Time is running out: Make your Delta MQM rollover decisions now

You have just over a week left to decide what to do with your Delta SkyMiles rollover miles that are soon to disappear forever. Time is running out to make your decision whether to convert the Medalion Qualification Miles to Medallion Qualification Dollars, SkyMiles or a combination of the two.

Delta Air Lines announced a slew of changes late last year … not only to the Delta SkyMiles Medallion loyalty program but also to its cobranded credit card portfolio. As part of the changes, Delta is making it much harder to get top-tier Delta Diamond status, and it’s moving to an all-MQD metric for status. MQDs are essentially a measure of how much you spend with Delta in its many iterations.

Up until now, Delta had offered one of the few programs that let you roll over excess MQMs you accumulated during the status year into the next elite status qualification year. Some people (me included) have accumulated hundreds of thousands of extra MQMs over the years. Now that Delta is going to an all-MQD world, there will be no more MQMs.

Related: You asked, Delta answered: Here’s what we know about MQMs

But Delta is offering a unique opportunity for some top-tier elite members, so those extra MQMs don’t go to waste. Several one-time conversion choices are live in your Delta SkyMiles account, but you’ll need to decide what to do with them by Dec. 31.

Elite members can use up their rollover MQMs from last year by extending their 2024 status. For every 100,000 rollover MQMs you had sitting in your account after the end of 2023, you can choose to extend your status by a year.

But we need to reiterate: You will only have until Dec. 31 to decide how you would like your rollover MQMs to be converted.

You can choose to convert your MQMs to MQDs, miles or a combination of both. Here are those choices:

• 100% redeemable miles, 0% MQDs
• 75% redeemable miles, 25% MQDs
• 50% redeemable miles, 50% MQDs
• 25% redeemable miles, 75% MQDs
• 0% redeemable miles, 100% MQDs

Members with MQM rollover balances over 100,000 can also choose to extend their 2024 Medallion status for one year for every 100,000 rollover MQMs.

I was sitting on 108,671 rollover MQMs. One hundred thousand of those MQMs can be used to extend my Diamond status by a year. That means I’ll be Delta Diamond through 2025 (and part of 2026) just via MQMs. That is quite a perk — and it’s the one I chose.

As you can see in the screenshot below, I elected to extend my status by a year. I will now have top-tier Diamond Medallion status through Jan. 31, 2026.

That left me with just 8,671 rollover MQMs. Since I will already have status, I chose to earn the extra miles. I didn’t love the 2:1 conversion rate, but I’ll take what I can get.

Once you’ve made your selections, you must confirm the choices on another page.

That’s it. Delta then warns that the conversion will take up to 48 hours to be applied to your SkyMiles account.

I’m now sitting on top-tier status until 2026. As you can see in the screenshot below, I have Diamond status for 2025, even though I’ve only earned $9,457 in MQDs so far in 2024.

Related: Delta Diamond and Hyatt Globalist: My status goals for 2025

I’ve been happily not paying much attention to requalifying for Diamond status because I was able to extend my status. If I wanted to re-earn status for 2026, I’d need to spend a whopping $28,000 on Delta next year. Right now, I’ll take my free Diamond status and figure out a game plan for 2026. It may be time to get off the Delta status hamster wheel, but I don’t have to decide now.

Bottom line

It’s your last chance to convert your MQMs that will soon be gone for good. It’s a nice perk that those with more than 100,000 MQMs can extend their status for a year, and it sure beats the original announcement that MQMs would only be available for conversion.

If you are one of the lucky Delta flyers with lots of MQMs, you can also convert them to MQDs or turn them into redeemable SkyMiles.

I’m sad to see MQMs go away, but I’m thrilled that Delta didn’t just abandon those of us who’d accumulated extra MQMs over the years. It allowed me to extend my status until 2026 and will keep me roped into the SkyMiles universe after I’d strongly considered abandoning the program altogether. In addition to this rollover benefit and the enhancements Delta made to its American Express cobranded credit cards, I will stick with Delta for the next few years, at the very least.

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