The deal was so good – netting over $6,000 in Medallion Qualifying Dollars – that we booked two of them, back-to-back. The trips took the mother-daughter duo from Cebu through Shanghai to Madrid and back - in Business Class - at an incredible $1120. China Eastern, a Delta SkyTeam partner, was offering roundtrip flights in heavily discounted lie-flat business class through their Shanghai hub. The designed trip was largely based on two separate business class itineraries to and from Shanghai. They chose to fly coach on China Eastern the SkyTeam partner to reach the Asian airport of Cebu as the fares were very cheap and still earned 100% MQM’s credited to their Delta Medallion accounts.
#Delta mqm partners upgrade
As a Diamond Medallion herself, Harris would be able to upgrade daughter Neela as her companion on the domestic legs, anyway. Those repositioning flights (to and from MSP-JFK) were booked in Delta’s Main Cabin.
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To get around these high fares, Neela and mom flew to New York’s JFK airport, one of the most competitive airports in the world, and thus one of the cheapest for international fares. These are airports where a significant amount of traffic is controlled by a single airline – in Minneapolis’ case, Delta, meaning fare competition is less and fares, thus, are higher. ‘Hub captive’ airports like Minneapolis, pose both a problem and an opportunity for mileage runners. Neela and Mom set off from their hub captive airport, Minneapolis, to re-position to an airport with more favorable fares for the long-haul itinerary. She incorporated specific geography and relevant country discussions into the study sessions both in-flight and during layovers. Neela could earn Delta Diamond Status while Harris would be able to travel with Neela and keep her studies going on the road. Since Neela is home-schooled, travel was easier than for her older siblings. Taking an 8-year-old Around-the-World in a Week This was the secret that would unlock Neela’s special Medallion status. The rate at which Neela would earn miles on partner airlines in business class would be determined based on the fare class she would travel in, not on the specific price of the ticket. Namely: business class trips, even when discounted, often earn bonuses that boost qualifying miles, and they also count significantly more toward qualifying dollar requirements.
![delta mqm partners delta mqm partners](https://content.delta.com/content/www/us/en/skymiles/medallion-program/medallion-accelerator.damAssetRender.20210702T1119254010400.html/content/dam/delta-com/products/skymiles/medallion-program/Medallion_thumbnail.png)
We would take advantage of sweet spots in Delta’s SkyTeam partner award earning charts. I designed four trips nested within each other to maximize both of their earnings in the least time at the lowest cost. Under normal circumstances, flying on regular discount Delta tickets, flyers have to spend over $15,000 and spend over 125,000 flying in airline seats in a calendar year.įor those of us who take mileage running as a hobby, getting little Neela from virtually zero miles to Diamond status in a single itinerary was a challenge paramount to scaling Everest.Ĭonversations led to a sort-of-matrix of intermingled flights that would, miraculously, meet all of Delta’s Diamond status requirements. Delta Diamond status is also the most difficult published elite status tier in the airline world. Neela had no status at the beginning of this trip. I have consulted Juicy Miles clients on some pretty highly leveraged Delta mileage runs, but this request was particularly daunting. That’s when we were introduced, and where my story begins.
![delta mqm partners delta mqm partners](https://i0.wp.com/uponarriving.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/chrome_2018-10-17_18-25-04.png)
Harris called Juicy Miles’ one-of-a-kind mileage run consulting service to see if it would be possible for soon-to-be eight-year-old Neela to become one of the airline’s youngest Diamond elites. Planning a Single Trip to Book 125,000 Qualifying Miles Not to mention that it’s a lot of flying in a short amount of time!” “The complex nature of this type of run necessitates flights to run on time and no weather or other shenanigans to occur. “I (had) pondered the idea of a one-and-done Diamond run for a while, but I was not certain it could actually be successfully executed,” Harris later told me. Spending a few grand to complete the necessary flights was a no-brainer, but finding flights that would work was a puzzle that took hours upon hours of research and careful calculation based on previous client outcomes. To pull off Diamond status, for Neela, was to bank the equivalent of over $20,000 in perks. Those seats often cost multiples of economy tickets on the same flight.
#Delta mqm partners free
The status would allow Neela free upgrades from the cheapest available economy tickets to DeltaOne business class, on four flights each year. With a couple trans-continental family vacations planned, and no desire to pay cash for those oh-so-comfortable lie-flat business class seats, Harris and little Neela had a lot to gain.
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Shannon Harris thought it might be possible for Neela to reach Diamond in a single trip. Neela Harris, 8-year-old Delta Diamond Medallion.