Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Loyalty Program Review

There are several credit cards that can help you quickly collect Delta SkyMiles that can be redeemed for some amazing flights.

Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards

American Express provides co-branded Delta credit cards that earn SkyMiles directly.

American Express Membership Rewards Credit Cards

Amex points can be transferred directly to Delta Air Lines at a ratio of 1:1. Earning Membership Rewards is probably the best way to earn lots of SkyMiles.

Recommended Personal Cards

Recommended Business Cards

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Cards

While earning SkyMiles directly might seem like the best way to go, we’d actually suggest considering SPG Starpoints. Every chunk of 20,000 points you transfer to Delta earns you a bonus 5,000 SkyMiles.

Hotel Partner Credit Cards

Several hotel programs will let you transfer points to Delta. However, this is almost always a poor use of hotel points. Unless you are really in a bind, save your hotel points for hotel award stays at your destination.

Delta’s mileage program is named SkyMiles. When it comes to earning SkyMiles, the program has shifted from a mileage-based to a revenue-based program. This means miles are now earned based on the amount spent on tickets rather than the distance traveled.

Big spenders and short distance flyers will likely see an increase in their mileage earning. But leisure and long-distance flyers may see their earnings drop, often dramatically.

Elite status is still earned by traditional miles and segments flown, but spending requirements have been added to the flying requirements.

Joining SkyMiles

Joining is free and you can sign up online.

You’ll immediately become a General Member and begin earning miles on Delta flights and partner activity.

How to Sign in to Your SkyMiles Account

Log in on the delta.com homepage.

Viewing Your Account Activity

The Delta website has 2 useful pages to manage your account:

• My SkyMiles shows all your account activity.
• My Wallet shows your SkyMiles and Sky Club membership cards, and any certificates you may have such as elite upgrade certificates. You can also print trip receipts.

Points Expiration

Delta SkyMiles is the only U.S. airline loyalty program with no mileage expiration. With Delta, infrequent travelers need not worry about finding ways to avoid expiration.

SkyMiles Elite Status

Delta SkyMiles offers members 4 membership tiers:

• Silver Medallion
• Gold Medallion
• Platinum Medallion
• Diamond Medallion

Elite status requirements:

• Silver Medallion – 25,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) or 30 Medallion Qualifying Segments (MQSs) and $3,000 in Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs)
• Gold Medallion – 50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs and $6,000 MQDs
• Platinum Medallion – 75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs and $9,000 MQDs
• Diamond Medallion – 125,000 MQMs or 140 segments and $15,000 MQDs

MQD requirements are waived if spending $25,000 per year on a Delta-branded American Express card.

You can also earn MQMs with credit card spending.

There are 4 Delta-branded American Express credit cards that earn MQMs for your card spending each year. This can be card spending anywhere, not just on Delta.

Hot Tip: If you have all 4 cards and spend a total $220,000 to meet each card’s requirements, you’ll earn 100,000 MQMs per year.

SkyMiles Elite Benefits

SkyMiles Silver Medallion:

• Complimentary upgrades on paid flights (not award flights), up to 24 hours before departure if available
• 1 free checked bag up to 70 pounds for Silver member and up to 8 traveling companions on the same reservation
• Priority check-in and boarding

SkyMiles Gold Medallion:

• All Silver benefits, plus:
• Complimentary upgrades available up to 72 hours before departure
• Complimentary upgrades on award tickets
• 2 free checked bags up to 70 pounds each
• Free same-day changes and same-day standby
• Award booking fee waived
• SkyPriority check-in, security, and boarding on Delta and partners
• SkyTeam ElitePlus status includes partner lounge access on international itineraries, even in economy
• Hertz 5-Star status (register here)

SkyMiles Platinum Medallion:

• All Gold benefits, plus:
• Complimentary upgrades available up to 5 days before departure
• 3 free checked bags up to 70 pounds each
• Award change and cancellation fees are waived
• 1 annual Choice Benefit. Choose between:
  • 4 Regional Upgrade Certificates (RUC)*
  • Global Entry application voucher
  • 20,000 bonus SkyMiles
  • Ability to gift Silver status
  • $200 gift card
• Hertz President’s Circle Status (register here)
• SPG hotel benefits such as room upgrades, free in-room internet, and 4 pm late checkout (register for Crossover Rewards here)

*Regional Upgrade Certificates can be used to jump to the top of the upgrade list on competitive flights such as New York to Los Angeles or San Francisco. They can be used for U.S. domestic flights and selected short-distance international flights.

SkyMiles Diamond Medallion:

• All Platinum benefits, plus:
• Free membership to CLEAR so you can breeze through security
• 2 additional Choice Benefits from a better slate of options than Platinum:
  • 4 Global Upgrade Certificates (GUC)*
  • 25,000 bonus miles
  • Ability to gift Gold status, and more
• Delta Sky Club Membership is being transitioned from a free benefit; it will now be one of 3 Choice Benefit selections in 2018

*Global Upgrade Certificates can be used on any paid (non-award) Delta flight except Basic Economy, and limited partner flights.

Value of Delta SkyMiles Status

Delta SkyMiles status is competitive with American Airlines and United.

Silver Medallion has minimal benefits. Much of what is offered is similar to benefits extended to Delta credit card holders.

Gold Medallion stands out for same-day change and same-day standby fee waivers, which are not a benefit of American and United at their comparative status levels. Gold Medallion members get SkyTeam ElitePlus status, and will receive a high level of treatment when flying partner airlines.

Platinum Medallion offers valuable award change and cancellation fee waivers. These are great for flexibility and for rebooking tickets if the mileage price decreases. United recently imposed fees on their Premier Platinum members if they do not change or cancel their award tickets far in advance.

Regional Upgrade Certificates are a popular Choice Benefit for Platinum Medallions that frequently fly domestic DeltaOne routes such as New York to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Without certificates, complimentary upgrades are not available on these routes branded as DeltaOne.

Diamond Medallion members receive a high level of service. When there are delays or cancellations, Diamonds are among the fastest to be re-accommodated on the best alternate flights. The Diamond Medallion hotline is staffed by experts who are quick to help.

Global Upgrade Certificates are a highlight of Choice Benefits for Diamond members. These can be used to upgrade to business on paid economy tickets, even on the longest international routes. Availability to use the certificates is generally good, especially when compared to United and American’s certificates (which are very difficult to use on international flights).

With continuing cuts to American Airlines Executive Platinum, many road warriors now rank Delta’s Diamond Medallion as the top airline elite status in the U.S.

From flying to using credit cards for your daily expenses, you’ll have tons of opportunities to earn SkyMiles.

Earn SkyMiles Through Flying

Delta SkyMiles members now earn miles by the dollar amount spent on their ticket (up to 75,000 miles maximum per ticket).

Earning base miles varies by status:

• General – 5 miles per dollar
• Silver Medallion – 7 miles per dollar
• Gold Medallion – 8 miles per dollar
• Platinum Medallion – 9 miles per dollar
• Diamond Medallion – 11 miles per dollar

SkyMiles can be earned on any Delta flight, as well as flights with many SkyTeam partner airlines and other partners.

Certain airline partner flights still earn based on distance instead of price. You can consult the SkyMiles airline partner page to figure this out, but you will need the airline booking fare code of your ticket (which is not provided by all airlines and websites). You might need to call the airline directly to find out the booking fare code.

List of SkyTeam Alliance Airline Partners

List of Non-Alliance Delta Partners

Earning SkyMiles With Credit Cards

With several co-branded Delta credit cards, it’s easy to earn SkyMiles directly. Most purchases will earn 1X points per dollar, but purchases with Delta will earn 2X points.

You can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points and SPG Starpoints to Delta SkyMiles. Cards that earn Membership Rewards often have multiple bonus categories to help you earn points faster while SPG Starpoints provide a transfer bonus of 5,000 SkyMiles when you transfer a block of 20,000 points.

When it comes to redeeming miles, Delta wants customers to pay whatever price the Delta website quotes. They even went so far as to remove their award chart so that customers have no firm reference to what an award “should” cost.

As a general rule, though, Delta sticks pretty close to their old award chart, which is included here for reference.

Note that some award prices have increased or decreased since this chart was last published. Delta typically does not announce changes in advance, sometimes only announcing that certain prices are immediately in effect for any travel from a specific date. Delta also regularly runs award sales of as little as 5,000 miles per flight for domestic flights.

Booking Online

The Delta website has many award ticket booking and pricing errors. Not all partners are shown online, and sometimes the site shows “phantom availability” for partner airlines (awards that are not really available for booking).

Do careful research on awards and always search segment by segment. For partner awards, you can compare to results shown on the Air France website since they have many partners in common.

Many Delta awards require a phone call to book. Ask for a telephone booking fee waiver if it is not possible to book your trip online.

Bottom Line: With Delta not publishing award prices and many website pricing errors, do careful research to know what an award “should” cost before you book. 

See our article on How to Redeem Delta SkyMiles for details on the many award options to maximize your SkyMiles value.