Delta Air Lines is offering Delta SkyMiles members another path to earn Medallion Qualification Dollars toward elite status with its Stays and Cars promotion. You can earn 1 MQD per base dollar spent on hotel bookings, vacation rentals and car rentals booked through the Travel Extras portal by March 31 for travel completed by April 30.
Earn Delta MQDs on hotels and vacation rentals
During this promotion, you’ll earn 1 MQD per dollar spent on hotel stays and vacation rentals booked through Delta’s travel portal. This is in addition to the redeemable SkyMiles (members earn a minimum of 2 miles for every dollar spent on the base hotel rate) you ordinarily earn for every dollar spent at most hotels booked through the Travel Extras portal.
Per the promotion’s terms, you can only earn on the base cost of the hotel room — before taxes and fees are charged at the time of booking.
For example, here’s what you could earn for a two-night stay at the Moxy Minneapolis Downtown:
- 390 MQDs
- 781 SkyMiles (worth $9.37 based on TPG’s February 2025 valuations)
Earn Delta MQDs on rental cars
Additionally, participants earn 1 MQD per dollar spent on base car rental rates for every completed rental booking.
You will not earn MQDs on charges like taxes, one-way rental fees, fuel services and tolls. Additionally, when booking cars through Delta’s portal, you can earn bonus SkyMiles with rental car partners and if you hold elite status with Delta.
For instance, Hertz is a Delta partner. If you decide to book a rental car with the company through Delta, you’ll earn 4 miles per dollar spent on qualifying rentals as a basic SkyMiles member. Additionally, depending on your Delta elite status, you can earn 5 to 8 miles per dollar spent on qualifying rentals.
As another example, say you decide to book a Hertz rental car at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) through Delta’s portal. Here are how many MQDs and SkyMiles you can earn on a two-day-long rental with the current promotion:
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- 113 MQDs
- 456 SkyMiles (worth $5.47 based on TPG’s February 2025 valuations)
Important terms
As always, make sure to read the full terms and conditions of this promotion before you book.
One of the most important things to note is that you can only earn MQDs if your name appears on the credit card you pay with. Delta will not credit MQDs if the first and last names on the card do not match the information on the SkyMiles account.
After you travel, it can take up to eight weeks to receive the MQDs.
Additionally, those with a Delta cobranded card can earn up to $100 or up to $250 Delta Stays statement credits annually when they use the card to purchase prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays. Prepaid Delta Stays reservations qualify as Delta purchases on cobranded cards.
Delta cardholders — including those with the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card — earn 3 miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases. Cardholders of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card earn 2 miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases.
Bottom line
This promotion is another way to earn Delta status without flying. By earning MQDs through nonflight activities outside one of the airline’s cobranded cards, this promotion sets a new precedent for Medallion status.
Delta appears to be sending emails about this promotion to SkyMiles members in batches — we hope to see more ways to earn MQDs like this one in the future.
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