By Contributor,Ramsey Qubein

Copyright forbes

A Galaxy Villa at Jade Mountain Resort in St. Lucia
Jade Mountain

With the fourth quarter of the year upon us, many SkyMiles members are looking at their loyalty accounts to determine how likely they are to hit their desired tier of elite status next year. Now is the time to make the right travel-planning decisions to avoid getting caught short.

That’s why it can be particularly helpful to understand all the ways to meet elite status goals, even outside of flying.

Delta SkyMiles offers several ways to boost your Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD), a key metric in attaining Medallion status, but you’ll need to know where to look and how to do it.

An Air France Skyteam Boeing 777 on final approach to LAX.

Flying Delta and SkyTeam partner flights are the most obvious ways to reach elite status, and spending on a Delta co-branded American Express card can also help. But, there is another option that savvy travelers have up their sleeve: Delta Vacations.

Booking travel via this portal is the only way to earn MQDs and SkyMiles on your hotel stays, airfare and destination activities.

Engineer and Delta Diamond Medallion member Matthew Skok, says “given that there are very few ways outside of flying (or heavy co-branded Amex spend) to accumulate MQDs, the offers with vacation packages offer outsized value for anybody who wants to ‘level up’ to the next elite tier.”

Delta Sky Club access is a favorite topic of Medallion members in the private Facebook groups. It is also one of the “Choice Benefits,” earned after attaining elite status.

Skok is very familiar with the ins and outs of SkyMiles as a moderator for the Delta Diamond Medallion Facebook group, where fellow members share their experiences in the program and their woes of potentially not requalifying for elite status.

“The travel perks like Global Upgrade Certificates that come with the highest Diamond status level can represent thousands of dollars in value,” says Skok. “Paying attention to earning elite status can be a lucrative proposition for the most frequent flyers.”

How it works

Adults-only and all-inclusive resorts are some of the many options on the Delta Vacations portal.
Delta Vacations

When you purchase travel through Delta Vacations, you earn MQDs based on the entire trip (not just for the flights). This new benefit, which began last year, awards MQDs for hotel stays, flights, rental cars, tours and other add-on activities. You earn one MQD per dollar spent on the non-air portion of the trip. For flights, the MQDs are calculated based on the distance of the flights and the class of the ticket.

Jackson Newman of Thrifty Traveler calls Delta Vacations packages “the new mileage run,” referring to the now-extinct practice of taking flights to earn miles based on distance flown to attain elite status.

Delta plane takes off over the iconic LAX sign at Los Angeles International Airport

He gives several examples of how different trips, like an all-inclusive, adults-only resort in Mexico or a family vacation to Hawaii, could net a significant number of MQDs based on the overall cost.

If the hotel and activities portion of a $10,000 dream vacation to St. Lucia costs $8,000 with flights representing the remainder of the cost, a traveler would earn 8,000 MQDs plus a percentage of the distance flown for the flights, based on the fare type. If flights, hotel, rental car and local tours were all booked separately, only the flights would earn MQDs.

Newman gives several examples of how booking everything as a package not only is cheaper, but also more advantageous towards elite status.

Kayaking is one of the many excursions guests can do at Jade Mountain in St. Lucia.
Jade Mountain

“I’m kind of shocked to see just how good the pricing is when booking through Delta Vacations,” adds Newman. “In all the searches I’ve done, I have yet to come across an example where it would have been cheaper to book a Delta flight and hotel separately.”

For some travelers, spending $10,000 solely on airfare may not be in the cards during the fourth quarter. But, they may be planning a family vacation for $10,000 that includes flights, hotels and activities.

“It takes some of the pressure off spending so much just on flights to make elite status,” adds Skok. “Many may not realize you can earn Medallion status for an entire vacation’s value.”

Booking a ziplining trip through Delta Vacations would qualify for MQD-earning.
Jade Mountain

For those with a Delta co-branded American Express card, putting such an expense on the card is a parallel method to earning status as you could also earn MQDs by hitting different spend thresholds on the card.

Travelers can book directly with Delta Vacations or through a travel advisor, and it is the only tour operator that awards miles for those that use a travel agent.

According to Recommend magazine, the time it takes for the miles and MQDs to reach your SkyMiles account has been reduced from six to eight weeks down to 15 days.

Medallion status seekers are noticing

Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-900

This year, Delta Vacations saw a 40% growth in the number of both SkyMiles members and Medallion members making reservations through its platform. Britney Hineman reported for Travel Weekly that the brand is adding more destinations to its portfolio after seeing success beyond the traditional island and beach markets.

This includes more places in Europe and South America as well as the opportunity to book multiple destinations in one trip and more private tours, which have proven especially popular with Medallion members.

The Greek Islands are one of the destinations growing in popularity for Delta Vacations.

In the month of December last year, Delta Vacations saw a 104% year-over-year increase in packages booked and flown in that month. This is a clear sign that members find this to be a valuable, rapid path to elite status, especially when the last-minute deadline is approaching.

Delta SkyMiles counts flights and spend within the calendar year towards elite qualification.

The fourth quarter of 2024 was the highest revenue-generating quarter in Delta Vacations history, which is no coincidence. The MQD-earning offer began last year, too.

Among the packages sold, according to data provided by Delta Vacations, 24% of Medallion members who booked and traveled in the fourth quarter achieved a higher elite tier for the 2025 program year, and 19% booked more than one trip.

Some important points to consider

St Lucia’s Jade Mountain Resort is one of many vacation retreats available through Delta Vacations.
Jade Mountain

Skok cautions that those seeing hotel elite status, too, should be aware that they might not earn points or perks when booking outside of a hotel’s own reservations systems. Typically, vacation-deal packages are not eligible for elite status benefits from hotel loyalty programs. But, for independent hotels like Jade Mountain in St. Lucia, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Beyond the flight and hotel, booking an airport transfer, jet ski excursions, spa treatment, volcanic mud bath and trip to hike the Pitons are all eligible for earning SkyMiles and MQDs on such a St. Lucian getaway. These would not accrue miles if booked separately.

A Sun Sanctuary accommodation at Jade Mountain in St. Lucia
Jade Mountain

According to Delta Vacations data, 95% of its hotel bookings represent 4 and 5-star luxury properties like Red Carnation hotels in London and more than a dozen, family-owned Laconian Collection hotels in the Greek Islands.

It can make sense to compare the package price versus booking everything individually, but “these vacation packages have become far more lucrative than they once were, and even a small price differential should be balanced with the redeemable miles and MQD earnings that can more than offset it.”

Local tours booked through Delta Vacations, including experiences you design yourself through a travel advisor, are eligible for MQD earning.

In addition, Delta Vacations provides travel advisor services before and during the trip. They can book bespoke activities like private cab tours in London or an individual tour of the Vatican, all of which would be eligible for mileage and MQD earning.

There are no “basic economy” fares, which means travelers without elite status don’t need to worry about being forced to board last or being assigned a middle seat at the gate. Existing Medallion members can take advantage of all of their expected perks like complimentary, space-available upgrades and free checked bags.

For many, the money-saving aspect of using SkyMiles to pay for the trip could be another aspect.

“You’ll get slightly more value for them than if you were using them to booking only a flight,” says Skok.

Venice is one of the destinations available via Delta Vacations.

Members redeem miles at the rate of 1.15 cents per mile versus 1 cent per mile when using them for flights. When paying with miles, you are still eligible to earn SkyMiles and MQDs.

Everyone on the booking earns miles and MQDs for their flights, and one person would earn miles and MQDs for the non-air portion (like hotels, ground transfers, etc). There are also bonuses (up to 10,000 miles) that get tacked onto the total earnings based on how much you spend. A trip that costs more than $10,000 would earn a 10,000-mile bonus. One that costs under $4,999 earns an extra 1,000 miles while one between $5,000 and $9,999 earns a 5,000-mile bonus.

While there is a promotion to buy hotels or car rentals through Delta Stays and earn a one MQD and two SkyMiles per dollar spent, it is limited to bookings made before Oct. 24. Delta Vacations expands the variety and timeline of what you can purchase for MQD-earning by adding ground transportation and destination activities.

A Delta Airbus A319 comes in for landing on a cold winter day at Portland International Airport with Mt Hood in the background.

American and United have similar “vacation portals” where you can advance your elite-qualifying earnings to reach status for the next year. But, Delta’s program is the only one that offers the ability to redeem miles for the entire trip, and that is at at greater than one cent-per-mile in value. United does not allow mileage redemption for a package vacation.

“If you’re sitting on piles of Delta miles, using them for part or all of a vacation package is never a bad idea,” says Skok. “As anybody who’s played the status game long enough can tell you, your miles will never be worth more than they are worth today.”

A Delta Boeing 737 climbs out of Portland International Airport.

For those short on MQDs and want to get past the finish line for 2026 Medallion status, Newman says, “this is worth a hard look for travelers looking to pile up more MQDs throughout the year…rather than book a last-minute flight.”

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