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Back in 2021, Delta made a positive update to its Million Miler elite status program by giving flyers the chance to lock in its top-tier SkyMiles Diamond Medallion status for life (albeit for the life of the program, not the life of the traveler) and that was a surprisingly positive move for Delta to make.
Since the start of last year, however, earning Delta lifetime elite status has been harder to earn, so this is what you need to know about Delta’s Million Miler program.
How it was
Up until the end of 2023, these were Delta’s million miler criteria:
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Silver Medallion status – 1,000,000 lifetime miles
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Gold Medallion status – 2,000,000 lifetime miles
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Platinum Medallion status – 4,000,000 lifetime miles
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Diamond Medallion – 6,000,000 lifetime miles
4 and 6 million lifetime miles always looked like huge targets to have to hit to earn worthwhile lifetime status with Delta (and they were!), but because the miles needed to earn status didn’t all have to come from flying, the targets were not quite as daunting as they first appear.
A crucial rule that Delta had was that the lifetime miles targets referred to lifetime Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM), and these miles could be earned in more way than just flying.
Specifically, the airline allowed customers to earn MQM through spending made on their Delta co-branded credit cards and through some of the welcome bonuses that the cards offered.
Since 2024, however, the concept of MQM no longer exists (Medallion Qualifying Dollars are now all that matter for regular elite status), and that led Delta to change the lifetime elite status targets and rules.
Delta’s new Million Miler program (from 2024)
With MQM consigned to history, Delta now only counts actual miles flown when it comes to the targets set for Million Miler lifetime status, so without the option to bulk out a Million Miler balance with a credit card welcome offer or credit card spending, it’s now harder to earn Million Miler status than it was in the past.
Fortunately, Delta has done a couple things to help ease the pain.
Firstly, it hasn’t gone back and stripped out non-flight miles from flyer accounts. MQMs earned through 2023 continue to form part of a flyer’s total lifetime miles balance for the purposes of the Million Miler program.
Secondly, the Million Miler targets now look different.
Lifetime Silver hasn’t been a thing since 2024, there’s now an option of earning a yearly invitation to Delta 360˚, and all the other Lifetime Elite statuses are now reachable with fewer miles.
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Gold Medallion status – 1,000,000 lifetime miles
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Platinum Medallion status – 2,000,000 lifetime miles
- Delta Lifetime SkyMiles Diamond Medallion – 3,000,000 lifetime miles
- Annual invitation to Delta 360˚ – 5,000,000 lifetime miles
These changes mean that some flyers who had reached one of these milestones before the program was changed suddenly found themselves with a better Lifetime Elite status than they had at the end of 2023 even if they hadn’t flown a single mile with Delta since then.
How Delta’s Lifetime Elite targets compare to United & American Airlines
All three of the US legacy carriers offer their flyers the chance to earn lifetime elite status of some kind, but the elite status levels that are available vary from airline to airline.
Lifetime Elite Status Requirements (flight miles need):
*Coming on 1 March 2025
Tier Names:
An in-depth discussion of the various options offered by the 3 legacy carriers is probably best left for another article, but a cursory glance at what the airlines have published shows that United’s lifetime elite status program is marginally more generous than Delta’s and that American’s program continues to be the most challenging.
Bottom line
It continues to be possible to earn four levels of lifetime elite status with Delta, but since 1 January 2024, only actual miles flown move a flyer’s counter towards lifetime elite status, and that has made it considerably harder than it once was for most flyers to reach the dizzying heights of Million Miler status.
Still, the status is achievable, and for the very frequent flyer it’s a carrot that can look tempting.
