Delta SkyMiles has just launched a promotion whereby hotel stays and rental cars can count toward elite status for a limited time (for those still pursuing SkyMiles status… for whatever reason). This is the second time this year that Delta has offered such a promotion, so it sure seems like this could eventually become a permanent thing…
In this post:
Delta SkyMiles awarding MQDs for hotels & rental cars
Just about all major airlines have portals through which you can earn bonus miles for booking hotels and rental cars. After all, there are commissions to be made on this, and those who fly a lot are also likely to stay at hotels and rent cars a lot.
Historically Delta SkyMiles has only awarded redeemable miles for these kinds of activities, but that’s changing for a limited time. At the moment, Delta SkyMiles is offering one Medallion Qualifying Dollar (MQD) for every dollar spent when booking a hotel or rental car at this link, in addition to earning two redeemable miles. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:
- This is valid for hotel and rental car bookings between May 13 and June 24, 2024
- You must travel between May 13 and September 8, 2024
- You’ll earn one MQD per dollar spent on base rates for hotels and rental cars, before taxes, fees, etc.
- The SkyMiles account and credit card being used must belong to the same person, and the first and last name must match
- It can take up to eight weeks after a completed activity for MQDs to post to accounts
It’s important to mention that while earning miles and even elite status for a hotel or rental car booking might sound appealing, keep in mind that there’s typically an opportunity cost to doing so. For example, with hotels you can’t earn hotel points if you book this way, and you typically don’t get elite perks. Furthermore, you’ll often find better rates elsewhere.
This is an interesting promotion from Delta SkyMiles
Keep in mind that the Delta SkyMiles program has been totally overhauled as of 2024. New as of this year, status is based exclusively on how many Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) that you rack up, and status requires anywhere from 5,000 MQDs to 28,000 MQDs in a calendar year.
There are three ways you can earn MQDs:
- You earn one MQD per dollar spent on Delta flights
- You earn one MQD per dollar spent on vacations booked through Delta Vacations
- You earn one MQD per every $10-20 spent on an eligible Delta Amex card, depending on which product it is
When Delta first announced changes to the SkyMiles program, the plan was for hotel and rental car bookings to count toward elite status as well. However, after a lot of backlash over the new program, the elite requirements were lowered, and hotel and rental cars were also eliminated as a way to earn status.
So it’s interesting to see Delta now offering MQDs on a limited time basis for hotel and rental car bookings, and this is even the second time this year we’ve seen such a promotion. It’s smart for Delta to incentive this kind of business, since this is pure profit for Delta. The company is getting a commission on these bookings, and is just giving a small kickback to people who book this way.
Bottom line
Delta SkyMiles has brought back a promotion whereby you can earn MQDs for hotels and rental cars booked through the carrier’s portal. For a limited time, you can earn one MQD per dollar spent, in addition to the standard two redeemable miles you earn per dollar spent.
Delta has transformed its SkyMiles program as of 2024, and initially the plan was that these kinds of travel arrangements would permanently count toward status. However, the carrier backtracked, and is now just offering this on a limited time basis.
What do you make of this Delta SkyMiles promotion?
What benefit does tier status afford that a premium cabin ticket doesn't? There's really not much. Now, consider that the opportunity cost to achieving Diamond is roughly $4000 to $6000 per year -- you'll just have to trust me on this. Why not take that $4000 to $6000 and simply buy your upgrade to a premium cabin? Just trying to offer a different perspective.
Why should we trust your math? On what planet is the opportunity cost of achieving a status that costs $28K in spend $4K to $6K. Explain.
1) "Status" is not just top tier status. Platinun, Gold, even Silver can have value
2) "Opportunity cost" varies widely. For people doing corporate travel, opportunity cost to earn status may be $0.
It's such a joke. They have totally decimated their loyalty program and turned it into a pure spending program. I hope untold thousands have fled to other airlines as I have.
For some people, one's home airport and available routes dictate what airline one will use. But, for every person who can leave Delta, there's someone leaving AA and AU and SW, of which some adopt Delta. It becomes a numbers game and management decisions are driven by statistics.
No way would I book cars or hotels through their portal and lose benefits from the hotels directly. Also, Costco.com has one of the best rental car rates which also includes an additional driver for free.
Delta doesn’t care too much about loyalty. First of all, their pricing has been off the charts in pricing. Secondly, their routing… it’s awful. Thirdly, if you care to try and reach one of their ‘elite’ levels, there...
No way would I book cars or hotels through their portal and lose benefits from the hotels directly. Also, Costco.com has one of the best rental car rates which also includes an additional driver for free.
Delta doesn’t care too much about loyalty. First of all, their pricing has been off the charts in pricing. Secondly, their routing… it’s awful. Thirdly, if you care to try and reach one of their ‘elite’ levels, there isn’t an incentive to try and reach the next level especially close to the end of the year. No roll-over MQD’s - if they did that, maybe one would keep flying to get a head start for the following year. I have a flight in November to Africa. I was going to be loyal to Delta but after researching fares, Qatar has much better pricing. Booked Qatar. IF Delta allowed rollover MQD’s, I would have flown them. They aren’t the only ones worried about the bottom dollar.
You know, I generally perceive DL to be more expensive but last night I booked two RTs between ORD and ATL. I was being airline agnostic and, actually trying to burn some AA miles. On both miles and dollars, Delta was substantially cheaper than both AA and UA. Maybe it's a corner case because I was looking at hubs for all three carriers (ORD for UA and AA and ATL for DL) but I was...
You know, I generally perceive DL to be more expensive but last night I booked two RTs between ORD and ATL. I was being airline agnostic and, actually trying to burn some AA miles. On both miles and dollars, Delta was substantially cheaper than both AA and UA. Maybe it's a corner case because I was looking at hubs for all three carriers (ORD for UA and AA and ATL for DL) but I was surprised. AA and UA wanted twice the miles that DL did and both were more expensive in dollars as well.
Don’t! I tried it last year, they ran a promotion around March/April. I booked a hotel through Delta.com. Never got the MqDs. I opened a case, attaching the delta reservation email and hotel receipt. Followed on it 10s of times… more than a year later, it never resolved. Diamond desk looked into it many times too without any luck.
AA understands the game. Create incentives to spend in each revenue channel. Commissions from hotels and rental cars and the shopping portal flow straight to the bottom line. From a business standpoint, it's smart. Other airlines need to study AA's model. Delta tried to do this last fall. And, had they been less aggressive on the MQD requirement, there might not have been the backlash we saw.
Look at Delta's earnings, versus American's, and explain to us again why Delta would care about copying anything American does? That's not to sound like a Delta fanatic or anything, it's just that what you're saying makes zero sense to do, so far as Delta's standpoint is concerned.
Delta : We have too many elite members so we are going to increase the EQD threshold to qualify for status.
Also Delta : We are handing out EQDs like candy to get more elite members.
Delta wants to get the Dollars in MQDs. They don't care about having too many elite members, it costs them basically nothing to have a bunch of Diamonds. The only thing having a bunch of elites is bad for is the customer.
That's why they switched to MQDs over miles. No more poors flying thousands of miles to earn status. They just want people forking over thousands of dollars.
Is it just me, or do the finishes on the D1 seats look kind of cheap?
BTW if it means I get to avoid dumpster fires like UA or AA I guess I'll continue to collect SkyMiles. It's looking better than MileagePesos at this point though.
The great purge is starting to get Ed's attention again.
By now Ed should see all those missing Diamonds who should have requalified by now or not on track to requalify anymore.
This won't be the biggest MQD bait yet.
"for those still pursuing SkyMiles status… for whatever reason"
Funny, I dropped down to Platinum from Diamond this year, and my upgrade percentage has still been around 50% so far. You also continue to get some useful perks (RUC, SkyPriority, enhanced earning) even at the Platinum level. I will reach Platinum again by at least the end of June, with hope for Diamond again for 2025. Status can still be worth it
I've notice a huge increase in upgrade success this year (still have diamond but probably won't requalify). It's hard to know whether it was the reordering of the upgrade priority (which does benefit me) or if a lot of elites dropped off.
Where are you based at? I think it depends (for example, I can't get anything at ATL but from a BOS or LAX my upgrade chances are decent)
Based out of NYC area. Upgrade percentages from here have been better than most of the core hubs for a while. But I have been surprised at some upgrades I have gotten recently (JFK to DEN most recently, which was helpful)
Also dropped from Diamond to Platinum this year. My upgrade percentage is actually a little better this year. I mainly fly West Coast routes (SEA-PHX, SEA-LAX, etc), and am averaging about 60%. Since I am SEA based, I figured that the Alaska status match from last year may contribute to it (to some degree).
I'm a diamond and split my time between DC and Atlanta. So, I fly out of ATL a lot, not just to DC, but a variety of routes. My upgrade percentage has been markedly better this year. I think I've been in the back once and I've had several upgrades clear four days out. However, I also benefited from the reordering of priorities, as I'm a million miler. That said I've seen fewer people on...
I'm a diamond and split my time between DC and Atlanta. So, I fly out of ATL a lot, not just to DC, but a variety of routes. My upgrade percentage has been markedly better this year. I think I've been in the back once and I've had several upgrades clear four days out. However, I also benefited from the reordering of priorities, as I'm a million miler. That said I've seen fewer people on upgrade lists overall. So, it does seem like some people walked away entirely, as they would not have already lost status entirely, unless those are card cancellers at the bottom of the list. It's pretty tough to walk away from Delta out of Atlanta though!