How is Delta's MQM minimum per leg affected by fare class?

Question

Under Delta's SkyMiles program (both the old one and the new one that began in 2015,) Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) are earned per mile flown, but earn a minimum of 500 per leg. Additionally, the MQMs earned for a given leg are multiplied by 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 depending on the fare class. However, I'm not sure if the multiplier is applied before or after applying the 500 mile minimum. Their website seemed ambiguous on this point.

So, my question is: Is the fare class multiplier or the minimum applied first?

For instance, if you fly 200 miles on a discount fare in business class (which has a 1.5x multiplier,) are the MQMs computed as:

maximum (500, 200 * 1.5) = 500

or as:

maximum (500, 200) * 1.5 = 750

Could, perhaps, someone who's flown Delta Business or First class since the beginning of 2015 on a leg of < 500 miles check their SkyMiles statement to see how much mileage they were credited for the leg?

Answer 1

You do still receive the 50% MQM bonus on top of the minimum 500 miles, resulting in 750 MQMs earned for the flight. So, the formula is:

maximum (500, distance flown) * 1.5

Here's how my flight from yesterday (May 19, 2015) was credited:

For reference, BNA->ATL is only 214 miles. So, they did apply the 500 mile minimum first and then apply the 50% bonus, yielding a credit of 750 miles for the 214 mile segment.