It’s not unusual to see airlines give loyalty program members the opportunity to buy up to the next elite tier if they don’t quite qualify naturally. Along those lines, the Delta SkyMiles program has just launched such a promotion, with an interesting twist (thanks to Joe for flagging this).
In this post:
New Delta Elevate Your Status promotion launches
Delta SkyMiles members have the opportunity to qualify for a higher Medallion elite status tier in 2026, with the new Elevate Your Status promotion. This opportunity is available between November 1 and December 31, 2025, and it’s intended for US-based SkyMiles members.
Specifically, eligible members can make a one-time purchase of Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) to help them reach the next elite tier. MQDs are the primary metric by which elite status in the SkyMiles program is awarded nowadays. The interesting twist here is that 100% of the proceeds (excluding processing fees) will be used to support Delta’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) program.
In order to be eligible for this promotion, you must be in one of the following categories, not too far from the next tier:
- Be a SkyMiles non-elite member with between 4,500 and 4,599 MQDs (to earn Silver status)
- Be a SkyMiles Silver member with between 9,000 and 9,999 MQDs (to earn Gold status)
- Be a SkyMiles Gold member with between 13,500 and 14,999 MQDs (to earn Platunum status)
- Be a SkyMiles Platinum member with between 25,500 and 27,999 MQDs (to earn Diamond status)
Every 100 MQDs cost $300, and Delta takes an 8.3% cut
When I first read about this promotion, I assumed that you’d basically be paying the “going rate” for MQDs. In other words, if you wanted to acquire 500 MQDs with this promotion, I assumed you’d have to spend $500 on sustainable aviation fuel. So instead of getting flights for the money you spend, you’re instead just be doing something good.
But no, it’s actually not quite that “generous.” The cost for every 100 MQDs is actually $300. So yeah, if you’re 1,000 MQDs short of qualifying for an elite tier, you could either spend $1,000 on a Delta ticket, or spend $3,000 on this venture. With that kind of a conversion rate, maybe we should call them MQPs (Medallion Qualifying Pesos)? 😉
For what it’s worth, Delta is partnering with Norway’s Choose on this program. Oh, and Delta’s “processing fee” is 8.3%.
Everyone can decide for themselves whether this offer is worth it or not. I’ll of course mention that the value of airline elite status has certainly decreased over the years, given how much tougher upgrades have become. And the SkyMiles program is particularly unrewarding in terms of upgrades, award redemption rates, etc.
Bottom line
Through the end of the year, the Delta SkyMiles program is letting some members buy up to the next elite tier. The good news is that you’re actually contributing to Delta’s sustainable aviation fuel initiative. The bad news is that one MQD will cost you $3, so this sure isn’t cheap!
What do you make of Delta’s sustainable aviation fuel status promotion?
Rule of thumb: when you see 'Green xxxx' or 'Sustainable xxxx' just ignore it. It's a scam dressed up as environmentalism.
Another rule of thumb: when you see @1990, you can safely ignore that too.
Not sure if you flagged it as well, but AC was doing a similar promo where you could buy 500 SQM for ~169 CAD (plus local sales tax) for a contribution to their SAF program. It seems a little more attractive, but looking at reasonable (non crazy mileage run) comps you could fly YYZ to YYC RT in flex consistently for around 500-700 CAD which would earn 1669 * 2 = 3338 SQM, so poor...
Not sure if you flagged it as well, but AC was doing a similar promo where you could buy 500 SQM for ~169 CAD (plus local sales tax) for a contribution to their SAF program. It seems a little more attractive, but looking at reasonable (non crazy mileage run) comps you could fly YYZ to YYC RT in flex consistently for around 500-700 CAD which would earn 1669 * 2 = 3338 SQM, so poor value. Only use case I can see is if you are a few hundred SQM short of the next tier and you don't want to or your schedule doesn't permit you to go anywhere on year end, it's a useful top up for a few hundred bucks. I was actually in that situation but ended up just booking a previously planned trip so that I would earn enough SQM
It's just so cringe and nauseating that Delta is trying to link itself to righteous values and causes (while this the company that donated millions to the Trump inauguration fund, actively prevents its FAs from unionizing and talked smack about Pete Buttigieg when he proposed consumer protections). The processing fee!! What nerve! It's the same with Delta associating itself with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The employees wearing pink - they actually have to buy...
It's just so cringe and nauseating that Delta is trying to link itself to righteous values and causes (while this the company that donated millions to the Trump inauguration fund, actively prevents its FAs from unionizing and talked smack about Pete Buttigieg when he proposed consumer protections). The processing fee!! What nerve! It's the same with Delta associating itself with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The employees wearing pink - they actually have to buy those special edition uniforms themselves and that money counts as a donation to the cause (after whatever "cost" and processing fee Delta extracts from it?) Hey Delta, how about you do a 1:1 match at the very least?!
If Morgan Stanley is a very profitable brokerage firm, I might want to own shares of it but does that profitability suggest that I should use it as my brokerage firm?
What an awful idea. Don’t chase, and especially don’t ‘pay’ for status. Let it happen. And if it doesn’t, fly more next year. Sheesh. Oh, and attempting to ‘green-wash’ this money-grab is extra-shameless. Yuck.
…. and now Ben, how about some aviation new of the future?….
https://www.thetimes.com/article/46369970-b3c5-4bba-bf3a-d92f1978a55c?shareToken=6d6abb7f09f3d9788400bc1deb74a548
Loser.
@Ben maybe you could also cover M&M promos (I don't mention this to bolster LH as they are terrible, but as I'm based in HAM and ZRH there are no alternatives for me):
1. There is an autumn special providing up to 50% extra status points for business class flights until end of year (awesome to achieve status, sadly I already booked all flights needed before they released it)
2. Probably this was...
@Ben maybe you could also cover M&M promos (I don't mention this to bolster LH as they are terrible, but as I'm based in HAM and ZRH there are no alternatives for me):
1. There is an autumn special providing up to 50% extra status points for business class flights until end of year (awesome to achieve status, sadly I already booked all flights needed before they released it)
2. Probably this was available the whole year but now Miles & More started advertising it: By buying climate offset after a flight (possible backwards for all revenue flights of the year) you can buy points roughly for 1.14€ per point. Meaning to achieve Senator you would have to (theoretical) pay 2280€ as you can only buy a certain number of points per flight, so you would already have points from those.
Poor Ben is trying so hard to convince everyone that Delta is so badly run and yet it made $1 billion more in profits year to date than even its next closest competitor.
In the supermarket of ideas, this is yet another option. Too bad Ben won’t be able to tell us how much Delta sold of this offer
Oh, and others will copy. When you are out front, others try their best to copy your strategies
@ Tim Dunn -- Why are you up so late, or which Boeing 767-300ER destination are you vacationing in?
We all travel, don’t we?
I don't see Ben trying to convince me DL is poorly run. The business of DL is run exceptionally well and they have been incredibly creative on diversifying their revenue stream and managing costs. (read as turning their mx operation into a profit center and using Amex points from fuel purchases to pay oversold flight volunteers). I'm not a fan of the Delta ego.
I read this as this buy-up is an awful deal,...
I don't see Ben trying to convince me DL is poorly run. The business of DL is run exceptionally well and they have been incredibly creative on diversifying their revenue stream and managing costs. (read as turning their mx operation into a profit center and using Amex points from fuel purchases to pay oversold flight volunteers). I'm not a fan of the Delta ego.
I read this as this buy-up is an awful deal, but to each their own. It may be worth it if someone is within a few MQDs of the next status level, but not worth it for those further away.
Tim - once in a while you would improve your credibility by simply saying "yup, that's pretty dumb" instead of being an unceasing Delta butt-boy
Fat chance - he is a one-note, dogmatic slobbering sycophant
Feel free to post a count of the number of stories Ben has run over the past week by airline and it will be clear it is not me that is fixated with Delta. Surely there are a few stories about Indigo or Gol out there
And Ben’s posting schedule clearly says he is not at home. It is a big world.
I am nowhere near a city Delta will ever serve no matter how much Ben thinks otherwise
The amount of envy that this guys shows towards Ben screams desperation. It feels so good to be a mentally healthy person who wakes up every morning and accesses OMAAT to read interesting stuff and also appreciates and admires the incredible work that Ben has done over the years instead of showing the whole world how jealous you are because you’ll never be able to achieve anything remotely close to what Ben has.
Alright I will “feel free” just glancing at headlines for the this week…
Delta: 6
American: 5
JetBlue: 5
United: 3
Alaska: 2
Last week:
Delta: 3
American: 6
JetBlue: 0
United: 3
Alaska: 0
One more article than the next airline on any given week does not a fixation make. This a simple matter of how much an airline has done over the course of...
Alright I will “feel free” just glancing at headlines for the this week…
Delta: 6
American: 5
JetBlue: 5
United: 3
Alaska: 2
Last week:
Delta: 3
American: 6
JetBlue: 0
United: 3
Alaska: 0
One more article than the next airline on any given week does not a fixation make. This a simple matter of how much an airline has done over the course of the week that’s newsworthy. When AS changed to Atmos it was 10-15 articles a week for a few weeks. After all this is a travel & miles blog…
Flawed logic as usual.
What a bizarre flex. Nobody suggested Delta is run badly. The point made was that this isn’t a great deal, so let the buyer beware.
It’s not a bizarre flex. It’s just the way the minds of mentally sick people work. This is Psychology 101. Even thought they are triggered by different “things”, the way it happens is the same:
A person goes out in public with tight clothes.
S*x offenders: “wow, they’re throwing a bone for me.”
A kid walks home all alone after school.
Pedos: “wow, they’re throwing a bone for me.”
Ben writes about Delta.
It’s not a bizarre flex. It’s just the way the minds of mentally sick people work. This is Psychology 101. Even thought they are triggered by different “things”, the way it happens is the same:
A person goes out in public with tight clothes.
S*x offenders: “wow, they’re throwing a bone for me.”
A kid walks home all alone after school.
Pedos: “wow, they’re throwing a bone for me.”
Ben writes about Delta.
Tim Dunn: “wow, they’re throwing a bone for me.”
In reality, no one is throwing any bones for anybody. These sick people see the bones at the same time that mentally healthy people only see people comfortable with themselves, a kid just trying to get home and Ben writing about DL in the same way that he writes about all the airlines out there.
once again, I am capable of generating more responses to what I write than anyone on this site.
Clearly it is not me that is triggered when other people are the ones that are drawn to what I write
if YOU PEOPLE had any kind of mental health, you would allow me to say what I want and ignore me - but you can't
I prove it over and over and over again - and you say that I am the one with mental health issues.
Lil Timmy D, President of the Leopards Ate My Face Society
And once again, someone posts the data you request and you ignore it, at least your nonsense is consistent.
Greenwash of the century!