KL/VS/etc. will earn a significant a pretty good amount of MQDs based on the distance flown. xliioper provides an example for MCO-JNB where one could earn close to 4K MQDs for $2700 in actual spend.

The MCO-JNB PE example above actually earns about 5K MQDs for $2700 (4K MQDs was for MCO-DXB PE for around $2200 roundtrip). So not quite 2 to 1 earnings in both cases. Yes, Google Flights in "Explore" mode where you don't specify a destination and it brings up a map is useful. Knowing typically cheaper destinations helps. In addition to destinations above, CPT can sometimes be pretty cheap too.

While SIN is cheap in coach, the problem with cheap coach fares is that they don't earn many MQDs. The main problem here is that KE does not have PE fares yet (no PE cabins) and booking DL PE fares will just earn $1 MQD per $1 spent. China Airlines does, but PE fares on them only earn 20% miles as MQDs vs. 25% on tier 1 partners. SIN, BKK, and CGK PE fares on CI look to be reasonable at times.

A year or two ago, someone here did a couple RTs to Dubai for the MQDs. The trick seems to be looking for tickets using "close" SkyTeam partners to DL (which tend to earn at higher percentages than more distant DL partners) that are long distances and relatively cheap, although you need to pay attention to the fare class as not all tickets in the same cabin earn MQDs at the same percentage of distance.

OTOH, if you're willing to spend $6000, just think of places you want to go and arrange a couple fun trips at convenient times, although of course this involves expenditures for lodging, food, etc. too.

You will get the MQD boost this year, yes. They are by far (esp. on the platinum card - $7MQD per $ of card fee) the cheapest MQD you can find. Also your timing of thinking about it is good - if you go the card route don't wait until December 15 to get it, or you run the risk of having to hassle over the MQD posting on time. These disputes generally get solved, but an ounce of prevention... and all that.

If only the "close" partners earn MQD's based on distance rather than spend, are there any partners besides AF & KL that do this?

You can find the list of partners and the MQD earnings here:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...rline-partners