Delta Status Guide: Status Levels, Benefits, How To Earn and Requirements 

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  Andrew Kunesh

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  Andrew Kunesh has written about award travel and credit cards for nearly 10 years. He was previously a Senior Editor at The Points Guy and CNN Underscored, and is now a freelance writer and editor who contributes to top travel publications. His work has appeared on The Points Guy, CNN, Upgraded Points, CreditKarma, Travel + Leisure, and various other publications. Andrew grew up in the Chicago suburbs and moved to New York City in 2018 after graduating from DePaul University's College of Computing and Digital Media. His credit card portfolio spans most major transferable points currencies, but his favorite currencies to earn and redeem are American Express Membership Rewards and Bilt Rewards points. This is thanks to many ways to redeem these points for high-end travel. He estimates he's redeemed over 2 million points and miles since he got his first travel credit card in 2014. He travels over 100,000 miles annually, primarily funded with credit card, airline, and hotel rewards. His favorite places to travel are Prague, Hong Kong, London, Penang, and Tokyo, but he's always searching for the next hot destination. When he's not traveling (or writing about it), you'll find Andrew in New York City searching for the best new restaurant.

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  Emily Gadd, CCC™

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  Emily Gadd is a NACCC Certified Credit Counselor™, editor and personal finance expert responsible for writing about personal finance and credit cards. She got her start writing and editing at Healthline. She is passionate about creating educational content that makes complex topics accessible. Emily holds a credit counselor certification, accredited by the National Association of Certified Credit Counselors (NACCC). She lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats.

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  Jasmin Baron, CCC™

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  Jasmin Baron is a NACCC Certified Credit Counselor™ and CardCritics’ senior editor, responsible for editing and writing credit cards, travel rewards, loyalty program, and other credit-related content. She is passionate about personal finance education and enjoys sharing tips and tricks for making the most of credit card points and miles with her readers. Her expertise in maximizing credit card travel rewards originated from over two decades of aviation industry experience, including 18 years working as a pilot and college professor/flight instructor in her native Canada. Her work has appeared on sites such as CNN Underscored Money, Business Insider, The Points Guy, and point.me. When she’s not planning her next trip with credit card rewards, you’ll probably find her tinkering around in the kitchen, hanging out with her three kids, or playing with her dog, Benji.

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• Last Updated Feb 23, 2026

Delta’s most frequent flyers are rewarded with Medallion elite status, which includes benefits like complimentary upgrades, checked luggage and even airport lounge access on select flights, depending on your elite tier.

These benefits can make a real difference if you fly Delta regularly. Here’s a look at Delta’s Medallion elite status program, how to earn status and what benefits are included with each tier.

What Is Delta’s Loyalty Program?

Delta SkyMiles is Delta’s loyalty program, where you can earn and redeem miles when you fly with Delta and its partner airlines, spend on co-branded Delta credit cards, or leverage other partnerships that the airline maintains with Uber, Starbucks and others.

Meanwhile, Delta’s Medallion elite status tiers are awarded to SkyMiles members who meet certain requirements every calendar year. The higher the status tier you earn, the more benefits you’re entitled to.

How Does Delta’s Loyalty Program Work?

You’ll earn Medallion elite status by earning a set number of Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) in a given calendar year. MQDs are awarded based on the cost of a Delta flight before taxes and fees, so a flight with a pre-tax fare of $100 would earn 100 MQDs.

Further, you can earn MQDs with select Delta co-branded cards from American Express. Our advertising partners, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card — and their business card equivalents — earn MQDs on every eligible purchase in addition to SkyMiles, and cardmembers get a 2,500 MQD headstart every year.

The cards earn MQDs at the following rates:

• Delta Platinum Card: 1 MQD per $20 spent
• Delta Reserve Card: 1 MQD per $10 spent

You’ll also earn MQDs when you fly with Delta’s partner airlines. If you book a partner ticket through Delta’s website, you’ll earn MQDs the same way you would on a Delta ticket. However, if you book directly with a partner airline, you’ll earn MQDs based on a percentage of your flight’s physical distance. You can view earn rates on Delta’s airline partner page.

Once you earn enough MQDs for your desired elite tier, you’ll enjoy status for the rest of the current year, the entirety of the following year, and through Jan. 31 of the next year. You can requalify or upgrade for status by earning the required MQDs within a single calendar year.

Finally, Delta and Delta partner-operated award flights booked with SkyMiles earn MQDs at a rate of 1 MQD per 100 SkyMiles redeemed for your flight. This means a flight that costs 50,000 SkyMiles earns 500 MQDs toward elite status qualification.

Delta Status Levels and Tiers

There are four published tiers of Delta elite status, each with varying benefits and qualification requirements. 

Silver Medallion

Requirements:

• Earn 5,000 MQDs

Key benefits:

• Earn 7 SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta-marketed flights
• Space-available complimentary unlimited upgrades to first class and Delta Comfort+ on eligible routes within 24 hours of departure
• Complimentary upgrades to domestic Delta One on day of departure
• Zone 5 priority boarding
• One free checked bag for the member and companions on the same reservation
• Select preferred seats for free at booking
• Priority phone support
• SkyTeam Elite status for priority services on partner airlines

Gold Medallion

Requirements:

• Earn 10,000 MQDs

Key benefits:

Silver Medallion benefits, plus:

• Earn 8 SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta-marketed flights
• Space-available complimentary unlimited upgrades to first class and Delta Comfort+ on eligible routes within 72 hours of departure
• Zone 4 priority boarding
• Sky Priority check-in, security and baggage handling (when available)
• Four alcoholic drink vouchers annually
• Higher priority phone support
• Waived same-day standby fees
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which includes international partner lounge access when traveling internationally on partner airlines.

Platinum Medallion

Requirements:

• Earn 15,000 MQDs

Key benefits:

Gold Medallion benefits, plus:

• Earn 9 SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta-marketed flights
• Complimentary space-available upgrade to Comfort+ shortly after booking 
• Space-available complimentary unlimited upgrades to first class on eligible routes within 120 hours of departure
• Zone 2 priority boarding
• Pick one Choice Benefit; choose from Regional Upgrade Certificates, bonus SkyMiles, Delta travel vouchers and other options
• Higher priority phone support

Diamond Medallion

Requirements:

• Earn 28,000 MQDs

Key benefits:

Platinum Medallion benefits, plus:

• Earn 11 SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta-marketed flights
• Highest first-class upgrade priority, with space-available upgrades clearing as far out as 120 hours prior to departure
• Highest priority for domestic Delta One upgrades, clearing as far out as 24 hours prior to departure
• Pick three more Choice Benefits; expanded list of choices includes Global Upgrade Certificates, Delta Sky Club memberships, bonus SkyMiles and more
• VIP-level phone support priority

How To Earn Delta SkyMiles

As you work toward earning Delta Medallion elite status, chances are you’ll earn Delta SkyMiles along the way. Here are a few ways you can earn them.

Fly With Delta Air Lines and Its Partners

Like MQDs, you earn SkyMiles based on how much you spend on Delta flights. This is calculated based on the pre-tax fare, and members without elite status earn 5 SkyMiles per dollar on Classic and Refundable fares. Meanwhile, those with Medallion elite status earn up to 11 SkyMiles per dollar depending on their status tier.

Spend on Delta Co-Branded Credit Cards

Delta has a suite of four personal and three business co-branded credit cards from American Express. You’ll earn Delta SkyMiles every time you spend on one of these cards, making it easy to rack up miles with your everyday spending. They include:

• Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (an advertising partner)
• Delta Platinum Card
• Delta Reserve Card

Transfer Points From American Express Membership Rewards

American Express Membership Rewards® points transfer 1:1 to Delta SkyMiles. Just note that you will have to pay an excise tax offset fee of $0.0006 per point transferred from Membership Rewards to a U.S.-based loyalty program, up to $99 per transfer.

Spend on Delta’s Shopping Portal

Delta SkyMiles Shopping lets you earn SkyMiles every time you shop online with popular merchants. Just find the merchant you’d like to spend with on the SkyMiles Shopping portal before you shop. Click through the merchant’s link on the portal, and you’ll earn SkyMiles for every dollar you spend.

Book Hotels With Delta Stays

Delta Stays is a hotel booking portal you can use to earn SkyMiles when you book hotel rooms or vacation rentals. You’ll earn based on the cost of your stay.

How To Redeem Delta SkyMiles

Now that you have SkyMiles in your account, it’s time to use them. Here’s how to redeem Delta SkyMiles for maximum value.

Redeem for Flights on Delta Air Lines

Delta SkyMiles prices its own flights dynamically, meaning that prices vary based on your route, when you travel and when you book. In turn, a flight that costs 10,000 SkyMiles can cost 7,500 the next day, and vice versa.

Dynamic pricing can lead to excellent deals, such as one-way short-haul domestic flights on off-peak dates for under 10,000 SkyMiles.

Meanwhile, this often results in expensive long-haul business-class tickets, especially to Europe and Asia.

I tend to redeem my Delta SkyMiles for domestic flights because, in my experience, they offer the best value.

Redeem for Partner-Operated Flights

You can also redeem SkyMiles for flights operated by Delta’s SkyTeam partners. These can be a good deal depending on where you fly from, as many redemptions are priced reasonably — especially if you’re flying outside the U.S.

For example, say you’re on vacation in Hong Kong and want to visit Tokyo on your way home. You can book a one-way ticket on China Eastern Airlines from Hong Kong (HKG) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) for 17,500 SkyMiles in economy or 30,000 in business class, plus taxes and fees.

Prices vary by route, with longer flights typically requiring more SkyMiles. Note that partner flights tend to have standard award pricing so long as award space is available. However, Delta does not publish an award chart.

Other Ways To Redeem Delta SkyMiles

You can redeem SkyMiles for merchandise, hotel stays, rental cars and other non-air travel bookings. However, we rarely recommend this, as you’ll almost always get less value per SkyMile than when redeeming them for flights.

Is Delta Status Worth It?

Delta Medallion elite status is only worth it if you fly with Delta and its SkyTeam partners regularly enough to use the included benefits. I’ve had various levels of Delta Medallion status over the years, and since I fly the airline at least once a month, I find that the benefits are well worth it.

But set realistic expectations about benefits before you focus on earning status. As a Delta Gold Medallion, I’m rarely upgraded to first class on domestic flights. Meanwhile, I was a Diamond Medallion from 2021 to 2023, and was upgraded on roughly 50% of my domestic flights. However, your luck will vary greatly based on the routes you fly.

Also consider whether or not the benefits you want are included with a Delta co-branded credit card. If you’re only looking for free checked bags for a handful of Delta flights, you might be better served by opening a Delta Gold, which includes free checked bags and other entry-level benefits.

The information related to the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card was collected by CardCritics™ and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see issuer website for current information. CardCritics™ does not receive a commission for this product.