In 2021, Platinum and Reserve Delta SkyMiles American Express Card Members will receive a 25% boost to their status boosts. Both cards offer “status boosts” towards elite status at set amounts of spend. In 2021, those boosts will be 25% bigger than usual.
Status Boosts in 2021
The following bullets show the number of MQMs (Medallion Qualifying Miles) earned with spend with each of the Delta Platinum & Reserve cards:
- Delta Platinum and Delta Platinum Business. For each $25K of calendar year spend (up to $50K), earn 12,500 MQMs in 2021 (usual: 10K MQMs).
- Delta Reserve and Delta Reserve Business. For each $30K of calendar year spend (up to $120K), earn 18,750 MQMs in 2021 (usual: 15K MQMs)
Delta Elite Requirements
As a reminder, here are Delta’s elite requirements:
With $25K combined spend on Delta Platinum and/or Reserve cards, earn a MQD waiver for Silver, Gold, or Platinum elite status. Delta requires $250K of combined spend to earn a Diamond MQD waiver.
My Take
While this is better than nothing, taken alone this seems to me to be far too little to encourage extra spend. That said, I think it is likely that Delta will in some way reduce elite status requirements in 2021. They’ve already announced that MQMs earned this year will roll over into next, but I’m also hoping to see a reduction in MQD requirements and MQD waiver requirements (especially for Diamond status). Only time will tell.
Greg is the owner, founder, and primary author of the Frequent Miler. He earns millions of points and miles each year, mostly without flying, and dedicates this blog to teaching others how to do the same.