Guide To Delta Air Lines Status Match & Challenge

It’s common for airlines to offer some sort of status challenge or status match program, in order to lure frequent flyers who are loyal to competing airlines, but are considering a switch. In the United States, most major airlines offer some sort of a status match challenge opportunity, including Alaska, American, Southwest, and United. In this post I wanted to take a look at the program offered by Delta.

Delta SkyMiles status match as of June 2023

Delta SkyMiles has a published status match challenge program. With this, you can have your status matched for a period of three months, and then your status can be extended based on qualifying activity within that trial period. As it stands, Delta is offering this program in order to earn Silver, Gold, or Platinum status (it’s not available for Diamond or Delta 360 status).

What status will Delta match?

Delta SkyMiles has a very open-ended status match challenge program, open not just to elite members of other US airlines, but also to elite members of all kinds of international programs. Delta SkyMiles will match status from the following programs:

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Alaska Mileage Plan
• All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
• American AAdvantage
• Asiana Club
• British Airways Executive Club
• Copa ConnectMiles
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• South African Airways Voyager
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus

If you have status with other airlines not on the list (excluding Delta airline partners), you can still submit your request to participate in the challenge. Elite tiers generally map over as you’d expect, with lowest tier status matching to Silver, mid-tier status matching to Gold, and higher status tiers matching to Platinum. Find the full breakdown here.

Once successfully enrolled in a Delta SkyMiles status match challenge, your status will be valid for three months, and then you can maintain that status with further qualifying activity.

How do you maintain Delta status?

While Delta will give you the status for a period of three months, if you want to keep the status beyond that you have to earn the following over the course of the trial period:

• Silver: 6,250 MQM or 8 MQS AND 750 MQD or MQD waiver
• Gold: 12,500 MQM or 15 MQS AND 2,000 MQD or MQD waiver
• Platinum: 18,750 MQM or 25 MQS AND 3,000 MQD or MQD waiver

For context:

• MQM stands for “Medallion Qualifying Miles,” and the amount you earn depends on the distance and fare class you fly
• MQS stands for “Medallion Qualifying Segments,” referring to the number of segments flown
• MQD stands for “Medallion Qualifying Dollars,” referring to the amount of eligible spending on flights
• Only MQMs earned for travel on Delta and partner airlines qualifies toward this requirement, so MQMs earned through credit card spending don’t qualify
• The MQD waiver applies if you make $25,000 or more in eligible purchases during the calendar year by the end of your three month trial with eligible co-branded Delta Amex cards

There’s one other interesting wrinkle here. With the Delta status match challenge, you can maintain the same or lower status tier to what you matched. In other words:

• If you start a Delta Platinum status challenge but only complete the challenge requirement for Silver status, you’d receive Silver status for a longer period
• The opposite isn’t true, which is to say that if you start a Delta Silver status challenge and complete the challenge requirements for Platinum status, you’d still only receive Silver status

How long is matched Delta status valid for?

If you successfully complete the Delta status challenge (beyond the initial three month trial), the amount of time you get to enjoy your status depends on when the challenge is started:

• If you start a status challenge on June 30 or earlier, then status would be valid for the remainder of the year, and through January of the following year
• If you start a status challenge on July 1 or later, then status would be valid for the remainder of the year, the entire following year, and through January of the year after that

Personally I’d recommend starting a Delta status challenge on July 1 or later, since your status would be valid for a significantly longer period of time. If you started a status challenge in July, it would be valid for roughly 19 months.

How do you request a Delta status challenge?

You can start the process of requesting a Delta status match challenge at this link. A few things to note:

• Your status challenge is for a period of three months, though it doesn’t have to line up with calendar months, so you can start it at any time
• The status challenge starts within 24 hours of receiving confirmation of being approved
• Once you successfully complete a status challenge, your account will be upgraded with the extended status within a period of five days
• Members who are matched to Platinum status will not be eligible for Choice Benefits until the flight requirement to maintain Platinum status is met
• You won’t be issued a physical elite card until after you complete the challenge
• Status challenges aren’t “once in a lifetime,” but rather you’re not eligible if you’ve otherwise requested a status challenge in the past three years

What are the benefits of Delta elite status?

What are Delta SkyMiles status perks like?

Some of the most popular benefits of Silver Medallion status include:

• Complimentary upgrades in most domestic markets
• Complimentary Comfort+ seating at time of check-in
• Priority check-in and boarding
• One complimentary checked bag
• A 40% mileage bonus (7x miles per dollar spent)

Some of the most popular benefits of Gold Medallion status include:

• Complimentary upgrades in most domestic markets
• Complimentary Comfort+ seating three days before departure
• Priority check-in, boarding, and security
• Two complimentary checked bags
• A 60% mileage bonus (8x miles per dollar spent)
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status

Some of the most popular benefits of Platinum Medallion status include:

• Complimentary upgrades in most domestic markets
• Complimentary Comfort+ seating at time of booking
• Priority check-in, boarding, and security
• Three complimentary checked bags
• An 80% mileage bonus (9x miles per dollar spent)
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status

Upgrades are arguably the most valuable benefit, and those are prioritized by status. The higher your status, the better the odds of those clearing. It’s important to be realistic — don’t expect that you’ll be seeing too many upgrades as a Silver Medallion member, for example.

Earn SkyMiles status with Delta credit cards

While a status challenge is an ideal way to earn Delta status, requalifying for status might be easier than you think. American Express and Delta have a co-brand credit card portfolio, and these credit cards can help you greatly toward earning status. You could always use a status challenge to earn status now, and then in the future use credit cards to help you maintain status.

Let’s go over some of the ways to earn Delta status through credit card spending.

Delta Platinum Amex MQMs for spending

The Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum American Express Card (review) and Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card offer the following for ongoing spending:

• Earn 10,000 bonus MQMs after spending $25,000
• Earn an additional 10,000 bonus MQMs after spending $50,000

If you spent $50,000 on either of these cards you’d earn 20,000 bonus MQMs.

Delta Reserve Amex MQMs for spending

The Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card (review) and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card offer the following for ongoing spending:

• Earn 15,000 bonus MQMs after spending $30,000
• Earn an additional 15,000 bonus MQMs after spending $60,000
• Earn an additional 15,000 bonus MQMs after spending $90,000
• Earn an additional 15,000 bonus MQMs after spending $120,000

If you spent $120,000 on either of these cards you’d earn 60,000 bonus MQMs.

Is a Delta status challenge worth it?

Delta’s status match challenge program is pretty average on the surface — you can earn the three entry level elite tiers, you receive status for three months, and then you can extend that status with qualifying activity.

I do think one noteworthy feature of Delta’s program is that you can request a status match challenge once every three years. In other words, if you requested a status match challenge in July 2023, the status would be valid through January 2025 (in conjunction with qualifying activity). Then in the second half of 2026 you could request another challenge.

It’s possible the rules will change over time, though Delta’s status challenge is among the more readily available in that sense. So taking part in a challenge once doesn’t really prevent you from doing so in the future. For someone who flies Delta occasionally, that aspect of the program is pretty cool.

Bottom line

Delta SkyMiles offers a Medallion status match challenge program. With this, you can have your status matched for a period of three months, and then your status can be renewed with qualifying activity. This is only available up to the Platinum tier, though.

If you are going to request a status match challenge, I’d generally recommend doing so in July or later, to maximize the amount of time you receive status. Furthermore, it’s pretty awesome that you an request a status challenge every three years.

Then again, in the long run many people won’t have trouble maintaining Delta status, given that it’s quite easy to earn with (significant) credit card spending.

Have any OMAAT readers taken part in a Delta status challenge? If so, what was your experience like?