While some flights marketed by Delta partners can earn large sums of MQDs, others aren’t eligible for earning MQDs at all. When attempting to earn MQDs on a flight marketed by a Delta airline partner, the first question you need to ask is whether the flight is even eligible to earn MQDs. Determining If a Delta Partner Flight Will Earn MQDs While the percentage varies by partner airline and fare class, this distance-based earning equation means that certain cheap fares on long-distance flights can earn MQDs well in excess of the actual cost of the fare, and can be an excellent way to pick up the elite dollar credit you need to make elite status for the year. Certain flights marketed by Delta partner airlines also earn MQDs, and more importantly, those flights earn MQDs according to a percentage of the distance flown, rather than based on the fare price. However, with the MQD waiver spending requirement for Diamond Medallion status increasing to a whopping $250,000 this year, many members are facing the prospect of losing their top-tier Delta status.įortunately, spending large sums of money on Delta flights isn’t the only way to earn MQDs. That means members who frequently fly on cheap fares have been faced with either losing their valuable Delta status or else needing to earn the waiver with card spend. Ever since Delta added a revenue requirement for earning Medallion status back in 2014, members who want to earn or maintain elite status have needed to either earn a certain number of Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) or earn an MQD waiver by spending $25,000 on their Delta co-branded credit card each year.