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DL/Sky Team: 2022 Consolidated Mileage/Status/Challenge Runs help needed

Old Jan 2, 2022, 1:46 am
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Last edit by: Pat89339
For each request, please include the following information:

Departure Airport:
Miles Needed:
Required Spend or Budget:
Available Travel Dates:
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*:


For each response. Please quote the original request. DO NOT START A SEPARATE THREAD.

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NOTE: You will have greater chances of success if you have greater flexibility on travel dates and cost. If you need a lot of MQMs on weekends only for < 5 cpm it probably won't happen.

Other creative possibilities depending how many MQMs you need:
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*"Required Metal or Codeshares" is, approximately, asking whether you need a flight operated specifically by Delta or if partner flights are ok. If you are just looking for MQMs to hit a Medallion tier the normal way, then the answer is yes. If you are doing a status challenge, the answer is also probably yes, but read the T&C of your challenge carefully to be sure (for the regular status challenge the answer is also "yes")

NOTE: some partner flights earn MQMs at reduced rates. See this chart for more info.

Newcomers may also be interested in the FlyerTalk Glossary

Need 4000+ MQDs?
If based in a city that is served by Virgin Atlantic such as IAD, JFK, BOS, MIA, LAS, LAX, SFO one of the best options is to fly to JNB or CPT via LHR. This can be done in a weekend and you can usually earn 4-5000 MQDs for under 1300-1600. You need to select Economy Delight which is similar to regular economy but with more legroom and the possibility of earning 20% of distance as MQDs. This is the most common way to earn large chunks at a cheap price.

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DL/Sky Team: 2022 Consolidated Mileage/Status/Challenge Runs help needed

Old Aug 3, 2022, 12:48 pm
  #271  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Multiple locations
Programs: AAdvantage ExPlat LT Gold, BA Silver, Aegean Star Gold
Posts: 5,034
We should probably set up a Wiki with need 4000+ MQDs, do JNB or CPT with Economy Delight... might type up some later today or tomorrow...
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jfkeze is offline  
Old Aug 4, 2022, 2:20 pm
  #272  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SLC
Programs: DL Diamond Medallion
Posts: 41
the usual request... I have the miles, just short on the MQD's, minus my business flights booked, need 4,500...

Departure Airport:
SLC
MQD Needed: 4500
Required Spend or Budget: Sub or around $1000-ish
Available Travel Dates: Any dates after Sept. 1 2022
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: DL or any partner (probably KLM, AM or AF)
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Renaissanceman is offline  
Old Aug 4, 2022, 5:30 pm
  #273  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,894
Originally Posted by Renaissanceman
the usual request... I have the miles, just short on the MQD's, minus my business flights booked, need 4,500...

Departure Airport:
SLC
MQD Needed: 4500
Required Spend or Budget: Sub or around $1000-ish
Available Travel Dates: Any dates after Sept. 1 2022
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: DL or any partner (probably KLM, AM or AF)
You might be able to meet the sub $1000 budget with a few of the TIJ-XXX runs mentioned by JFKEZE here

Alternatively, you can reposition to LAX and do the Virgin Atlantic run (Economy Delight fare) to CPT or JNB for around $1250 and earn $5700 MQDs.
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canuck_traveler is offline  
Old Aug 4, 2022, 6:51 pm
  #274  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 9
Need MQDs

Departure Airport: prefer HSV, next east coast, but can do anything I guess
Miles Needed: 2000 MQDs
Required Spend or Budget: 500
Available Travel Dates: Nov/Dec
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: dont know what this means exactly. Sorry.

so I should make diamond this year if I can get 2000 MQDs. I just recently found out I dont actually have to spend $15k with Delta to do this. Thats awesome. Im still too new to the process to be able to figure out my own routes that can maximize MQDs with partner airlines. Can you guys help me out? Im trying to obviously just do an MQD run for as cheaply as possible. Thx!

Last edited by Matt Adams Ministries; Aug 5, 2022 at 4:32 pm
Matt Adams Ministries is offline  
Old Aug 4, 2022, 7:07 pm
  #275  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,894
Originally Posted by Matt Adams Ministries
Departure Airport: prefer HSV, next east coast, but can do anything I guess
Miles Needed: 4000 MQDs
Required Spend or Budget: <1000
Available Travel Dates: Nov/Dec
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: don’t know what this means exactly. Sorry.

so I should make diamond this year if I can get 4000 MQD‘s. I just recently found out I don’t actually have to spend $4000 with Delta to do this. That’s awesome. I’m still too new to the process to be able to figure out my own routes that can maximize MQDs with partner airlines. Can you guys help me out? I’m trying to obviously just do an MQD run for as cheaply as possible. Thx!
You could drive the 3 hours to Atlanta and then make a mileage run on Virgin Atlantic to Capetown or Johannesburg.

e.g. Nov 5 - 7, $1250, 25,000 MQMs, $5000 MQDs, long layovers in LHR on the outbound and inbound, bookable on Virgin Atlantic website, lowest fares for this immediate turn run seem to be in November

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Last edited by canuck_traveler; Aug 4, 2022 at 7:19 pm
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Old Aug 5, 2022, 4:33 pm
  #276  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by canuck_traveler
You could drive the 3 hours to Atlanta and then make a mileage run on Virgin Atlantic to Capetown or Johannesburg.

e.g. Nov 5 - 7, $1250, 25,000 MQMs, $5000 MQDs, long layovers in LHR on the outbound and inbound, bookable on Virgin Atlantic website, lowest fares for this immediate turn run seem to be in November

thanks for the help! Im aware of this route. Its a little bit too pricey for me. I relolooked at my numbers and realize I only need about 2000 more this year. Thats good That should make it a little bit easier. Can we do a route for sub 500 that will get me 2000 MQDs?
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Matt Adams Ministries is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2022, 6:01 pm
  #277  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Multiple locations
Programs: AAdvantage ExPlat LT Gold, BA Silver, Aegean Star Gold
Posts: 5,034
Originally Posted by Matt Adams Ministries
thanks for the help! Im aware of this route. Its a little bit too pricey for me. I relolooked at my numbers and realize I only need about 2000 more this year. Thats good That should make it a little bit easier. Can we do a route for sub 500 that will get me 2000 MQDs?
Under 500 will be rough but look at Aeromexico to the Carribean or Tijuana, might be an option
jfkeze is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2022, 6:42 pm
  #278  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 8
Can someone please confirm I did this correctly......

Booked ATL to TIJ through Aeromexico in Business Class
Gave AM my Skymiles # and the flight does show up in my DAL account but I can't change seats or anything via Delta
During checkout, AM asked if I wanted to sign up for their FF program and I said yes (Was this a mistake?)
I'm pretty sure this will give me the MQDs I need, but how do I determine for sure how many I will receive?

Thank you in advance for your help!
bbr1 is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2022, 6:51 pm
  #279  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by bbr1
Can someone please confirm I did this correctly......

Booked ATL to TIJ through Aeromexico in Business Class
Gave AM my Skymiles # and the flight does show up in my DAL account but I can't change seats or anything via Delta
During checkout, AM asked if I wanted to sign up for their FF program and I said yes (Was this a mistake?)
I'm pretty sure this will give me the MQDs I need, but how do I determine for sure how many I will receive?

Thank you in advance for your help!
you dont want AM to give you the miles to their program. You need it to go to your delta account and by having two accounts it can get confusing. Make sure in your AM profile that youve selected you want Delta as your partner for earning skymiles. Others will be able to help more Im sure. This is what Ive read about. Best to not have two accounts to make it simpler.
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Matt Adams Ministries is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2022, 6:52 pm
  #280  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by jfkeze
Under 500 will be rough but look at Aeromexico to the Carribean or Tijuana, might be an option
hmm, I tried to find something like that but if sub $500 main cabin, the miles are like <400 MQDs I think. Not sure this route is rightcan you give any more details?
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Old Aug 5, 2022, 8:22 pm
  #281  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,894
Originally Posted by Matt Adams Ministries
hmm, I tried to find something like that but if sub $500 main cabin, the miles are like <400 MQDs I think. Not sure this route is right…can you give any more details?
MQDs when flying on partner airlines is calculated based on the distance flown and the class of fare (i.e. not on the price of the ticket.)

JFKEZE is suggesting flying business class on AeroMexico which earns 40% of the distance flown for MQDs. ATL-MEX-TIJ-MEX-ATL is about 5500 miles which would translate to $2,200 MQDs for a business class fare on Aeromexico when credited to Delta.

Basically, you are looking for business class fares to destinations that have a flying distance (round trip) of 5000 miles or more (pretty much anywhere past San Jose, Costa Rica.) Tijuana is 5500 miles becauses you fly to Mexico City and then all the way back north to the California border. Mexicali would be a similar distance.

There are business class fares to Tijuana from Atlanta in the $850 range between now and the end of the year. (you can do a search in ITAMATRIX)

e.g. Oct 8 - 9.


If you are going to fly Economy, then you will need to fly a much longer distance since the MQD earning is much less (sometimes 5% or maybe even nothing.)

The MR to JNB/CPT on Virgin Atlantic earns 25% of distance flown for MQD in Economy Delight class. The flying distance to JNB/CPT from Atlanta is about 20,000 miles.

Last edited by canuck_traveler; Aug 6, 2022 at 7:12 pm Reason: add example of ATL-TIJ
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Old Aug 5, 2022, 9:09 pm
  #282  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 11
I am the closest I have ever been to making diamond. I have the miles, but am short on dollars. Trying to see if I can make it. Note that I have the Delta Reserve Amex.
Departure Airport: ATL/NYC/MIA/Any east coast hub
MQD Needed: $10,500
Required Spend or Budget: As cheap as possible
Available Travel Dates: Any dates before December 2022
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: DL or any partner
alexiar is offline  
Old Aug 5, 2022, 9:19 pm
  #283  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,894
Originally Posted by alexiar
I am the closest I have ever been to making diamond. I have the miles, but am short on dollars. Trying to see if I can make it. Note that I have the Delta Reserve Amex.
Departure Airport: ATL/NYC/MIA/Any east coast hub
MQD Needed: $10,500
Required Spend or Budget: As cheap as possible
Available Travel Dates: Any dates before December 2022
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: DL or any partner
Miami to Capetown on Virgin Atlantic is available for $1239 (economy delight class) on weekends in November (e.g. Nov 12 - 14). The MR would earn about $5000 MQDs.

Miami to Johannesburg is about $200 more.

Two runs to CPT in Economy Delight would earn you about $10,000 MQDS. If you bump half of one of the trips (i.e. MIA-LHR-CPT or CPT-LHR-MIA) to Premium Economy for around $430, you would have enough MQDs to meet your MQD requirement. Premium Economy earns 30% of distance flown for MQDs.
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Last edited by canuck_traveler; Aug 5, 2022 at 9:30 pm Reason: add option to bump up a portion of the trip to Premium Economy
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Old Aug 6, 2022, 5:24 am
  #284  
 
Join Date: Jul 2022
Posts: 2
Follow up - to Diamond

I tried quick reply but it didn't work - hopefully this goes through...
Original post - need ~7k MQDs (from NYC)

Thanks canuck_traveler for the suggestion- I'll be taking one of the runs you've mentioned - either JNB or CPT - just looking for an easy/quick experience (never been to either airport, so not sure there). Also, would the below 2 options be similar MQDs?
jfk>lhr>cpt (and back) at $1,5k
jfk>lhr>jnb (and back) at $1,4k
dates 11/4-11/16

The other situation is tricky - my wife wants cancun & direct, just trying to make the most of that. I think I can use skymiles on her ticket (maybe even a comp cert, and/or regional upgrade cert) - but either way, how much of a difference in MQDs would the below be?
jfk>can (and back) AM plus both ways $1,2k/ticket
jfk>can (and back) Premium both ways $1,8k/ticket
dates 9/1-9/4
(or if there's better options ~this time)

Apologies for the long post/multiple questions - Thank you for any guidance
lxp4904 is offline  
Old Aug 7, 2022, 8:47 pm
  #285  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SLC
Programs: DL Diamond Medallion
Posts: 41
Looks like CPT will be full of Delta Diamond's this Fall! :-)
Renaissanceman is offline  

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