How to earn Delta Medallion elite status without flying in 2023

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

From complimentary upgrades to priority boarding, Delta Air Lines status has various perks to make your travels more enjoyable.

Delta SkyMiles offers lots of ways to help earn elite status without flying. Today, we’ll discuss strategies you can employ to qualify for Medallion status without boarding a plane.

Delta Medallion status requirements

Delta Air Lines Airbus Tail Frankfurt — ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Qualifying for Delta status requires either Medallion Qualification Miles or Medallion Qualification Segments plus a certain amount of spending — namely, Medallion Qualification Dollars.

Here are the details:

Silver Medallion: 25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs plus 3,000 MQDs.
Gold Medallion: 50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs plus 8,000 MQDs.
Platinum Medallion: 75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs plus 12,000 MQDs.
Diamond Medallion: 125,000 MQMs or 140 MQSs plus 20,000 MQDs.

Delta rolls over every MQM you earned above your status tier last year. For example, let’s say you’re a Platinum Medallion, but you finished 2022 with 105,000 MQMs. That means you’ll start this year with 30,000 MQMs.

On most Delta-marketed tickets, you’ll earn 1 MQD per dollar spent (minus the taxes), though you can earn more when flying in premium cabins. You can also earn significantly more than 1 MQD per dollar on partner-issued tickets credited to Delta SkyMiles.

Earn Medallion status with personal credit cards

Delta Airbus A319 Economy First Class Cabins — ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Delta has two personal credit cards that can help you qualify for status. Here’s an overview of both cards:

Card	Annual fee	Welcome offer	MQMs	Notable perks
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card	$250 (see rates and fees).	Earn 90,000 bonus miles after $4,000 in spending in the first six months of card membership.	Earn 10,000 MQMs toward elite status after you spend $25,000 (up to 20,000 MQMs per year).	15% off award redemptions for Delta flights (when paying taxes and fees with this card), an annual companion certificate with each renewal for Main Cabin round-trip travel, 20% discount on inflight purchases on Delta flights and first checked bag free on Delta flights.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card	$550 (see rates and fees).	Earn 90,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months.	Earn 15,000 MQMs when you spend $30,000, $60,000, $90,000 and $120,000 on the card in a calendar year.	Delta Sky Club membership and Centurion Lounge access when traveling on Delta; an annual companion certificate each year upon card renewal for round-trip travel in first class, Comfort+, Premium Select or Main Cabin; complimentary upgrades for non-Medallions.

You’ll be exempt from the MQD requirements for Silver, Gold and Platinum Medallion when you spend $25,000 in a calendar year — though you must spend $250,000 to enjoy the MQD waiver for Diamond Medallion.

Earn Medallion status with business credit cards

Delta Embraer E175 LaGuardia LGA — ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Delta also has two business credit cards to help you qualify for Medallion status. Here’s the scoop:

Card	Annual fee	Welcome offer	MQMs	Notable perks
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	$250 (see rates and fees).	Earn 95,000 bonus miles after $4,000 of purchases in the first three months.	Earn 10,000 MQMs toward elite status after you spend $25,000 (up to 20,000 MQMs per year).	TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit, an annual companion certificate with each renewal, priority boarding, first checked bag free on Delta flights, 15% off award flights.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card	$550 (see rates and fees).	Earn 100,000 bonus miles after $6,000 in spending in the first three months.	Earn 15,000 MQMs when you spend $30,000, $60,000, $90,000 and $120,000 on the card in a calendar year.	Delta Sky Club membership and Centurion Lounge access when traveling on Delta; an annual companion certificate each year upon card renewal for round-trip travel in first class, Comfort+, Premium Select or Main Cabin; 20% discount on inflight purchases on Delta flights; first checked bag free on Delta flights.

As with the personal cards, you’ll be exempt from the MQD requirements for Silver, Gold and Platinum Medallion when you spend $25,000 in a calendar year. You must spend $250,000 to receive the MQD waiver for Diamond Medallion.

Combining cards for Medallion status

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 at the gate in Los Angeles — DANIEL SLIM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

These four cards can work well for qualifying for Medallion status, but if you’re a big spender, leveraging them together could push you even higher up the Delta elite status ladder.

Here are a few examples of how this could work, all of which assume you max out your MQM earnings this year:

Delta Platinum Amex + Delta Reserve Amex

If you’re not eligible for a small-business credit card but you still want to maximize your perks when flying Delta, consider grabbing both of these cards and spending your way to Medallion status.

Earn 20,000 MQMs by spending $50,000 on the Delta Platinum Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Amex in a calendar year.

With this path, you’re essentially spending your way to Platinum Medallion status. When you fly Delta, you’ll also enjoy a pair of companion certificates and Sky Club access.

Delta Platinum Business Amex + Delta Reserve Business Amex

By going the business path, you’ll earn the same as you would with the personal version of both these cards.

Earn 20,000 MQMs by spending $50,000 on the Delta Platinum Business Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Business Amex in a calendar year.

You’d have Platinum status, a pair of companion certificates and Sky Club access.

Delta Reserve Amex + Delta Reserve Business Amex

But let’s say you spend more than $170,000 on a credit card in a calendar year. Here’s what you could earn with both the personal and business Reserve cards:

Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Business Amex in a calendar year.

Then, by spending another $5,000 on each card before the end of the calendar year, you’d earn the MQD waiver for Diamond Medallion. And earning an extra 5,000 MQMs (which should be easy to earn with a couple of flights), you’d enjoy top-tier Delta status through Jan. 31, 2025.

Oh, and you’ll still enjoy a pair of yearly companion tickets and Sky Club access whenever you fly Delta.

All 4 cards

Finally, let’s take this to the logical extreme. If you have all four cards in your wallet and are a major spender, you could spend your way to Diamond Medallion status every year. Here’s what you’d earn:

Earn 20,000 MQMs by spending $50,000 on the Delta Platinum Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 20,000 MQMs by spending $50,000 on the Delta Platinum Business Amex in a calendar year.
Earn 60,000 MQMs by spending $120,000 on the Delta Reserve Business Amex in a calendar year.

With $340,000 of annual spending among these four cards, you’d earn 160,000 MQMs, and of course, you would be exempt from the Diamond MQD spending requirement.

Related: Best Delta credit cards

More ways to earn status quickly

Delta Terminal 4 JFK Upgrades Sky Club Express A Gates SkyPriori — ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Utilizing Delta’s higher-end credit cards is a great strategy to push yourself closer to Medallion status, but it’s not the only way. Here are other options to help shortcut your way to Delta elite status.

Utilize a status challenge

Delta has a publicly available status challenge program, so if you currently hold status with a qualifying airline and haven’t done a status match or challenge with Delta in the previous three years, you can submit a request to enjoy a three-month trial of Medallion status. You then must complete a set amount of flying and spending during that three-month period to extend the status.

Upgrade your flight with miles

You’ll earn bonus MQMs when you upgrade your flight with miles. Technically this is still flying, but by using miles to bump yourself to first class, you could accelerate your progress toward Medallion status.

Earn on award travel

On Delta metal, you can also earn Medallion accruals on award tickets. MQMs and MQSs are credited based on the length of the flight, while you’ll earn 1 MQD for every 100 SkyMiles you redeem.

For example, TPG senior editor Andrew Kunesh was just under 400 MQDs short of earning Diamond Medallion in 2021. So, he rebooked his flight home for the holidays using SkyMiles. It wasn’t cheap at 40,000 SkyMiles — nor was it a traditionally good use of points — but it ensured he qualified for status with no out-of-pocket expense.

Check out this guide for additional last-minute suggestions on qualifying for Delta Medallion status.

Bottom line

There are lots of ways to earn Medallion status without boarding a plane. Through the airline’s cobranded credit cards, you can spend your way to multiple elite status tiers.

While most travelers will likely blend the above credit cards with some actual flying, it’s nice to know that you can use multiple Delta American Express cards to boost your Medallion qualification prospects.

For rates and fees of the Delta Skymiles Platinum Business Amex Card, click here

For rates and fees of the Delta Skymiles Reserve Business Amex Card, click here

For rates and fees of the Delta Skymiles Platinum Amex Card, click here

For rates and fees of the Delta Skymiles Reserve Amex Card, click here

Additional reporting by Benji Stawski and Nick Ewen.