Delta elite status is shockingly easy to earn this year. It was true last year too, but we figured that Delta would make things tougher in 2025. They didn’t. Here’s what you need to know…
Delta Elite Status Overview
| SILVER | GOLD | PLATINUM | DIAMOND | |
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| Miles per dollar earned on paid flights | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
| Free domestic upgrades to 1st Class | Begins 24 hours before departure | Begins 72 hours before departure | Begins 120 hours before departure | Begins 120 hours before departure |
| Free domestic upgrades to Comfort+ | 24 hours before departure | 72 hours before departure | Shortly after ticketing | Shortly after ticketing |
| CLEAR membership discount price | $159 | $159 | $159 | Free |
| Dedicated phone line | Priority | High Priority | Higher Priority | VIP Line |
| Free companion upgrades |  |
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| Free preferred seat selection | |
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| Waived bag fees | |
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| Waived same day confirmed or standby change fees | |
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| Sky Priority boarding | |
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| Sky Priority expedited checked bags | |
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| Sky Team lounge access on international flights | |
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| Hertz elite status | Five Star | Five Star | President's Circle | President's Circle |
| Waived change & cancellation fees regardless of route | |
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| 2025 Choice Benefits | Choose 1: | Choose 3: | ||
| Upgrade certificates | 4 Regional | 4 Global (or 8 Regional or 2 Global & 4 Regional) | ||
| Statement Credits (for Delta Platinum and Reserve Cardholders) | $400 | $700 | ||
| Starbucks® Rewards Stars | 6,000 Stars | 6,000 Stars | ||
| Delta Sky Club® Individual Membership | N/A | Requires 2 Choices | ||
| Delta Sky Club® Executive Membership | N/A | Requires 3 Choices | ||
| MQD Accelerator | $1,000 MQDs | $2,000 MQDs | ||
| Gift medallion status | 2 Silver | 2 Gold | ||
| Bonus miles | 30K | 35K | ||
| Delta Vacations Flight + Hotel Cert | $400 | $500 | ||
| Sustainable Aviation Fuel Contribution | $250 | $250 | ||
| Delta Travel Voucher | $300 | $350 | ||
| Wheels up flight credit | $1,500 | $2,000 |
- Unlimited complimentary upgrades (when available, upgrade from coach to first class on domestic flights). Higher status leads to better chance of upgrades.
- Waived same-day confirmed fees and waived same-day standby fees (switch to different flight on same day as ticketed flight). Requires Gold or higher. Info about getting value from same day changes can be found here: Leveraging Delta’s Same Day Flight Changes.
- Complementary Preferred seat selection (choose exit row seats with lots of legroom)
- Complementary Comfort+ Seats (more leg room, free drinks, better snacks).
- Regional upgrade certificates. While these rarely confirm before the flight, waitlisting a regional upgrade puts you to the front of the line for upgrading at the gate. This is great to use for flights where upgrades are most important to you. For example, I use these for flights of about 3 hours or longer. This is a choice benefit for Platinum and Diamond status. Upgrade certificates can be applied to both paid and award tickets.
- Global upgrade certificates. Use these to upgrade from economy to Premium Select, or from Premium Select to business class on any flight when upgrade space is available. When you upgrade from economy to Premium Select, Delta will put you on the business class (Delta One) upgrade list 24 hours before your flight. This is a choice benefit for Diamond status only. Upgrade certificates can be applied to both paid and award tickets.
- Free award changes and cancellations. This used to be huge, but now all awards originating in North America are free to change or cancel for all members. With Platinum and Diamond status, that benefit extends to flights originating elsewhere. Requires Platinum or higher for free changes on awards originating outside of North America.
2025 Elite Requirements
Delta elite status is be based entirely on MQDs (Medallion Qualifying Dollars). MQDs are defined primarily as dollars spent on Delta flights and Delta Vacations (MQDs are earned once you actually travel, not when you purchase the travel), but they can also be earned through holding certain credit cards, spend on certain credit cards, and as Choice Benefits for Platinum and Diamond elite members.
In 2025, the following MQD amounts are required to earn each level of elite status for the 2026 Medallion year. Once the thresholds are met, you get elite status immediately, and it will last through the rest of 2025, all of 2026, and through January of 2027:
- Silver Medallion: $5,000 MQDs
- Gold Medallion: $10,000 MQDs
- Platinum Medallion: $15,000 MQDs
- Diamond Medallion: $28,000 MQDs
Shortcuts to Delta Medallion status
In addition to earning MQDs through spend on Delta (and partner) flights and vacations, the following options are available: MQD Headstarts, MQDs from spend, promotional MQDs, and MQD Accelerator Choice Benefits. Each is described below…
MQD Headstarts
For each of the following cards, you get $2,500 MQDs towards Medallion elite status:
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
It’s possible to have all four of the above cards and to therefore get $10,000 MQDs (enough for Gold status) automatically. Note though that these are credit cards and Amex limits each person to 5 or 6 credit cards total (charge cards, or what Amex likes to call “Pay over Time” cards, like the Amex Gold Card and Green Card do not count towards this total). Due to the credit card limit, it can be difficult to get all four qualifying Delta cards. More about Amex credit card limits can be found here.
MQDs from Spend
You can earn MQDs with spend as follows:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $10
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $10
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $20
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $20
If you’re interested in earning MQDs from spend, the Delta Reserve cards are a much better option than the SkyMiles Platinum cards since they earn twice as many MQDs for the same amount of spend. Plus, that spend counts towards the $75K needed to get unlimited Sky Club visits.
Promotional MQDs
Delta periodically runs promotions where you can earn MQDs from things like purchasing hotel stays or car rentals through Delta, buying things from a Delta store, etc.
MQD Accelerator Choice Benefits
Each year, Platinum and Diamond Medallion members get to pick Choice Benefits. Platinum members can select one Platinum Choice Benefit. Diamond members can select one Platinum Choice Benefit and 3 Diamond Choice Benefits. One option at each level is to select an MQD Accelerator:
- MQD Accelerator Platinum Choice Benefit: $1,000 MQDs
- MQD Accelerator Diamond Choice Benefit: $2,000 MQDs
A member who achieves Diamond status could select both the $1,000 MQDs for their Platinum Choice Benefit plus $2,000 MQDs for the Diamond Choice Benefit. Additionally, they can use all three of their Diamond Choice Benefits this way for a total of up to $7,000 MQDs.
The MQDs earned this way, apply towards achieving the following year’s elite status. For example, if you earned Diamond status in 2024, that status is referred to as 2025 Diamond status (because status earned in 2024 applies to the entire 2025 year). Then, if you pick an MQD Accelerator as one of your 2025 Choice Benefits, the MQDs would apply to your account now (in 2025) to help you earn 2026 status.
An Easy Path to Status
Step 1: Get both Delta SkyMiles Platinum Cards
Make sure to get both of these $350 cards:
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card
As long as you haven’t had the above cards or the consumer Delta Reserve card before, you should be able to qualify for the current welcome bonus for each card. That should more than make up for the first year annual fee for each card. Then, in subsequent years, perks like the annual companion ticket, discounted awards, and hotel rebates can make up for the annual fee.
In order to apply for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it’s common for people to have businesses without realizing it. For example, if you sell items at a yard sale or on eBay, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship and you can apply for a business credit card using your own name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as your business Tax ID (also known as EIN).
Once you get the two SkyMiles Platinum cards, you will be given two $2,500 MQD “Headstarts.” $2,500 MQDs + $2,500 MQDs = $5,000 MQDs = Silver status. Boom. You now have Silver Medallion status!
Step 2: Get both Delta Reserve cards
If you have enough credit card “slots” (i.e. you currently have no more than 3 Amex credit cards), then you can apply for each of the $650 Delta Reserve cards:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
As long as you haven’t had these cards before, you should be able to qualify for the welcome bonuses which will go a long way towards making up for the first year annual fees. For subsequent years, the card perks like Sky Club access, companion tickets, etc. may make up for the annual fees.
Once you have both Delta Reserve cards, you will be credited with another $5,000 MQDs for a total of $10,000 MQDs. Boom. You’ll then have Gold Medallion status!
Step 3: Spend towards higher level status
If you never set foot on a Delta flight, the above steps will get you to Gold Medallion status. You can then put spend on one of your Delta Reserve cards to earn additional MQDs towards higher level status. This is true for the Delta Platinum cards too, but at half the MQD earning rate.
In fact, any spend you do in order to earn welcome bonuses will add to your MQD count. As a reminder, the Delta cards earn MQDs at the following rates:
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $20
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $20
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $10
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: Earn $1 MQD per $10
Example: If you have $10,000 MQDs from the MQD Headstarts and you want to get to Platinum status (which requires 15,000 MQDs), you can get the extra 5,000 MQDs with $50,000 spend on Delta Reserve cards.
The Status Match Option
If you have status in another airline, you can apply for a Delta status match. If accepted, you’ll get Delta elite status for a 3 month trial period. Then, if you earn the target number of MQDs during the trial period, you’ll get to keep that status through January 2027.
Full details can be found here: Delta’s excellent status match (status for up to 2 years).
Conclusion
If you’re willing and able to apply for a number of pricey Amex cards, you can earn up to Delta Gold elite status without stepping foot on a plane and without even putting any spend on those cards. If you want to earn a higher level of status, that can be done through spend on your Delta Reserve cards.
Of course, earning elite status isn’t worth much if you don’t fly Delta often so I don’t recommend doing this if you’re not going to fly Delta. If you do fly Delta a fair amount, you’ll earn additional MQDs from flying. Even when redeeming SkyMiles you’ll earn MQDs (at a rate of $1 MQD per 100 Sky Miles spent). So you’ll potentially reach an even higher level of status through the combination of credit card MQDs and flight MQDs.
Overall, Delta elite status is really easy to earn in 2025. That may change next year. As I write this, we don’t yet know to what extent Delta may increase elite requirements in 2026. Stay tuned.
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