One benefit of holding certain Delta American Express cards is the opportunity to spend your way to Delta MQD exempt status. Except two Delta Amexes are losing that perk — kind of.
Earning MQD Exemption Waivers with Delta Amexes
Delta’s MQD requirements for Medallion status ($3000 for Silver, $8000 for Gold, $12,000 for Platinum) are waived if you spend $25,000 on one or across multiple qualifying Delta American Express cards during a calendar year.
(The $20,000 Diamond MQD requirement is waived if you spend a quarter-million dollars on your Delta Amexes. There are ways to avoid that. We’ll talk about it in a few minutes.)
For example, spending $25,000 on the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card can earn you the Silver/Gold/Platinum MQD waiver.
Or spending $20,000 on the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card and $5000 on the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card does it as well. (Again, just an example.)
Mix and match! Collect ’em all! Trade with your friends!
Except there’s one big exception. Actually, there are three.
Not All Delta American Express Cards Equally Earn MQD Waiver Exemption Spend
Purchases on your Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card will not count toward your MQD waiver spend if those are the only Delta Amexes you hold.
But if you have at least one of the below credit cards, then your Delta Gold Amex spend will count against your MQD waiver:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card
In other words, if you have a Delta Gold card — and it’s your only Delta Amex — but spend $25,000 on on it, your MQD waiver accrual will be $0.
But if you get a Delta Reserve or Delta Platinum card, that $25k spend on the Gold will earn your MQD waiver.
It’s kind of a racket, I know.
How to Make This Easier
Get a Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or its business counterpart. The everyday spend bonuses are far superior, you get a Global Entry / TSA PreCheck credit (starting January 30, 2020), companion certificate, and can buy access to Delta Sky Clubs. (Or get a Reserve personal or business card and enjoy complimentary Sky Club and Centurion Lounge access whenever you fly Delta.)
Other Ways to Earn MQD
If you hold only a personal Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card or the business flavor but don’t want another Delta credit card, there are two other ways to earn MQDs. (These complement each other, BTW, so mix and match.)
- Spend the required amount ($3k/$6k/$9k/$15k) on Delta Air Lines-marketed flights. Remember that only base fares and surcharges qualify as MQD. Government fees do not count.
- Travel on a partner airline and credit the flight to your Delta SkyMiles number. Why? Your MQD accrual for those flights is based on a percentage (determined by fare class) of miles flown, regardless of what you pay.
For example, I posted a trip on Virgin Atlantic from LAX to Johannesburg, South Africa. (We often post them to our mileage run section, FYI.) The airfare was about $1860 for Premium Economy.
But because the trip travels about 22,090 miles and Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy “K” fares award 30% MQD based on distance flown, SkyMiles members can expect to earn around $6627. On one trip. That costs less than a third of the MQD it earns.
If you (understandably) wondered “Why are these people always so excited about AeroMexico runs to Ecuador or day trips to Guatemala City?” now you know. 😉
So if you don’t want to earn MQD with Delta credit card spend, consider taking a couple of MQD runs. (Keep in mind the mileage run masters at Juicy Miles can cook up something ridiculously awesome for you.)
Questions?
Ask away in the Comments section!
–Chris
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Opening up a bank account in Canada makes you MQD exempt if you claim Canadian residency.
@Frankie – True. But if you then do not start a majority of your trips from Canada, and Delta audits your account, they can shut you down and take all your points and cancel all your booked trips (on award points). Oh and dump you from the medallion program and end your million miler status (if you have it). Not worth the risk IMO.
Do you think the Reserve offer with 75,000 miles and 10,000 MQM’s is a good deal or would you wait for a better offer? I have a Delta Platinum Amex. Card. Thank You!
@Tom – It is a sweet offer plus you lock in 1 year at the lower fee vs the higher one next year. Thanks for using the links here on the blog if you go for the card!
It is odd that the MQD waiver is only for US residents. Is it because only a small percentage of Medallion members live outside the USA?
If you live internationally you do not need to get the MQD waiver. 🙂
I know, that’s what I was commenting on, although I actually meant to say the MQD requirement.
Sorry I mean the MQD requirement not waiver.
If I book Virgin Atlantic flights via the Amex Travel site will the MQDs credit through correctly? Any issue if it’s using Amex reward points.
@John: They should, as long as you’re paying with through Amex’s travel site and using MRs to offset the fare.
Hi I’m getting close to the $25,000 threshold, but it will be quite tight (without randomly spending on stuff I don’t need!) Do I actually have till Dec 31st 2109 to make purchases to reach the milestone or do I need dollars spent to actually appear on a Statement, which means I would only really have until Dec 19th? Thanks!
@Stephen Fletcher: As long as a purchase posts December 31 or sooner, you should be fine. –> Check out this article <-- for more details.
If I’ve earned the waiver, is it safe to close/cancel/downgrade my Delta Reserve card? Or will that revoke the waiver?
@Rory – Once earned you do NOT need to keep the card open. HOWEVER – you have earned this years waver for 2019? That will NOT count for 2020. The waver has to be re-earned each year starting on 1JAN each and every year! Clear?
Understood, thanks. Next year I expect my business travel to increase enough that I shouldn’t need the waiver and want to put my spend elsewhere.
@Rory – Got ya. Just keep a few points in mind before you act please.
1) Never downgrade unless you have had THAT card before. If not, apply for a new card (for the bonus – thanks for using our links btw) then cancel the old Amex card.
2) Never cancel before your fee bills. You have 30 days to cancel at that point. Wait for BOGO to post to your “My Delta” then you can cancel and the BOGO sticks.
3) Never cancel w/in 1 year if you got the card inside 12 months. Amex can (and has) sucked back new card bonus.
Just a technicality here. Although I wish you could earn MQD with Amex spend, you can’t. So it’s not really correct to talk about earning MQD via Amex spend. it would be really nice if you could convert Amex spending to MQD (for Diamond divide Amex spending by 16 2/3 for any spending, not only if you reach 250K, 250K/16.6666666666 = 15000, the MQD target).
I know this is a bit old – but I have a question.
I become eligible (I believe) for a card sign-up bonus in 6 months. I currently hold Gold Amex. With the COVID rollover of MQM but not MQD, I need to earn that MQD waiver. The question I have is this: If I get a Platinum or Reserve Amex in March or April, will my gold spend from Jan/Feb count towards the MQD waiver for 2021? Or does spend only count *while* I have both cards?
I double-checked with someone and, yes, the DL Gold Amex spend should count once you get the DL Platinum or DL Reserve. (And we always appreciate it when our readers consider using our affiliate links when applying for credit cards! Thank you!)
I have the Delta AMEX Platinum card and have earned the “Platinum, Gold and Silver MQD Waiver: $25K”, yet my 2022 Status says: “SkyMiles Member”. Don’t I qualify for the Platinum Medallion Status and receive perks, such as complimentary upgrades, with the waiver? Or, do I have to also hit the MQMs and MQSs threshold minimums?
@Kevin – You still need card waver PLUS MQM or MQS levels to be Silver, Gold or Platinum Medallion.
The only perk of the card spend waver is you do not need the MQD spend levels as that part of the qualification.
So if you spend 25,000 on Delta Amex and accumulate $9,000. of MQD’s via Aero Mexico flights you still need MQM’s for Platinum?
@Thomas – There is no need to accumulate $9,000 MQDs if you have the Amex card $25,000 spend waver. You do need 75,000 MQMs plus either spend waver OR $9,000 MQDs to be Platinum.
The AeroMexico partner deal in business class is so sweet because you earn many times the MQDs and a bunch of MQMs.
I have a question regarding the waiver. I have the platinum delta and I have already reached silver on my own and currently have 5,255MQD and 68k in MQM which means I’m about to hit gold on my own. Now I hit 25k but didn’t get anything about a waiver just the bonus MQMs. I am curious since I have a flight coming up that will get me to gold tier in MQD and Platinum tier in MQMs. Will the waiver kick in to cover the MQDs required once I hit 75k MQMs or does the waiver work more along these lines: hit 25k in spending is waiver for silver, 50k is waiver for gold, and 75k in spending for platinum?
Excellent question, Wade. (In fact, we may address in that in a post because I bet other people have the concern.) The $25K waiver covers Silver, Gold, and Platinum. So you’ll be Platinum the rest of this year (after your next trip), all of 2022, and through January 2023.
Do be aware that once you hit Platinum, there’s no turning back toward lower statuses. 🙂 If anything, you’ll thirst for Diamond!
Amazing thank you. I guess there is a delay for the waiver then? The MQMs were deposited but nothing on the MQD waiver but it’s been 2 days so I assume MQD waiver is a bit delayed to the MQM?
Yeah, give it a couple of days. OR if you’re looking on your Fly Delta app, log out and then log back in. That may reflect your new status.
So the 25k spend qualifies you for silver gold or platinum depending on what your attainment is against the other goals? Or do you need 25k for silver, then another 25 for gold, etc?
@Mike Covers all 3. Only Diamond needs more ie 250,000
So I need 75,000 MQM’s in either case? Thanks! Tom
@Thomas – Correct (for Platinum).
1) Can I use my card to pay rents (living in a managed property) and will that count towards the waiver? I’m fine with the 2.5% extra fee that they charge.
2) If I spend $5k today on the card and get the refund back in the next month or so if I were to cancel my hotel bookings, will it still be counted towards mqd waiver?
@Shri – If you are using a service like Plastiq to pay rents that should be fine. As to the next, no. They will report the return and your number will drop.
I have 2 questions about status.
1. If I spend $25k on my reserve and have 75k MQM, does that get me to Platinum?
2. If I end up with $25k spend and 9k MQD was this a waste or would the combo on this side qualify for Diamond (just get the 125k MQM)?
1. Yes.
2. If I correctly understand your question — You’ll be Platinum either way. Card-wise, I’d rather put spend on cards with transferrable points (i.e. Membership Rewards or Ultimate Rewards) than the Reserve, which is god-awful for bonus categories. Hitting the 25k mark could work toward your benefit — that’s a tiebreaker in the Delta upgrade hierarchy.
Only way to get Diamond: Reach 125k MQM and $15k MQD or $250k MQD waiver.
So it’s not a combo of $25k spend and 6k MQD?
No. It’s either/or.
Thanks Chris. I’ll rethink the bonus MQM deal Delta is offering for $30k spend.
I have AMEX Reserve. I have already hit 134K MQMs yet I have ~$13K earned toward the MQD waiver which is kind of odd as they state $25K but in 2019 I was surprised to see Diamond achieved at $15K spend toward the waiver (this is for US MQD waiver, not the $250K MQD spend).
Delta states “qualifying purchases’ but they don’t provide a list to know what qualifies. Only Delta flights or is there an actual list?
If I’m not flying for the rest of the year, can I do gift cards or something for future Delta flights that I book later?
Hey, Chris!
$15K MQD is to earn Diamond. $25K is the Delta Amex spending waiver.
Have you spent $13K on your Delta Amex? Or have you earned 13K MQD?
Thanks Chris!
I’ve earned ~$13K MQDs
I’ve spent ~$51K on my AMEX
Okey dokey. So you could quickly bang out $2K MQD before the end of the year and earn Diamond. Worst case scenario: you’re Platinum next year and into January 2023.
Hi Chris,
Love this page, thanks for the clarification.
I’ve got a Delta Gold amex which isn’t counting towards my Waiver. However the customer service agent told me on the phone that the Gold spend will not count towards the Waiver even with a Platinum or reserve card. I’ve even stated the actual line in their terms but he boasted that he had so many years of experience and he was very certain.
Adding an extra Reserve card now, will it still in to count my Gold spend from the past months (as it states calendar year)? The service agent was very firm in his “opinion” that only an upgrade of the Gold card to a higher card would carry those rewards.
What do you guys think? I’m calling again tomorrow to see if another agent tells me something different.
Thanks
Hi, Nicolas, thanks for the comment. AFAIK, your spend this year on the Delta Gold Amex won’t count toward your new Platinum or Reserve card’s MQD waiver, unfortunately.
Hi Chris,
This just got in. I can now confirm that opening a platinum or reserve card, actually does pull in your spend on your (in our case Delta Amex Gold) current card to count towards your overall spend. The terms on the amex website have it right, they calculate per calendar year.
So now, halfway November, we’re only $5000 away from having spent that $25000.
Thanks, Nicolas! To confirm: you opened up a new card number and didn’t upgrade your Delta Amex account, correct?
That is correct Chris.
On Sunday we’ve asked for a new card with Amex which ran a credit check, got approved.
We could immediately use it by loading the card details in Apple Pay and started using it.
By Tuesday our Delta app updated with that new total card spend.
Excellent data point, Nicolas. That’s very helpful — thank you!
Hello,
I have a Delta Gold Amex card. I just learned that this card doesn’t count toward the Delta Amex MQD waiver. I called Amex and they said if I get the Platinum or Reserve that my spend on the Amex Gold will not transfer or count toward my $25,000 spend. But you said that it did for you! Can you confirm?
Yes it did for us. The call center person can be wrong as it is a pretty narrow question. At the time we read through the terms and it is mentioned in there as well. So I suggest scanning through those and finding that article, shouldn’t take too long.
If I add an authorized user to my card, and we spend the $25k, will the MQD waiver apply to both of our Sky Miles accounts?
Nope. Just yours.
Spend 30,000. on Reserve card and get 18,750. MQM;s!
A bit of a complicated scenario question here. I currently only have Amex Delta Gold card but will have enough MQMs for Platinum due to the rollovers, etc. Hypothetically, if I were to spend $20k on the Gold card, from Jan -Oct, and then opened a Delta Platinum Amex in November, would that $20k spend on the Gold card count or does it have to be after the Platinum if open?
Also, would it also matter if I closed the Gold card before opening the Platinum?
Hi, Trevor. Yes, the $20k spend should qualify if you open a Platinum card later. But if you’re worried about it, get the Platinum sooner than later (if that’s possible for your budget and spending plans).
I’d get the Platinum before you cancel the Gold. Or consider downgrading the Gold to the no-annual-fee Delta Blue.
My card spend on the delta app has been stuck at 4K. I recently put over 12K on it. I’ve already received the delta Skymiles for the charge. But it’s not reflecting in the card spend. Why?
Are there certain charges that don’t count? Can paying the charge off too quickly cause you to not get credit on the card spend?
@Loretta – Sometimes you have to wait for your statement to close for the updated spend to push to Delta. Just give it some time. Paying off early has no impact on getting credit.
@Chris Carley
I don’t think there are many purchase requirements for the actual $25K spend waiver. As long as it isn’t balance transfers, AmEx fees, cash advances etc. I specifically asked if my $2000 venmo rent payment counts toward the MQD spend, and it does as long as i use the SEND feature on AmEx. It won’t earn Skymiles, but it does go toward the MQD $25K goal.
Wow. That’s an interesting data point — thank you!
That is interesting, I’ll have to check the T&C again because that would make a big difference – I thought I had read it didn’t give any airline benefits but that may have been an incorrect assumption.
I did not see a question on how MQD’s actually work. This is the 3k on flights and not the 25k waiver amount. That is, if I purchase several tickets for traveling companions, do I only get MQD’s for my ticket price or for all the other tickets I spent on my platinum card? And when is that credited to my FF account? From what I read, it only looks like I just get the MQD’s for my ticket amount and only after I take the trip. Is that correct?
Thank You,
Michael
@Michael – You are mixing the two up. The Amex spend waver is if you spend in a year $25,000+ on anything on the card i.e. gas, food etc. The MQD for flights is for you and you alone and only for your ticket and only for the part of the ticket that is not taxes etc. You get no MQD credit for others flying i.e. they get MQD credit for their tickets.
Thanks for your reply. I hadn’t gotten the two mixed up, but perhaps I just did not state it clear enough. I know I have to meet the spending threshold on either the MQDs with flights or by purchases with my Delta Platinum on anything as you said. I was hoping that I would get the extra credit by buying tickets for my traveling companions, but what you said makes better sense and they too, will get the MQDs on their account. Plus it also is logical that the ticket amount does not get credited until the trip is completed since there is always a chance that the trip could be canceled.So thanks for the clarification. Very helpful.
One has until December 31st to reach the MQD waiver, however do you know if you just need to swipe your card by 12/31 or does the transaction have to be posted and not “pending.”
If I make a large purchase on 12/31 and it immediately shows up on my AMEX app, I am wondering if it will count towards the $25K MQD waiver since it wont be posted until at least the next day at the earliest
It’s the date the charge lists as posted.
Are you sure? I believe it’s the day the transaction took place, which could be early than the day it posts. As long as, when it posts, it shows the transaction date correctly, it should count.
We may be saying the same thing though, in different ways.
Hello, I am glad I found this blog.
One question: I noticed that not the full statement balance of my Platinum AMEX card is credited to the MQD Waiver. Are there specific purchases that are excluded?
Thank you.
Hi! For what it’s worth, it’s taking a while for Amex spending totals to get caught up with Delta.