All of us appreciate the privileges of elite status on our preferred airlines. Life seems to be good when you no longer be the last passenger to board the plane or end up cramped in the middle seats of flights. Besides, you have free checked bags and complimentary upgrades. The holistic essence of superiority elevates your self-esteem, right? Well, there are several reasons to vouch for the Delta Premium status.
If you aren’t aware, Delta Airlines has come up with ‘SkyMiles’, its popular loyalty program. This program has four elite Medallion status levels, out of which Platinum is the third one. This medallion elite status operates mostly like other major carriers in the US, such as United and American.
Now, you might be wondering how to earn your Delta Premium Status and reach your milestones. It might seem unreal, but you can qualify for your Delta Platinum Status simply by paying your state and federal taxes using your credit card!
Sounds exciting? Before we take you through the process, let’s understand how the premium status on Delta credit cards works.
Elite status on Delta Airlines
If you are a privileged member of Delta SkyMiles, fulfilling some basic criteria will earn you a Medallion status. However, it’s imperative to understand the following terms to plan your spending.
1. Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs)
The airline calculates your MQMs based on the ticket’s fare class, and this excludes the basic economy class. They also consider the number of miles you have flown. These miles are not the same as that you earn for award travel, based on your status level and ticket price. Interestingly, the SkyMiles don’t expire. However, at the beginning of every year, the MQMs are reset.
2. Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs)
SkyMiles members based in the US can earn MQDs. This is calculated on the number of dollars you spend on your flights. Apart from Delta flights, you can earn MQDs on some partner airline flights too. This includes the surcharges imposed by the carrier and the base fare, marked with the airline code ‘DL’. However, other fees and taxes are excluded from this. You can earn 20% of the redeemable miles on select partner flights.
3. Medallion Qualification Segments (MQSs)
MQSs are calculated on how many flight segments a SkyMiles member takes. For instance, if you take a nonstop flight to reach Miami from San Francisco, you can be eligible for one segment. However, taking the same route with a connection in Atlanta would make you eligible for two segments.
4. Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) Waiver
There are a few Delta American Express credit cards where you must spend $25,000 at least a year on purchases to waive your MQD requirement for the first three medallion statuses. This, of course, includes the Platinum status. Spending $250,000 will waive your MQD criteria for the diamond status too.
5. Medallion Year
All the medallion years are valid up to January of the next calendar year. For instance, if you fulfill the status qualifications for the medallion year 2024 on 2nd October 2023, the status will remain valid up to the end of January 2025.
6. Qualification Period
The qualification period for the elite status runs corresponds to a calendar year. So, if you want to earn a Platinum elite status for the 2024 medallion year, your qualification period is between 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023.
What are the benefits of Delta Platinum Status?
Wondering what the Delta Platinum Status means for you in terms of benefits? Here’s what you should expect from the Platinum Medallion.
- Get a free trial of Instacart for one year
- Spend $1 to earn 9 miles
- Get the 1 Choice benefit
- For each Hertz car rental that you are eligible for, you would earn 1,250 SkyMiles
- Obtain the Hertz President’s Circle status
- You would enjoy unlimited complimentary upgrades on your Clase Premier on selected flights operated by Aeromexico starting 5 days before departure.
- The cardholder would get unlimited upgrades (complimentary) to first class along with a companion starting five days before the departure. This excludes the associated e-fares.
- As a Delta Platinum status holder, you would also qualify for upgrades to Delta Comfort along with a companion after ticketing. This, too, excludes your e-fares.
- Waived fees for baggage and ticket reissuing.
- No fee is required to redeposit awards when you cancel a ticket you paid in terms of miles.
In addition to these exclusive benefits, Platinum status holders would continue to enjoy the benefits of Silver and Gold Statuses. These include:
Faster baggage service
- Four drink vouchers
- Access to SkyTeam lounge
- SkyTeam Elite Plus status
- Access to the priority security line
- Waiving of confirmation fee on same day
- CLEAR membership at a discounted rate of $149 a year
How to earn Premium status on Delta Credit cards?
The four premium statuses on your Delta credit cards are Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. So, if you are looking forward to earning the Platinum status on your Delta credit card, you are currently holding the Silver or Gold status.
You need to fulfill the minimum MQD requirements and also meet either your MQS or MQM requirements. If you earn an MQS waiver from your spending using the credit card, this criterion will be fulfilled.
Delta Medallion Status = MQD + MQS or MQM
Here’s a table to help you understand the criteria.
| Medallion Status Level | MQD Requirement | MQS Requirement | MQM Requirement |
| Silver | $3,000 | 30 | 25,000 |
| Gold | $8,000 | 60 | 50,000 |
| Platinum | $12,000 | 100 | 75,000 |
| Diamond | $20,000 | 140 | 125,000 |
From time to time, you would like to check your progress to the Delta Platinum Status. Visit the official website of the carrier and tap on the drop-down menu beside your name. You can also check My SkyMiles on your profile to access the necessary information. Besides, you can download the Fly Delta mobile app to check the progress.
So, if you spend $12,000 as your MQD requirement and fulfill either MQS or MQM requirements, as shown in the table above, you can qualify for the Delta Platinum Status. The Delta Platinum status is worth going for, given that it brings you the potential to earn $15,190 in terms of cost through savings. With the Silver and Gold statuses, you would save $3,797 and $10,127 annually.
How to earn Delta Platinum status using credit cards?
To qualify for the Delta Platinum status, you need to choose from two personal and business credit cards that Delta offers. These are Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card. Besides, you have two business credit cards from Delta. These are the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card.
1. Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card
You get this card at an annual fee of $250. If you manage to spend $4,000 within the initial six months of receiving the card, you earn 90,000 bonus miles. This card also brings you the opportunity to earn up to 20,000 MQMs a year. Once you spend $25,000, you will earn 10,000 MQMs.
Among the notable perks of using the Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card, you can qualify for 15% off on redeeming your awards for Delta flights. You simply need to pay your fees and taxes using this card. Besides, a Main Cabin round-trip travel can fetch you an annual companion certificate. Along with this, the cardholder can qualify for a 20% discount on purchases made on Delta flights.
2. Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card
This card comes at an annual fee of $550. Spending $6,000 on your purchases during the initial six months would help you win 90,000 bonus miles.
Spending $30,000, $60,000, $90,000, and $120,000 on your Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card in a single year can help you earn 15,000 MQMs each. So, you can earn up to 60,000 MQMs on this card by crossing all these four milestones.
When you use this card, you will get access to Centurion Lounge and Delta Sky Club membership.
Completing round-trip travel in Delta flights in first class would fetch you an annual companion certificate each year.
3. Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card
This is the basic business card from Delta, which comes at an annual fee of $250. After spending $4,000 in the first three months of your credit card membership, you can earn 95,000 bonus miles. You can also earn 10,000 MQMs once you spend $25,000 for your elite status. The maximum cap on MQMs for your Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card per year is 20,000.
Among other perks, cardholders can enjoy a 15% discount on award flights, priority boarding facilities, and free checking for the first baggage on Delta flights. Besides, each renewal will help you get an annual companion certificate.
4. Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card
This is the higher-end business card from Delta, where you need to shell out an annual fee of $550. Spending $6,000 in the initial three months would qualify for you 10,000 bonus miles.
If you spend $30,000, $60,000, $90,000, and $120,000 on your Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card in a calendar year, you will earn 15,000 MQMs each. Therefore, being a heavy spender brings you the potential to earn up to 60,000 MQMs.
Other advantages of this business card include access to Centurion Lounge and Delta Sky Club membership when traveling with Delta Airlines. Traveling a round-trip in first class would grant you an annual companion certificate. On inflight purchases, you can qualify for a 20% discount. Apart from this, you can get your first bag checked for free.
Pay taxes by combining your credit cards to qualify for the Delta Premium Status
Do you know that you can use tax processing platforms like Pay1040, ACI Payments, Inc, or PayUSAtax to pay your federal or state tax through your credit card? Given that you would make a significantly large payout for tax, why not combine all these credit cards to maximize your rewards, bonuses, and MQMs?
To qualify for the Platinum Medallion status, you would be looking for the 75,000 MQM mark to qualify for the Platinum Medallion status. Now that you know the advantages, rewards, and MQMs that come with all these four cards, let’s check how you can combine these perks to qualify for Delta Premium Status.
1. Delta Reserve Amex Card + Delta Platinum Amex Card
The Delta Platinum American Express Credit card brings you the opportunity to earn 20,000 MQMs a year.
On the other hand, the Delta Reserve American Express Credit card allows you to earn 60,000 MQMs when your annual expenses reach $1,20,000.
Combining both these cards, you can earn 80,000 MQMs a year, which qualifies you for the Platinum Status on Delta SkyMiles. Make sure to fulfill your MQD requirement of $12,000 using these cards.
2. Delta Reserve Business Amex card + Delta Platinum Business Amex
Holding both business cards of Delta can help you qualify for the Platinum membership in the same way.
The Delta Platinum Business Amex Credit card has the potential to help you earn 20,000 MQMs a year.
The Delta Reserve Business Amex card can earn up to 60,000 MQMs if you spend $120,000.
So, this easily takes you to the 75,000 MQM mark you need to qualify for the Platinum Status.
3. Delta Reserve Business Amex Card + Delta Reserve Amex Card
Suppose you hold both these credit cards, and the combined expense exceeds $2,40,000 in a calendar year. Split your expenses equally so that you can earn 60,000 MQMs on both these cards.
What does the combined MQM come to? A whopping 120,000 MQMs. Spending a little more on both of these cards can even qualify you for the Diamond Status.
With strategic planning, taxpayers can combine two or more of these credit cards to clear their federal taxes. That’s the best strategy to qualify for Platinum Status.
Endnote
Being a part of the Delta SkyMiles program is a privilege you wouldn’t like to compromise! Naturally, you would be looking for a possible way to qualify for and maintain the Platinum status.
If you love spending big on your credit cards, you should definitely consider paying your federal and state taxes using these cards. Considering the sizable amount that you shell out as tax, a few big transactions can take you to your MQM goals. Reaching 75,000 MQMs won’t seem to be a distant dream anymore! Along with paying your taxes using two or more of these credit cards, continue to use them during your flights to reap a plethora of benefits.
