Questions and Answers

Hi! Looking for some input on what to do about my status for the coming year (2019).

I am Delta Diamond through end of 2018 medallion year.
I am also status matched on American to Platinum till mid-May.

I have been a Delta loyalist, for-e-vah. I have a ton of miles banked with them, but I fly in that wierd range of 125K – 150K a year at economy fares, and so have to buy tickets to meet all my thresholds, MQD and MQMs.

I make one or three trips to Europe a year, and multiple trips to the Middle East and Asia. I’ve already flown a paid business class ticket on Cathay from DXB – HKG – LAX that I will credit to American and that till tie up my Platinum status match, even though I’m also waiting on status match with Alaska, which will get me way more miles.

My question is, for me to get to Platinum Delta next year, much less Diamond, I am going to have to jump through a zillion hoops. Probably going to have to do some of those crazy mileage runs, etc., etc., to approach something resembling $15K MQD. But I’m wondering, is it even worth it? At this point I’ll be paying for JFK-LAX-JFK tix in Delta One. Which half the point of having Diamond is so that I can upgrade on those flights. But I worked so hard to get the Diamond, why stop now, and next year, it will be even better with what I imagine will be fewer Diamonds.

Am I better off being Delta Platinum and American Platinum, or just Delta Diamond?

And then there is the issue of the minimal value of Delta Skymiles. Occasionally there is a reasonable award ticket, but it’s usually on something like Saudia (seriously??) otherwise, it’s something insane like 275,000 one-way to Amsterdam. Appreciate any input here! Thanks Lucky and all!

It’s tough. American Platinum is relatively useless outside the increased mileage earning, but it would be good for you to diversify your points.

I don’t know that Delta Diamond is worth the hassle over Platinum unless you have international partner travel that you can credit to meet the MQDs. Delta SkyMiles are tougher to use than other programs in some cases, but there are still great values if you’re flexible. But on key routes, you’re likely not going to be getting upgrades as a Platinum, so that could be a factor as well.

If you’re going to pay for F either way though, the upgrades become irrelevant, and it’s back to mileage earning, where it sounds like you have plenty of SkyMiles.

So I might personally aim for Platinum, and take advantage of the rollover miles if you don’t hit the MQD for Diamond. You could potentially rollover quite a few miles to next year, which would make hitting Diamond much easier if you decide it’s worth the hoop-jumping.

Thanks, Tiffany! The last bit sounds like a likely scenario. I actually find the American miles to be quite useful for redemption, more so than extortionate Delta.