Need ~16000 MQD to maintain DL DM by EOY

Departure Airport: JFK/LGA/EWR (reposition in the US if needed)
Miles Needed: $16000 MQDs
Required Spend or Budget: no strict limit, aiming for a nice balance between price and # of segments, under $10k ideal?
Available Travel Dates: Now through EOY, trying to avoid last year's holiday rush
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: Any acceptable Skyteam

It's a bit boring per se, but you could do this 3 times (~1.85MQD/$) and just switch around the dates using google flights' price graph function looking for $2909 from here. It should get you ~5369 MQD per trip, and ~16107 MQD after 3, which should be enough cushion incase DL measures this much less than gcmap does.

Hi everyone! Long time reader and mileage nerd, first time poster (I think? &#128517.Apologies if I�m posting this wrong

I just signed up for the Delta Medallion Status Match (I have been AA Exec Plat for many years but moved to a city with less AA availability so wanted to have a second option).

looking for help sourcing a mileage run to meet the MQD requirements by 30 Jul 2025:

Departure Airport: SJU
Miles Needed: $3510 MQD
Required Spend or Budget: ideally less than the $3510 of actual USD 🙏
Available Travel Dates: flexible for anytime, complete before 30 Jul �25
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: CS okay

Also: would signing up for the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card be worth it? It says I�d get $1 MQD per $10 spent.

thank you in advance!

JFK-LHR-DEL(26h)-LHR-JFK, July 23-26, $2015: here. Now unfortunately Google Flights doesn't work with Virgin properly, so you'll have to book it yourself, but I checked and it does exist on Virgin's website. Make sure to purchase "Premium" (Virgin's premium economy), and make sure the itinerary fits. This will get you 3821 MQD, which is more than enough. Now you'll have to get to JFK, which I also found an itinerary that fits with the Virgin flight if you want to fly DL to JFK, here's a list of everything else. It's your choice whether you want to pay $30 more for main cabin, given that you already have more than enough MQDs. Overall, $2285-2315 for 3821-4055 MQDs.

As for the credit card, it's up to you, it's a pretty hefty amount of money per year, but if you can make the math make sense, go for it. Others will likely have better advice than me on credit cards.

Reclaim My status I am Diamond Medallion and need to get $7K MQDs before 7/26/25

Was thinking of doing AM TIJ-CUN runs but wanted to see if anyone has any other suggestions. Thank you.

Departure Airport: Was Based But Can Reposition Anywhere As Needed
Miles Needed: 7K MQD
Required Spend or Budget: $3-3.5K since I can do it on AM for about that
Available Travel Dates: 5/1-7/26
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: Codeshares okay

Thank you for your responses!

MR - Ideally a long overseas (South Africa, Middle East, India) 3 - 5 days trip from SFO.

Departure Airport: San Francisco Bay Area (SFO, SJC or OAK), can reposition to Southern California (LAX, SNA)
MQDs Needed: $5.7K
Required Spend or Budget: Budget $3.5K
Available Travel Dates: Anytime till EOY
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: Codeshares okay

Thank you very much in advance.

This itin will earn about $5.5K MQDs

Need ~5500 MQD to maintain DL DM by EOY

Departure Airport: JFK/LGA/EWR (reposition in the US if needed)
MQDs Needed: 5500
Required Spend or Budget: nice balance between price and agony
Available Travel Dates: Now through EOY, trying to avoid last year's holiday rush
Required Metal or Codeshares okay*: Any acceptable Skyteam

Departure Airport: JFK/LGA/EWR
Miles Needed: $3k MQDs
Required Spend or Budget: $2k budget ideally
Available Travel Dates: Open
Required Metal or Codeshares okay* Yes

Looking for an economical way to regain my platinum status. Don't have any other flights scheduled for work this year other than flying to see family for Xmas so wanted to see if there was a economical mileage run to regain platinum status. Was thinking codeshare flights with a high percetage MQDs to $ spend. Let me know if anyone found anything! Thanks so much!

PE fares for JFK-DXB on AF/KL are available in the $1.4K range and generate about $3.4K MQDs.
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...E&tfu=EgIIACIA

Would any one be able to help me to find some options to earn $2300 MQD? Thank you in advance.

Departure Airport: LGA/JFK/EWRMiles Needed: $2300 MQDRequired Spend or Budget: lowest possibleAvailable Travel Dates: 12/16-12/31 except 12/25Required Metal or Codeshares okay*:

FB, need 100 XP by end of April.

I'm afraid your options are going to be very limited at this point due to both high demand during that period of the year and the advance purchase requirements on cheaper fares. Ideally, you want to be booking at least a month out from flights to meet advance purchase requirements on cheaper fares. Fares are also generally signficantly cheaper during the first couple weeks of December instead of the last two. Although reasonable fares can often be found if willing to travel on Christmas Day. The AF/KL PE fares on JFK-DXB mentioned above are available in the $1350 range and generate $3.4K MQDs as noted, but the soonest there is availability for these fares isn't until around mid-January at this point.

I did manage to find options on AM for JFK-PTY in Premier class in December that earn about $2150 MQDs roundtrip for about $1260. Unfortunately, it requires overnight layovers in MEX in both directions of travel. So you will also need to factor in lodging costs and your time here.

Thank you

MQD Optimization ideas? (Codeshare Partner Strategy)

Appreciation in advance to the incredibly knowledgeable fellow travel nerd Flyertalkers. I’ll be hitting my 25th Flyertalk anniversary next year!

Mulitcity needs & Available Travel Dates

Departure Airport(s) CDG. I am currently in Strasbourg and can access airports within approximately four hours by train, though I’m unsure whether other airports would allow permutations that would outperform CDG for MQD optimization.

Arrival: DTW (or FWA) preferably Dec 19 or 20…could push to 21 especially with FWA arrival but getting into xmas territory after that.

LAX. 12/31 (or 30th even 29th though prices appear sig higher on routes I checked prior to 31st) Anything I could add on between xmas in Detroit and return to lax end of year?

[Plan on booking this ticket with a 2026 Return to Europe as it usually doesn’t add cost to return and I can just move it if I need. ideally to CDG; (AMS or FRA are also possible but may raise prices unnecessarily and reduce flexibility unless something changes with creative MQD RUN ticket?)

[b]MQDs Needed
BASICALLY 8,200,000 MQDs remaining after applying the 1,000 Platinum and 2,000 Diamond MQD benefits. and awaiting reversal on 821 MQDs that were applied to KLM though Im not sure Id bank on that. I Can spend 10k on my delta reserve in next two weeks especially considering these tickets.

For Context Im sure many have opinions on this. My "WHY" for considering more spend just to reach diamond especially given lack of upgrades in the last couple of years. I reached Platinum Medallion for 2026 but struggling with the idea of losing Diamond, especially having never truly used Global Upgrade Certificates. Long-haul coach travel is becoming tiring, and I frequently book late and miss Comfort+ opportunities, including recent AF/KLM system glitches during my recent month long travel despite long failed customer service attempts to handle issues from India. At the same time I am not in a position to just carelessly toss away cash at year end but do like a challenge or to visually see why its not possible/unreasonable.

Required Spend / Budget
Not unlimited. Considering what any possibilities look like to optimize MQDs versus careless end-of-year spending spree. I would be buying tickets for me and daughter on this flight so that increases my spending for the “ticket” however I approach this. Right now the minimal in coach to get us to Detroit and LA appears to be around 2k p/pax. Wondering what it would take to add this many MQDs. (yes I have the buisines reserve and personal Platinum and those boosts)

Routing Type
Europe departure: December 19 (flexible to December 20). U.S. presence through approximately December 31, with 1–2 days flexibility.

Multi-city itineraries welcome. Creative routing strongly encouraged.

Metal or Codeshares
AF/KLM or other Codeshares are absolutely acceptable if they provide MQD advantages.

Routing parameters Outbound multi-city from CDG to DTW or FWA, continuing to LAX. U.S. stay through late December. (Return to Europe will be 2026 preferably to CDG, with openness to creative other airports if pricing and MQDs justify it. I’ve hit a mental Rubik’s cube and would welcome fresh perspectives.

Delta Vacations? I am open to considering Delta Vacations if MQDs make sense. I need to finalize a couple additional hotel nights in France or could add a DTW hotel night on arrival with a rental car, but I’m unsure whether the MQD return is meaningful enough to justify the added complexity as Ive not dealt with them. Wasn’t sure of return on investment


I get is a long shot given I reached Platinum late this year, but I would like to hear if anyone has any compelling options

Regardless of my outcome, my teen will earn Silver Medallion for the first time with approximately 1,552 MQDs remaining The idea of "status" brings genuine joy. I better be sure I can calculate the appropriate MQD from whatever flight I book.

I would greatly appreciate insights from the skilled calculators here regarding partner sweet spots, AF/KLM versus DL ticket stock considerations, multi-city strategies, or anything I may be overlooking with the Europe-originating itinerary this late in the year.

ANYBODY? Holding off on booking tonight unless someone has a whopper. Im too jet lagged to keep figuring this out.
but either way I look forwared to getting my flight booked with maximum MQDs and celebrating or crying over some mulled wine at the christmas markets all the festive people seem to be carrying around.

Feel free to Hit me up for xmas market questions