Medallion status will not be quite as expensive in the new Delta Air Lines SkyMiles program. As promised by CEO Ed Bastian, the carrier is adjusting the program changes it announced just four weeks ago. The revised rules lower the spend requirements and boost long-term loyalty value, among other updates.
Your response made clear that the changes did not fully reflect the loyalty you have demonstrated to Delta. Based on your feedback, we are making program adjustments and adding new benefits to begin earning in 2024 toward your 2025 Status. – Delta CEO Ed Bastian
Lower spend requirements, and fewer qualifying spend options
Delta will reduce the required spend for its Medallion tiers by 16-20% from the originally announced numbers. The tiers are still relatively high, however, especially with the reduced earning options.
- Diamond Medallion Status: $28,000 MQDs (down from $35,000)
- Platinum Medallion Status: $15,000 MQDs (down from $18,000)
- Gold Medallion Status: $10,000 MQDs (down from $12,000)
- Silver Medallion Status: $5,000 MQDs (down from $6,000)
Co-brand credit card holders will start the year with 2,500 MQDs for the current year, which is a nice win. They will also still be able to earn MQDs for spend on their cards. Delta Vacations bookings will also still count.
Spend on hotels and rental cars, however, will no longer earn MQDs. Delta will provide credit for existing bookings (and those made through 31 Oct 2023 for travel in 2024). Removing these from the MQD earnings options is a significant hit, especially for the company’s theoretical push to better own customers throughout the travel ribbon.
SkyClub Access Boost
Access to the SkyClub will still be limited, but Delta made a couple changes which favor consumers. Delta Reserve AmEx cardholders will now have 15 visits per year rather than 10. AmEx Platinum Card holders will get 10 instead of 6. Either one will have the option to buy access at $50/visit after exhausting their initial allotment.
Read more: Consumers really do pay to be loyal, and that’s good for them
Additionally, all visits within 24 hours will only count once against the allocation. Previously each individual visit (other than within three hours at the same airport) counted.
Rollovers last longer
Members who have been stockpiling rollover MQMs get a bit of a reprieve. For each 100k in MQMs they have banked they can extend their current earned status by one year. That would be an expensive way to stay Silver for an extended period, but it is an option.
Rollover MQM conversion to MQDs will now occur at a more generous 10:1 rate rather than the previously announced 20:1.
Major Million Miler Upgrade
Perhaps the most notable change – and a nod to the value of long-term loyalty rather than the transactional feel of the new program – comes as a boost to the medallion tier of the company’s million miler lifetime status program. Every tier improves, and the base million miler level now includes SkyTeam ElitePlus status as Gold Medallion.
- 6 million miles or more earns Delta 360o™ (previously Diamond Medallion)
- 5 million miles earns Delta 360o™ (previously Platinum Medallion)
- 4 million miles earns Diamond Medallion (previously Platinum Medallion)
- 3 million miles earns Diamond Medallion (previously Gold Medallion)
- 2 million miles earns Platinum Medallion (previously Gold Medallion)
- 1 million miles earns Gold Medallion (previously Silver Medallion)
That still will not include access to SkyClubs on international itineraries traveling in economy class, but the overall value proposition for lifetime members improves significantly with this shift.
There will still be some program members who come up short with the new rules. And the million miler shift is a nice way to address the long-term value proposition. At least the company is trying to adjust when the roar gets too loud.
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