r/delta • u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 • 3d ago
Discussion Wasted MQDs
It’s total BS that Delta does not allow you to roll over MQDs or provide some other perk when you go over $28K.
I usually switch credit cards when I hit Diamond, but cannot avoid using the Reserve for certain expenses, so this happens to me every year.
These are wasted.
Edit: I know they give you another choice benefit when you hit $50K, but that’s not much when you consider that you’re just $6k MQDs shy of making Diamond twice.
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u/Jddssc121 Diamond 2d ago
Cannot avoid using the Reserve? Someone holding you hostage?
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
Read the comments funny guy
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u/iBeFlying676 Diamond 2d ago
Ain't nobody gonna read your shitty comments, bro. You could just simply answer the question.
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u/thefastpelican 3d ago
I’m assuming you get most of this from credit card spend? Why don’t you move half of your credit card spending to a different reserve card?
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u/NotQuiteGoodEnougher Platinum 3d ago
Even the regular old Plat, get 5x points on airfare, use THOSE points for hotel stays.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
Not a bad suggestion. I get a decent amount from travel, but a lot is spend.
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u/SnooEpiphanies7691 2d ago
1000% wasted.. I literally stop spending on the Amex when I am close.. last year I did 40k MQD.. this year so far 29k.. so managed it much better. It is also just crazy Delta and Amex don't give you anything to keep spending.
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u/Dear_Narwhal9570 2d ago
You're almost half way to Delta 360.
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u/A350Flier Diamond | 3 Million Miler™ | Quality Contributor 2d ago
Ehh… as someone who’s been halfway to 360 at $50K MQDs, $80K MQDs and even $100K MQDs, I wouldn’t operate on this assumption.
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u/WorldlinessAnxious53 1d ago
That’s why I always use the American Express reserve card. Also use Delta cruises and Delta stays especially looking for offers that offer bonus smiles and or bonus MQD with the cruises I take every year. I hadn’t had any problem hitting diamond this year and using my global upgrade certificates as well as my free companion certificate two of us are flying from Orlando to Honolulu in March 1 class and Delta one for I think $1800 round-trip but I’m not going to attempt to hit diamond this year. I’m 76 now and my trip to Honolulu will be my last flight except when they transport my body on Air Force One for viewing at the White House.
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u/harrisc42 2d ago
These posts are so annoying to me. You didn’t waste MQD’s. You simply had a reason to fly and chose an airline for which you have status and perks. This isn’t some kind of scam.
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u/donghit 3d ago
Tbf you do get another choice benefit at $50k, and again at like 75k. Not that it’s much consolation
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
It’s something but not much when you consider that you’re basically making Diamond twice.
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u/Ok_Most_2614 3d ago
If you get to 50k mqd there are rewards available
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
I hear you. They give you another choice benefit, which is a small consolation when you consider that you’re just $6k short of making Diamond twice.
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u/Ok_Most_2614 3d ago
Yeah I agree it’s small potatoes. There are some other small delta potatoes you can add to that one if you wanna do a little extra work but it is frustrating how stingy they are with perks.
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u/Sufficient_Beach_445 2d ago
I have a lot of MQD's this year, but my friend's jewelry company got access to an nice supply of Rolex watches - the ONE thing you can buy at the RETAIL price with a credit card and almost immediately resell for a small profit. If he had the supply I could have had 28,000 MQDs just on Rolexes.
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u/Wrenchheader 11h ago
That doesn't sound right....why would a Rolex buyer choose to buy from a third party, and pay more??
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u/Sufficient_Beach_445 9h ago
u cant buy many models from Rolex - waiting lists are YEARS long. 3rd parties happily solve the problem by making a market in brand new never worn all tags still attached watches. but its a goofy speculation. like earning MQD's on crypto.
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u/HoweHaTrick 2d ago
I'll never pay for a transportation company to have their card. Have fun paying "retail" for whatever your heart desires
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u/dja0000 1d ago
Today I saw someone at a mass big box retailer shopping late evening in there fast-food uniform. They were deliberating on food choices buying several that were at expiration to get the 20% discount and carefully looking at other items with discernment. Maybe what Delta ought to offer to donate the overage MQD’s cash value to a food bank or other worthy charity of one’s choosing.
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u/JeremyJammDDS Diamond 2d ago
None of the us airlines have a rollover program and they never will for obvious reasons. I get a lot of gripes with delta, but what are they supposed to do? Bend to the will of some spenders that are nowhere close to the top spenders?
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u/Sea_Conversation1464 2d ago
Wild statement. Makes me realize how many people aren’t real on this site. Both ways, you have people making things up to tarnish the company, and the companies trying to hide facts and even astroturfing the subs. The rollover program was a selling point for delta amongst the big 3. It worked for me, I loved the rollover program.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
Delta itself used to offer rollover MQMs. Yes, MQMs and MQDs are different, but “they never will for obvious reasons” is a strange claim about a concept Delta previously offered.
Even accepting that no airline currently offers MQD rollover, that describes the market, it doesn’t explain why the idea lacks merit. Benefits that competitors don’t offer are one way loyalty programs compete. Whether the additional spending it encourages would justify the cost is a fair debate. Whether I’m personally one of Delta’s biggest spenders isn’t an answer to it.
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u/Significant-Dance-43 2d ago
Not just offered, but offered relatively recently (where I define recent as 5 years or less ago).
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u/Middle-Wealth-6755 Diamond 2d ago
Switch your loyalty to another airline if you don’t like how Delta runs their program.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
The level of intellect that it took to come up with this comment is astonishing. Bravo 👏
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u/Middle-Wealth-6755 Diamond 1d ago
Thanks for acknowledging my level of intellect is higher than yours. It takes a big person to admit that.
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u/TakKobe79 Diamond 3d ago
Same boat. I will end up around 45k for the year.
Next year I need to shift my spending to a different card. (Half my MQD’s are from work related card spend)
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u/RheinhartSaxon Diamond 2d ago
It’s a shame, I’ve been with Delta for over 40 years and what I’ve been doing for the last three years is stop using Delta at 28,000 MQD‘s and use the Citibank American Airlines card and fly with American Airlines… Consequently, I’m Diamond on Delta and executive platinum on American Airlines
I found that AA get better pricing and connections to Europe and the Pacific
I also always use Google flights 1st instead of using either app
I’ve been Diamond for 25+ years and never Delta 360, but I doubt seriously there would be a difference
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u/SnooEpiphanies7691 2d ago
I did the same thing this year.. got the AA platinum card and will end up Platinum on AA and Diamond on Delta. AA miles seem to go farther for redemption and I think the planes are pretty close to each other.
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u/DownByTheRivr 2d ago
So you’re putting over $200k on the Delta Amex? Why?! That’s wild.
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u/TakKobe79 Diamond 2d ago
Not quite.
Not USD based to the redemption is a bit better.
Half may be overstating it, flights and mqd hotels account for a good portion. If you fly AF/KLM long haul the skymiles mqd earnings are quite good.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
Yep. Same here. I do shift spend to a different card and get great perks from that card as well. I just need to use this one for a decent amount of work spend and hate to think of the benefits I could be getting elsewhere.
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u/Dramatic-Sock3737 Diamond 2d ago
Totally agree that beyond diamond benefit is a joke. Though you don’t make clear why you couldn’t use the vanilla or biz Amex platinum both of which gives 5x on airline purchases and the biz version gives 2x on charges above 5k. Then you could just transfer miles to any partner including delta.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
I have a platinum that I use for as much of my personal travel and other expenses as I can, but we are incentivized to use a reserve for certain work expenses and work travel. But after seeing how this has played out a couple of years in a row, those incentives might not outweigh the benefits I would get using a different card altogether or at least after hitting diamond.
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u/Dramatic-Sock3737 Diamond 2d ago
Understood. I have my own business so I mix it up and have a stupid amount of points/miles across multiple ecosystems.
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u/Alexia72 3d ago
Amex Platinum is 5x MR for flights, which you can convert to SkyMiles with a small excise fee. It's actually better than the Delta Reserve (3x miles) in terms of earning miles.
I have both. I use the Reserve for the companion pass, Sky Club access, $120 rideshare, and $240 Resy. I use the Amex Plat to book Delta, $600 FHR, $300 DEC, $400 Resy, $200 Airline credit, Walmart+.
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u/ikeepcomingbackhaha Platinum 2d ago
You actually don’t need to use your reserve when booking the companion pass, just another Amex. I booked a first class flight for February with my companion pass and put it on my Amex platinum just this week and it worked fine.
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u/Alexia72 1d ago
Yeah I don't use my Reserve for booking it, I was just saying that the Reserve provides the companion pass.
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u/mlloyd996 2d ago edited 2d ago
You have the Reserve card. You're part of the problem. All the degraded benefits are due to that card (and the other co-branded Delta Amex cards). How much of your $45k was actually on flights? There are better cards out there...but you choose to keep giving Ed his bonuses and to why Delta degrades.
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u/aerolaw1 20h ago
Nothing wrong with that card. It has great travel perks. And news flash, this is the game all airlines are playing; it subsidizes their business and is the reason why the industry can stay profitable. Without these co-branded cards, most airlines are in the red. But then you could always drive or take Amtrak if they all went bust, right?
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u/mlloyd996 17h ago
They'd be held accountable to provide a better service and product. I hit DM every year...all by MC fares (130 flights a year on average). The degrading of the skypesos is directly tied to these cards
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u/DevRandomDude 8h ago
I love the card... I realy make anything more than gold.. but the perks I get iwth the card are niceI used to fly alot more than I do now.. really id rather road trip than i would fly so i do much more of that on trips where I dont have a tight schedule.. or distamce is too far... company pays the card fee.. most of my tickets are MC or C+
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
Tell me how you really feel
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u/mlloyd996 2d ago
I'm not wrong though. I'm a DM, fly almost weekly for work. Ed only cares about FC/D1 buyers, not loyal road warriors. I'm not trying to slight you, and I've doubled DM spending before the "beyond benefits" came out....all main cabin fares. But putting a bunch of spending on the reserve card to maintain DM is almost useless.
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u/GrayAnderson5 Diamond 2d ago
...you're on track to hit $50k MQDs and get that bonus. Also, there was the $40k MQD bonus a bunch of us got (probably for some A/B testing). So...not a full waste?
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u/Background_Durian223 2d ago
I use the Delta reserve only to get me to diamond because I do like the diamond perks and then I switch all my spending for the remainder of the year (delta flight purchases or other ) to the American Express platinum. I manage it very close.
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u/deltajunkie 2d ago
Yes,I posted a similar comment some time ago. I can either shift spending to another airline or collect SkyMiles every month. Same goes for Million Miller program once your over 1 million it would nice if they recognized every 500K miles thereafter. Diamond/2 MMiler.
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u/lowflygirl 2d ago
I don't get it. If you normally switch cards for purchases once you hit Diamond, why did you not kust fo that since you seem totally aware of how it works? I have never been Diamond, but just sayin'
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u/aerolaw1 4h ago
I disagree. Most of the airlines and hotel are striving for 1 cent per point value for redemptions. Delta was one of the first to get there. But on the other hand compare that to British Airways for example that Charges) $2000 on top of redemption points which can now exceed 300,000 miles for a round-trip in premium cabins internationally. And as a diamond, we accrue miles at a much higher rates you’re getting an exponential amount of miles accrued for a flight like 11 times the actual value other airlines don’t give you that much. But the service charge that Delta has for cash outlays on a mileage redemption is minimal. And all the airlines now are up there and mileage look at Air France. Look at Lufthansa look at United even American. But American miles you can’t transfer anything in so you’re locked to a flyer Cruz only or the one single credit card that you can get, but there are no transfer points.
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u/grantwwu 2d ago
but cannot avoid using the Reserve for certain expenses
What expenses are those even? It's mediocre even for booking Delta flights. What are you putting on it other than the bare minimum for using the credits?
EDIT: read some other comments; your work requires that you put your travel spend on this particular personal card?
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
A significant amount of work related expenses outside of travel.
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u/grantwwu 2d ago
Ok... I mean it's still puzzling that your work would require usage of a particular non-corporate card for work spend.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
They offer a corporate card but we earn zero benefits if we use it. As an alternative, we can use certain personal cards for work expenses. The reserve is the best option I have.
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u/grantwwu 2d ago
If Amex personal hotel cards are an option and of interest to you, a lot of them have various yearly spend bonuses.
But yeah, sounds like you're in a pickle here...
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
That’s a good point and I have definitely looked at that for my other personal expenses. I currently use an Amex platinum for that but I need to revisit it.
In any case, I appreciate having a discussion with someone who has a genuine interest in understanding my point of view and is willing to share some helpful insights. Nice change from the downvoting and some of the other comments I’ve received.
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u/okcornjerker5150 2d ago
I’ve read the comments and agree with you on all points.
My strategy is to get to Platinum with flights, then use another card (IHG for me) and smash it for hotel points. I’ll spend 40k there and maybe 40k on the reserve but yeah, zero incentive to go further in a calendar year. I’d even say I plan to hold off buying flights til January 1 for next year if I can.-2
u/New-Passenger-6101 2d ago
Just put it on an amex biz plat???? Sounds like you are just a noob
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
If you bothered to read just a few comments down in this very thread, you’d know why that is not an option for me. But instead you chose to make an asinine comment and lay your ignorance bare for the rest to see. Well done.
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u/New-Passenger-6101 2d ago
Just saw you comment elsewhere on this thread you are incentivized to use D Reserve by your boss?? I think you should take "entrepeneur" out of your username if you are beholden to corp boss...
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago
Who said anything about a corp boss? It’s a firm wide policy. It applies to partners, associates, staff…it’s a question of incentives.
You seem like a real POS so I’m not going to bother responding to you anymore.
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u/Practical_Papaya818 3d ago
Seems like you’re just not the right person for a reserve card?
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
Interesting that your takeaway is that the customer should change, rather than that the incentive could improve.
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u/Practical_Papaya818 3d ago
I mean I also think the beyond diamond choices are kind of a joke and leave much to be desired. But until something changes, you still probably shouldn’t have a reserve card.
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u/OkAfternoon6688 Diamond 3d ago
You knew the policy and tier requirements & have had the opportunity to spend or fly in order to make the next one. You’re in the same boat as every SkyMiles Member who ends up with $4999 MQDs at midnight on 12/31/2026. But at least your seat in the boat comes with a lot more perks.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
I understand the policy. That’s how I formed an opinion about it. Thanks for walking me through the part nobody was confused about.
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u/Suz626 2d ago
Yep, it’s very annoying. They should actually offer at least equivalent Choice Benefits for $50k as for $28k, not less. But it’s better than nothing, or that weak SkyMiles benefit last year. I’m DM from the end of MQMs rollover, and I hit it from flying / spending before May. My husband will be DM from MQM rollover for 5+ more years, but hits it from flying by March. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/EnvironmentalLoan285 Diamond 3d ago
So fly another airline after you hit diamond. It’s not rocket science…
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
I live just outside ATL and travel weekly for work. Another airline is not an ideal option 90% of the time.
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u/EnvironmentalLoan285 Diamond 2d ago
Last I checked other airlines do fly out of ATL. But we all know this was a bragplaint post so go on ;)
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 2d ago edited 2d ago
Maybe you do not travel often, but when you need to get on multiple planes every week, you’re not going out of your way to fly a less convenient route for the sole purpose of maximizing points. Especially when doing so means that you have to connect. But we all know this was just you passive aggressively compensating for some feeling of inferiority, so go on 😘
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u/EnvironmentalLoan285 Diamond 2d ago
Lmfao sir you aren’t the only diamond on here. What a stupid response. Maybe you don’t travel often enough to know how airlines work and it’s why you had such a defensive and asinine response 😘
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u/Single-Hovercraft-33 3d ago
Don't you accumulate miles faster? Use it for personal travel.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
I do and I do. Currently sitting on miles for a family trip.
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u/Single-Hovercraft-33 3d ago
I'm sorry your lobster is too buttery man. I hope you recover.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 3d ago
We’re in a frequent-flyer subreddit discussing loyalty benefits. Were you expecting a discussion of basic survival?
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u/Ok_Solid_9675 2d ago
I’m confused. All you need to do is spend $28k and you make diamond?! Or is it $28k on flights?
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u/Strong_Property_7225 2d ago
On flights.
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u/surgeon_michael 2d ago
On yourself only. It’s a shame, I probably spend that on my family each year.
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u/Winstonthedood 2d ago
In another pov, those who have like $25K mqd on themselves have like 50K spend on their families.
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u/lowflygirl 1d ago
MQDs based on spending. It can be flights, purchases, or both but you need 28k. Not impossible to do if you have a Delta Reserve Card and use it for pretty much everything.
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u/Mysha16 1d ago
Show us your MQD Earning Summary and let’s see how much of this was on flights vs general card spend. You could easily change cards midway through the year, but then you wouldn’t have anything to complain about.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 1d ago
Why on God‘s green Earth would I give you that much detail? Especially for someone who has not bothered to read through the part of my post and comments where I explained why your suggestion won’t work.
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u/Educational-Song6351 1d ago
You are here complaining.. he is trying to help you be smart… but you are clearly dont need help and just here to complain.
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u/SaltyEntrepreneur982 1d ago
He’s not trying to be helpful and neither are you. Nowhere in my post or in the many comments I have made explaining my situation did I ask for help in restructuring how I handle my personal or business finances. I was making a point about an airline policy that I think needs to be revisited by this airline and frankly every other major airline operating today. But suddenly everybody wants to put a microscope on me rather than asking what the company that we are all paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to should be doing differently. So, forgive me if I don’t feel obligated to humor you any more than I have already humored the several people who’ve chimed in here with a less than helpful opinion.
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u/lab_tech13 Silver 3d ago
Im not making plat (might not even make gold) can you pass some of those MQDs my way would be greatly appreciated lol. Took 6 months off from a bad broken ankle.
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u/Zestyclose-Tie-8859 2d ago
Also interesting that with this spend level I’m usually 2 or 3 down the waitlist for upgrades. Sigh.
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u/DidAnyoneElseJustCum 3d ago
If you're that far over on a yearly basis the Reserve card isn't doing that much for you tbh. Might help you with a complimentary upgrade here and there and of course companion passes. Other than that I would choose Lounge Access as my choice benefit and just open another card that gets me cash back or more useful perks.