Delta SkyMiles announced some positive changes today, one of which I’m particularly excited about.
Earn Delta Medallion Status with mileage tickets
It has been announced that Delta SkyMiles award travel will permanently qualify for Medallion Elite status. This was first added as a temporary feature in Spring 2021. That policy was eventually extended to 2022, but now we’ve learned that’s going to be permanent (or as permanent as anything in the airline industry can be).
Pursuant to this policy, when you redeem Delta SkyMiles for a ticket (including Miles + Cash tickets), you will earn Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs), Medallion Qualifying Segments (MQSs) and Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) for those flights.
Since there is no revenue associated with award flights, how are the MQDs earned? MQDs are credited at one cent per mile. In other words, if you redeem 20,000 SkyMiles for a ticket, you will receive 200 MQDs.
There are a few things that make this interesting:
- In 2020, Virgin Atlantic began counting all award flights towards Flying Club elite status as a permanent benefit. Delta has a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic and owns a 49% stake in the airline, so I would imagine there was some collaboration in that decision
- Given the way Delta has attempted to convert SkyMiles into a revenue-based currency and allow members to redeem SkyMiles for virtually all Delta purchases, there is no reason why award flights should be treated any differently than revenue flights for these purposes
- I’m impressed that Delta SkyMiles even awards MQDs for award travel, which means you could (theoretically) earn Delta Medallion Elite status through award travel alone
Delta is the first major airline in the United States to make this policy permanent, so will other airlines follow?
- I could see United MileagePlus implementing a similar policy as United slowly rolls out more elite member benefits in select situations on award tickets
- I don’t see American AAdvantage as a successor because the program is now based solely on earning loyalty points, so there’s no practical way to earn them when redeeming miles
Travel on Delta award tickets counts towards status permanently
Delta is removing the cap on earning miles on tickets
Delta SkyMiles members earn anywhere from 5x to 11x miles per dollar spent on airline tickets (before taxes and fees), depending on elite tier. The only limitation was that you could earn a maximum of 75,000 SkyMiles on a single ticket. This is a problem that 99.99% of us would never encounter as you only reach this limit if you spend at least ~$6,800 on a ticket (if you are a Diamond Medallion member) or even $15,000 Ticket (if you are not an Elite member).
This upper limit no longer applies with immediate effect. In addition, all SkyMiles Members who had tickets in 2022 that would have earned more than 75,000 SkyMiles will have those miles credited retrospectively.
I would also consider this a great change for the highest fare passengers. The 75,000 miles per ticket cap, which essentially caps the amount you can spend and be rewarded for, never made much sense to me. Delta is also the first major US airline to remove this cap.
bottom line
Delta SkyMiles has announced some really positive changes. The program permanently counts award tickets toward elite status, which means you can earn MQMs, MQSs, and MQDs on award tickets. Additionally, the airline has eliminated the cap of 75,000 SkyMiles per ticket, meaning those with really expensive tickets can earn even more miles.
What do you think of these two changes to Delta SkyMiles?