One of the airline elite status tiers I’m going for this year is Delta SkyMiles Gold Medallion. Sure, it’s not top-tier Diamond Medallion status, but I still get plenty of use out of perks like upgrades to Delta Comfort seats and complimentary preferred seat assignments, not to mention free checked bags and priority boarding.
I might not get many complimentary upgrades as a Gold Medallion, but that’s par for the course these days, no matter which U.S. airline I have elite status with.
Still, I tend to fly quite a few airlines throughout the year, and even though I make a concerted effort to pick one or two with which to accrue most of my frequent flyer miles and spending, I sometimes still need a little end-of-year boost to make it over that qualification threshold.
That’s exactly where I found myself a few weeks ago while pondering how a last-minute trip to Europe just after Thanksgiving might help me earn the remaining Medallion Qualification Dollars I needed to pass the $10,000 qualification threshold.
Thinking through my options, I realized that leveraging a few different perks courtesy of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express would be just the strategy I needed to employ.
Here’s how I was able to double-dip on the card’s benefits, not only to help me earn Medallion status with Delta Air Lines, but also to save points and money along the way.
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Amex Insider Fares and International Airline Program
American Express offers cardmembers a few different ways to save on airfares booked through American Express Travel®.
The first is the Amex International Airline Program, which is only available to those with The Business Platinum Card, the American Express Platinum Card® or The Centurion Card from American Express.
The information for The Centurion Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
These cardmembers can book international flights originating and ending in the U.S. or at certain Canadian gateways in first class, business class or premium economy on various partner airlines at a discount. These discounts can vary, and the primary cardmember must be the one traveling, though they can book up to seven companions on the same reservation.
When you search for tickets on Amex Travel, International Airline Program fares will be noted as such, though you can also filter your flight results to only include those options by ticking a box to the left of the screen.
By contrast, Insider Fares are available to all cardmembers with a product that earns Membership Rewards points and are not restricted to premium classes of service. The hitch, however, is that you have to redeem your Membership Rewards points for these tickets via Pay with Points. You must also have enough points in your account to cover those fares in full in order to see what’s available.
Essentially, you’re able to use Insider Fares to use Membership Rewards points at a higher value than usual to score some discounted tickets.
How I stacked Amex Insider Fares with my card’s 35% points rebate
In my case, I was searching for an open-jaw business-class ticket going from Los Angeles to Nice, France, and then from Madrid to Los Angeles at the start of December.
I came up short when searching various airline frequent flyer programs … or, rather, the mileage redemptions were incredibly high. Delta SkyMiles redemptions were exorbitant, at more than 400,000 miles in each direction.
While I didn’t truly consider doing that, it’s good to remember that you earn 1 MQD per 100 SkyMiles redeemed for flights in the main cabin and above on Delta and its partners. So, if you do have some award travel to book, at least it can help you on your way to status.
I searched Air France-KLM Flying Blue but would have needed 536,500 Flying Blue miles for my itinerary. Not to mention, I still would have had to pay more than $500 in taxes and fees as well.
Then, I decided to log into my Business Platinum account on Amex and search for fares. I came across a great itinerary that would have me flying from Los Angeles to Nice via Paris and back from Madrid via Atlanta.
Instead of an equivalent $8,640 ticket I found on Delta’s website, Amex’s Insider Fare was marked down to $5,678, meaning I would need to redeem a whopping 567,773 Amex points for the itinerary. That was too high for me, but I had one more trick up my sleeve.
Delta would have charged me nearly $8,700 for the ticket. DELTA AIR LINES
You see, Delta is the selected qualifying airline for my card’s up to $200 annual airline fee credit (per calendar year for incidental fees charged by your one selected qualifying airline), meaning it is also the airline with which I’m able to get back 35% of the Amex points I redeem via Pay with Points (up to 1,000,000 points back per calendar year).
Although the ticket I wanted included two flights on Air France, it was still bookable via Amex as a Delta ticket. This meant that I’d end up needing 369,052 points for my itinerary.
To be clear, that’s a lot of points to spend and not an optimal use of Membership Rewards points, even on a complicated last-minute business-class ticket to Europe. But sometimes, it’s worth sacrificing some redemption value when you have limited flexibility and a specific goal in mind that can yield even more value. In this case, that value-oriented goal was Delta Gold Medallion status, which will unlock a lot of value for me in the form of day-of-travel perks like free checked bags, priority boarding and preferred seat selection.
There was a significant (but still expensive) discount to booking through Amex. AMEX TRAVEL
Another detail that made this seem worthwhile: I would be earning the full 5,678 MQDs on Delta. I was credited with the full dollar amount of the ticket even though I would end up redeeming points worth much less than that.
It cost fewer Amex points than the 900,000-plus Delta SkyMiles I would have needed for a comparable itinerary if I had redeemed them directly for an award, too. So, I decided to book it.
Redeeming SkyMiles was a no-go thanks to the high prices. DELTA AIR LINES
My booking would get me access to the Delta One Lounge and the Air France lounge at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). However, another reason why I carry the Amex Business Platinum is that it grants me access to Delta Sky Clubs up to 10 times per calendar year when flying on an eligible, same-day Delta flight in any class.
Bottom line
This redemption was all I needed to blow right past the Delta Gold Medallion qualification threshold and actually get pretty close to qualifying for Delta Platinum Medallion status.
If I have a little extra time before the end of the year, I might just take a last-minute flight or two to reach an even higher tier, especially if I can find another (relatively) inexpensive Insider Fare that helps me do so.
