Permanent: Delta SkyMiles Award Tickets Count Toward Elite Status

One of the changes Delta SkyMiles has announced is particularly exciting.

Earn Delta Medallion status with mileage tickets

Delta SkyMiles award travel will qualify for elite status permanently. This was added as a temporary feature in the spring of 2021. The policy was extended through 2022, but now we know that it will stay around permanently.

If you redeem Delta SkyMiles for a ticket, you will receive a number of benefits.

Since there is no revenue associated with award flights, how are the MQDs earned? One cent per mile is the rate at which MQDs will be earned. If you redeem 20,000 SkyMiles for a ticket, you will earn 200 MQDs.

There are a few things that make this interesting.

• In 2020, Virgin Atlantic started counting all award flights toward Flying Club elite status as a permanent perk; Delta has a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic and owns a 49% stake in the airline, so I’d imagine there was some cooperation in this decision being made
• With the way that Delta has tried to turn SkyMiles into a revenue-based currency and allow members to redeem SkyMiles for virtually all Delta purchases, there’s no reason award flights should be treated differently than revenue flights for these purposes
• I’m impressed that Delta SkyMiles is even awarding MQDs for award flights, meaning that you could (in theory) earn Delta Medallion elite status exclusively through award flights

Delta is the first major airline in the United States to introduce this policy on a permanent basis.

• I could see United MileagePlus introducing a similar policy, given that United has slowly been rolling out more perks for elite members in select situations on award tickets
• I don’t see American AAdvantage following, since the program is now based entirely on earning Loyalty Points, so there’s no practical way those could be earned when redeeming miles

Delta eliminates mileage earning cap on tickets

Depending on their elite tier, Delta SkyMiles members earn anywhere from 5-11x miles per dollar spent on airline tickets. You can't earn more than 75,000 SkyMiles on a single ticket. If you spend at least $6,800 on a ticket, you will only run into this limit if you spend $15,000 or more.

The cap will be eliminated immediately. SkyMiles members who earned more than 75,000 SkyMiles will have those miles credited retroactively.

I think this is a great change for the highest fare passengers. The cap of 75,000 miles per ticket, which limits the amount you can spend and be rewarded on, never made sense to me. The first major US airline to lift this cap is Delta.

Bottom line

Delta SkyMiles has made some positive changes. The program will count award tickets towards elite status, meaning you can earn MQMs, MQSs, and MQDs for award tickets. Those on really expensive tickets can earn even more miles because the airline has eliminated the cap on SkyMiles.

What do you think about the Delta SkyMiles changes?