Delta offers lifetime elite status to those who earn 1 million or more Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs). Delta calls this status “Million Miler Status“. Each time you reach 1 million MQMs, you get “a special gift box and an electronic Delta Gift Card.” Plus, at specific million mile thresholds, you earn lifetime elite status, as follows:
- 1 Million MQMs: Silver
- 2 Million MQMs: Gold
- 4 Million MQMs: Platinum
- 6 Million MQMs: Diamond
That last one is new. It used to be that the highest lifetime tier was Platinum at 4 Million MQMs, but now Delta has made lifetime Diamond status accessible to anyone who earns “only” 6 Million MQMs.
A fun thought exercise
Regular readers know that I’ve been earning Delta Diamond status each year through (very large) credit card spend. For details about how this works, see: How to earn Delta elite status through credit card spend.
The new ability to earn lifetime Diamond status has me intrigued. I wonder: can one manufacture lifetime Diamond status through spend alone? Could one work really hard to get there quickly and then enjoy status until the end?
Note: This is meant to be a thought exercise. Do not take the following as advice. Please.
What’s so great about Delta Diamond status?
The chart above shows a summary of my favorite Delta elite benefits. As you can see from the chart, Diamond status doesn’t offer many tangible benefits beyond those offered for Platinum status. But the difference in what you get with Choice Benefits is huge. When you reach Platinum status, you can pick 1 Choice Benefit and when you reach Diamond status you can pick 3 more. But the choices differ. Most notably, only at Diamond status do you get to pick 4 Global Upgrade Certificates as a single Choice Benefit. These allow you to upgrade dirt cheap economy flights to Delta One, even for long haul international flights. This makes it possible, for example, to fly in a Delta One Suite (which includes a lie-flat seat, a closable door, a huge entertainment screen, etc.) for the price of economy.
Do Lifetime Diamonds get Choice Benefits?
The question I have about Million Miler status is this: Are Choice Benefits awarded every year, for life, to Platinum and Diamond Million Milers? If yes, then lifetime Diamond status would be very valuable. If no, then not so much.
Delta’s website is silent on the question. Delta’s Million Miler page says nothing about Choice Benefits, but does state this:
Annual complimentary Medallion Status is valid from beginning to end of the Medallion calendar and benefits associated with complimentary Status are awarded annually.
The key here is the phrase “benefits associated with complimentary Status are awarded annually.” So, that begs the question: are Choice Benefits associated with complimentary status? Well, Centurion card members get complimentary Platinum status, so we can look to see what happens with them:
Delta’s Medallion Benefits Terms & Conditions page states the following:
Centurion Card Members who are awarded complimentary Platinum Medallion Status must fly a minimum of eight Medallion Qualification Segments (MQSs) after Status is awarded to be eligible for Choice Benefits.
So, the answer seems to be a solid “probably.” Based on the Centurion card example, it seems that Choice Benefits do qualify (sort of) as “benefits associated with complimentary Status.” It seems unlikely to me that Delta would require lifetime elites to fly 8 qualifying segments each year to earn their Choice Benefits, but it’s possible. If they do require that, it shouldn’t be hard at all for a lifetime Diamond elite to achieve. After all, if you don’t fly at least 8 segments per year, you won’t get much value from your status anyway.
30 years of crazy-high spend
Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve Amex cards offer the ability to earn MQMs with big spend, as follows:
- Delta Platinum and Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card. For each $25K of calendar year spend (up to $50K), earn 10K MQMs (12.5K in 2021). Total per card per year: Spend $50K, Get 20K MQMs (25K in 2021).
- Delta Reserve and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card. For each $30K of calendar year spend (up to $120K), earn 15K MQMs (18,750 MQMs in 2021). Total per card per year: Spend $120K, Get 60K MQMs (75K in 2021).
It’s possible for one person to have all four of the cards listed above. If so, you could max out the spend on each one in order to earn up to 160K MQMs each year with $340K spend. Note that you’ll also earn at least 340,000 Delta SkyMiles per year from your spend.
If we assume that you’ll also earn 40K MQMs through actual flying each year, then every 5 years you’ll hit another Million Miler milestone. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll earn lifetime Diamond status after “only” 30 years.
The good news about this approach is that you’ll get Diamond status each year while working towards lifetime status. Diamond status requires 125,000 MQMs and either $15,000 MQDs (actual spend on Delta flights) or a MQD waiver from spending $250K across Delta credit cards. You’ll get both the MQD waiver and more than enough MQMs from your annual $340K spend in order to earn Diamond status each year.
Speed up with help from friends
MQMs earned via high spend on Delta Reserve cards are giftable. Each time you earn 15K MQMs from $30K spend, you can choose to add the MQMs to your own account or to gift them to a friend.
If you have a lot of friends who trust you a lot and who would like airport lounge access when flying Delta, you could theoretically do the following with each friend:
- Friend signs up for Delta Reserve card (business or consumer)
- Friend adds you as an authorized user.
- You spend $120,000 within a year on that card and you pay the friend’s credit card bill for those charges.
- Your friend keeps the 120,000 Delta SkyMiles earned, but gifts you the 60,000 MQMs.
- Your friend pays the card’s $550 annual fee. In exchange, they get airport lounge access when flying Delta (that’s a Delta Reserve card benefit) and they get 120,000 miles from your spend. That’s a great deal for your friend! Since Delta miles can be used for a minimum of 1 cent per point value towards flights, they would be getting lounge access plus at least $1,200 worth of flights for only $550 each year.
Depending upon how you manufacture spend, your costs when generating the spend will vary. If we assume a flat 2% cost of spend, then it will cost you $2,400 to generate $120,000 of spend and to receive 60,000 MQMs. Your cost would be 4 cents per MQM.
At the extreme end, with 100 friends who each get one Reserve card or 50 friends with 2 Reserve cards, you could get to lifetime Diamond Status in one year. Your total cost (with 2% cost of spend): 100 x $2,400 = $240,000. My most recent valuation for Delta Diamond status is $3,000 per year (see: What is Delta elite status worth?). This investment, then, would start to pay off after 80 years of lifetime status. LOL. And that’s only if Choice Benefits are awarded each year. In other words, it’s a very bad idea.
MQD Workaround
Usually, in order to earn Delta Diamond status you need to either earn $15,000 Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) or a Diamond MQD Waiver with $250K Delta credit card spend. The interesting thing about lifetime Diamond status is that it’s now possible to earn Diamond status without ever earning enough MQDs and without ever earning a MQD Waiver. Lifetime Diamond status does not have a MQD requirement. All you need are a measly 6 million MQMs. Easy! 😉
Wrap Up
Before doing the math, it was exciting to think that there’s now a way to manufacture lifetime Delta Diamond status. After doing the math, its more daunting than exciting. By fully maxing out spend on 4 different Delta cards and starting from scratch, it would take 30 years to achieve this without help from friends. Personally, I already have about 1.5 million MQMs, so it will “only” take me about 22 or 23 more years to get there. With how quickly things change with loyalty programs, 22 years is an eternity. Who knows if Delta Diamond status will still be valuable by then or if the Million Miler program will even exist? Not me. I don’t know and I wouldn’t bet on it.
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The problem is that DL does its higher elites a disfavor
1MM gets lifetime Silver (40 yrs at 25) while 3MM gets just Gold and a Thank You
Lifetime Plat is more expensive by 1MM than it should be
I am surprised they did not make DM more “exclusive” by making it 7MM
In any case, even at 5MM the lost cash back on 10M spend is about $262500 just using your favorite go to BofA cash rewards cards.
I can invest that money better than DL can.
Even factoring in 10M miles at 1c each on DL pay miles that still leaves a cost of 162500 for DM – still not worth it at all.
For someone young starting out in their job with lots of travel on OPM (other people’s money) then by all means add to your MQM and go for it – just don’t go on spend alone without using travel benefits
Greg, your article should be thought provoking to everyone in the game. Someone like commenter Nathan should easily qualify for the AMEX Business Centurion Card — Nathan, get in touch with your regional AMEX business relationship manager and ask her/him to submit your name for consideration. Nathan, while you’re not using Delta any longer, the concept that Greg opens up is that there are paths other than brute force to obtaining elite status. But, what if elite status doesn’t even matter? You earn 5+ million points per year (a little bit better than my wife and me, ha). Use your points to buy first class tickets on every flight you take. Whether pay-with-points (with the Centurion cards, redemption value on flights is 2 cents per point) or via a transfer partner. The cards give adequate lounge access. Given this, what more can tier status possibly offer? Then, extrapolate the concept to hotels. To other readers — while a person might not be a mega-spender like Nathan, you might find your own ways around the brute force method. Read. Ask “what if”?” Never give up.
I split the business spend strategically over many cards to maximize the return. We have several Amex Business Gold Cards as one of our largest suppliers fall into a 4x category. We use Citi AT&T Access More cards (no longer taking applications) for another supplier that falls into 3x with that card. We use a few Chase cards for 5x and 3x qualified spend. In person spend can go on the our US Bank Altitude Reserve for 3x using a mobile wallet. The rest can usually go on one of our 2% everywhere cards. (One day we might switch our business over to Bank of America to take advantage of 2.63% everywhere with Platinum Honors – but for now we are sticking with our local credit union.)
I haven’t decided yet if I would want an Amex Business Centurion Card. For purchases that don’t qualify for 4x with the Gold or another card bonus category and are also over $5K per transaction (so 1.5x MR/$) it would be a competitive rate of return. For the rest of our spend, we can do better. The high annual fee makes me hesitate even if Amex offers me one.
Yes, I use points or miles to purchase all our flights and often choose first/business. I bank airline miles with AA, EY, AS, BA, B6, DL, AF, VS, UA, TK, and AV earning primarily through their online shopping portals or/and transferring in from bank programs. Each trip I research if paying miles or cash is the best value. If cash, we can redeem Chase UR at 1.5 (Sapphire Reserve) or US Bank points also at 1.5 (Pay yourself Back) or Amex MR at a similar rate (Plat Bus).
As we earn far more points than we need flights, we cash most of them in (Amex –> Schwab, Citi –> Mortgage checks, Chase –> Pay Yourself Back, etc).
I split the business spend strategically over many cards to maximize the return. We have several Amex Business Gold Cards as one of our largest suppliers fall into a 4x category. We use Citi AT&T Access More cards (no longer taking applications) for another supplier that falls into 3x with that card. We use a few Chase cards for 5x and 3x qualified spend. In person spend can go on the our US Bank Altitude Reserve for 3x using a mobile wallet. The rest can usually go on one of our 2% everywhere cards. (One day we might switch our business over to Bank of America to take advantage of 2.63% everywhere with Platinum Honors – but for now we are sticking with our local credit union.)
I haven’t decided yet if I would want an Amex Business Centurion Card. For purchases that don’t qualify for 4x with the Gold and are also over $5K per transaction (so 1.5x MR/$) it would be a competitive rate of return. For the rest of our spend, we can do better. The high annual fee makes me hesitate even if Amex offers me one.
Yes, I use points or miles to purchase all our flights and often choose first/business. I bank airline miles with AA, EY, AS, BA, B6, DL, AF, VS, UA, TK, and AV earning primarily through their online shopping portals or/and transferring in from bank programs. Each trip I research if paying miles or cash is the best value. If cash, we can redeem Chase UR at 1.5 (Sapphire Reserve) or US Bank points also at 1.5 (Pay yourself Back) or Amex MR at a similar rate (Plat Bus).
As we earn far more points than we need flights, we cash most of them in (Amex –> Schwab, Citi –> Mortgage checks, Chase –> Pay Yourself Back, etc).
I’m fortunate enough to run business expenses through credit cards as well. As with you, I was mindful about which card for which charge. With various stacking techniques, I was earning north of 5X per dollar on all spending. While each person’s redemption objectives are different, I’m a travel redeemer and not a cash redeemer — to me, higher value — our threshold is 3.5 cents per point.
As with you, there came a point in time when we had enough points “in the bank” for ten years of airfare and hotels (figuring 120 to 140 nights per year). What the heck are we going to do with all these points? Rather than turn to cash back (which would not move our lifestyle needle one bit), we decided on two things.
First, simplify things to three cards. In doing so, we’re only leaving 3 to 5 percent of points-earning potential on the table. This was liberating. Others might have a different result.
Second, points earned beyond our needs pay for team member “thank you” trips as well as for our extended family. Honestly, the excess points would never move the needle on our lives but they sure move the needle on the lives of our team members and family. (Think about the goodwill value with one’s team. My team loves ol’ Joe.)
As for the Centurion Card, it is NOT about earning rate per se other than the 1.5X for $5k+ “all other charges” (like the Business Platinum). The Centurion Card is about the benefits. If someone actually uses any card, the person will receive benefits far in excess of its annual fee. Discussions about whether the revamped personal Platinum Card is worth the higher fee are misplaced. Of course it is worth it. Forgetting all of the other benefits, one stay at a Fine Hotels & Resorts pays for the $695 annual fee. Consider a four-day stay:
$75 per day breakfast credit = $300
$100 per stay property credit = $100
$200 per year hotel credit = $200
$200 per night upgrade value = $800
Total = $1400
Repeat
Again, if a person is actually using the Platinum Card, one is absolutely receiving greater value. If a person is not actually using the Platinum Card (or any other card), why have it?
The same goes with the Centurion Card. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want it. Of course, even people in AMEX management are not told what the Centurion Card benefits are. They are like some mystic rite from an ancient civilization. But, as this benefit or that benefit makes its way out of the dark, one says hmmm and realizes how much it might be to oneself. After I learned about enough of the purported 40+ benefits of the Centurion Card, I realized that its value to me would be tens of thousands of dollars net of the annual fee. Someone else might not uncover any value. Yet another might uncover more. But, one doesn’t know until they know.
Best of luck.
RE: points earned beyond our needs pay for team member “thank you” trips as well as for our extended family.
I applaud this.
RE your Fine Hotels & Resorts example, it only makes sense to ascribe that kind of $ for this benefit to Amex if you frequently use it at hotels that don’t offer the same or similar benefit through another program open to the public like one of these: https://frequentmiler.com/getting-the-elite-experience-without-elite-status-via-luxury-partner-programs/
RE The Centurion Card is about the benefits….. But, as this benefit or that benefit makes its way out of the dark, one says hmmm and realizes how much it might be to oneself. After I learned about enough of the purported 40+ benefits of the Centurion Card, I realized that its value to me would be tens of thousands of dollars net of the annual fee. Someone else might not uncover any value. Yet another might uncover more. But, one doesn’t know until they know.
I would love to know what benefits you value the most if you care to share. I would be most interested in learning about any major benefits not related to travel or fine dining.
Best wishes!
Regarding FHR, I’ve read the article you cited. While FHR benefits seem similar to those of other programs, there are key differences. FHR has early check-in if available, whereas the other programs might not have this at all. FHR has guaranteed 4pm check-out, whereas other programs have it as “if available.” Etc. With FHR, I’ve had one hotel extend check-out to 8pm without charge. !!! To me, when you stack these benefit side-by-side, FHR is the superior offering.
Regarding the Centurion Card, it has an additional hotel offering. It includes eight luxury hotel brands. The per-stay amenity is typically $100 to $200 MORE than the FHR’s $100 per-stay amenity. BUT, the biggie is that one receives a room upgrade AT THE TIME OF BOOKING. No other “public” program does that.
The benefits are about lifestyle enhancement — travel and dining being a big part of it. While every top-tier card has its exclusive events, the Centurion Card might have an intimate dinner prepared by a well-known master chef followed by an intimate performance by a well-known singer / band (whose name you would know). To get a fuller sense of these benefits, I’d recommend that you touch base with your AMEX regional business relationship manager.
There will come a point in time — I guarantee you — that your body can’t take five economy US-Europe round-trips in a year. It tells you that it needs something more . . . and it tells you not to rely on a probabilistic upgrade via tier status. It tells you that it needs a confirmed business / first class seat . . . and you’ll then know what to do with your points. It happened to me.
The article was about getting to Delta’s benefits via tier status that was achieved via alternative means. I’m suggesting that redeeming points for business / first class travel can achieve many of those benefits without the tier status. Complement that with some card benefits and one has a robust set of perks. The article stated that it was a mind exercise — the subtext being that we should all be thinking about how to enhance all of our life experiences (airline, hotel, something completely unrelated).
Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I completely agree with your main points.
Thank you for the suggestion and info RE Centurion..It will probably be a good fit for me in the near future if not this year.
One of my favorite perks of the Hyatt Privé program is the room upgrade at the time of booking. I also had a Hyatt Place extend check-out to 8pm without charge earlier this year, thanking me for being a Globalist. (One could spend $140,000 on the Hyatt Credit Card for Globalist with no hotel stays. In my case, I stay 30+ nights at Hyatts and make up the difference with card spend.)
And yes, I “need” a confirmed business / first class seat if I will be on a plane for very long. 10 years ago I felt differently.
All the best!
Hyatt Globalist status is gratis for AA Concierge Key members. Then, if you are so inclined . . . use Globalist to status match with MGM’s M Life . . . then use M Life to status match with Caesar’s and with Wyndham. It’s all out there and it’s yours for the taking. Now, go get ’em.
I am DL Platinum purely on MSing in the last 10 years. I have maxed all of my 4 cards and have had my wife gift me MQM miles. It is very worth it in my mind.
The required brain “real estate” and actual time involved sounds exhausting, but I like that you also showed the math so folks don’t end up spinning their wheels for a somewhat unattainable benefit.
My small business spends around $5 million/year on cards and I could easily get family/friends involved so I actually could do this but the opportunity cost just isn’t worth it. It seems buying the benefits (most come with first/business class) either purchased with $ or miles is a better value than taking that much spend away from higher return cards. That approach also allows me to choose the best airline(s) for each city pair (non-stop if possible, product, schedule, value).
Thank you Greg for doing the math and saving me the trouble!
I was considering earning annual Diamond largely from CC spend but then DL completely discontinued service to my most convenient airport last year with no apparent plans to bring it back.
The more daunting number is that it takes $12,000,000 of well-planned AmEx spend to hit the MQMs.
Wrap up: Earn FB Platinum 10 consecutive years, then calculate how much money you have been saved after that compairing with Delta Diamond and enjoy life with ST E+ status.
I am on track to reach Lifetime DM by age 82. By then we will likely be transported in some entirely different way.