Delta SkyMiles - Program Guide and Overview | LendingTree (2024)

Holly Johnson

Robin Ratcliff

Flying with Delta Air Lines is the most straightforward way to earn SkyMiles. Delta Air Lines offers a revenue-based system for earning SkyMiles on its flights, which means you earn miles based on how much you spend, not how far you fly. General SkyMiles members will earn 5 SkyMiles per $1 of base fare on Delta-issued tickets (excluding taxes and fees) while Delta Medallion members earn more depending on their status level.

Note that there are some “exception fares” within the revenue-based earning structure. Exception fares include cruise fares, bulk fares, consolidator fares, vacation packages (including packages with Delta Vacations) and discount or inclusive tour packages.

These fares earn SkyMiles based on distance flown according to the following table:

Delta is an integral part of SkyTeam, so you can earn miles on a partner flight. While most American airlines are now on the fare-based system, Delta’s foreign airline partners still operate a distance-based system. This means that you earn a percentage of miles based on number of miles flown.

Delta’s Core Global Airline Partners typically have the highest earning rates. Major partners like Air France award 100% of the base miles flown for economy fares, with business or first class earning up to 200% of the flight distance in miles.

You’ll have to check out each partner chart to determine how many miles you’ll earn for your particular flight. You can also use a tool such as MileCalc.com to estimate the number of miles flown for each particular flight segment.

For a closer look at a partnering award chart, here is the current partner chart for Aeromexico that will be in force through the end of 2023:

The total miles earned column shows how many miles you’ll earn, calculated off the distance flown. However, you’ll need to also account for the Medallion Bonus (120% for Diamond members, 80% for Platinum members, 60% for Gold members and 40% for Silver members), if applicable, which only applies to the base SkyMiles earned and not the class bonus.

Only a handful of Delta’s Skyteam partners allow you to earn MQMs on their flights, which still matters when it comes to earning elite status in 2023 for the 2024 travel year. However, Delta recently announced that it is moving to a new elite status system in 2024 that only uses Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) as a metric to earn elite status

Delta Air Lines offers a number of co-branded credit cards issued by American Express. You can earn at least 1 Delta SkyMile per $1 spent on eligible purchases with any of these cards.

The products offered vary from the $0-annual-fee Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card to the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card, which is loaded with benefits.

*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card, please click here.
*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card please click here.
*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum American Express Card, please click here.
*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card, please click here.

For the occasional Delta traveler, the Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card may make sense, especially if your savings on checked bag fees exceed the annual fee. Or, you might opt for a general rewards card with the option to transfer miles, like the American Express^® Gold Card.

SkyMiles Shopping offers SkyMiles on purchases with 1,000-plus retailers. Some of the popular stores include Apple, Home Depot, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Office Depot and Disney. Earning rates vary between 1 and 20 miles per dollar, depending on the retailer. Some stores offer a one-time bonus for shopping or taking advantage of a specific offer.

To earn miles with SkyMiles Shopping, visit the portal page, browse the retailers and click through to be taken to the website of your selected retailer. Alternatively, you can install a browser extension that lets you earn miles without even visiting the portal page.

Delta has a dining portal that allows members to earn bonus miles when eating at partnered restaurants. All you need to do is register a credit or debit card to earn up to 5 miles per dollar spent (including taxes and tip):

• Regular members: 3 SkyMiles per $1
• VIP members: 5 SkyMiles per $1

For a limited time, new members will earn 500 bonus miles by spending $30 or more at any participating restaurant. Delta also enjoys a wide variety of dining partners in most major cities, so it should not be too difficult to rack up miles in this capacity. Here are the number of partners for a few major cities:

Hotel rewards programs are an excellent source of extra SkyMiles, especially since Delta has partnerships with many major hotel brands. You can earn SkyMiles on hotels stays in place of the hotel’s membership points.

Alternatively, you can transfer your hotel points to SkyMiles directly with some of the partners. Here’s an overview of some of the available partners and how earning and transferring works.

With Delta vacation packages, you can save money on travel and earn up to 10,000 bonus SkyMiles for bookings that cost $10,000 or more. You can book packages with a select set of Delta partners, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Aeromexico, Air France and Alitalia. If you use a co-branded Delta American Express card to pay for your vacation package, you can earn miles even faster.

Delta car rental partners let you earn bonus miles when you rent a car. In the case of Hertz, Platinum and Diamond status members can earn as many as 8 miles per dollar spent. You must visit Delta’s site and book your car rental through their portal in order to get the miles.

Here are some of the available car rental partners with their earning rates:

You can earn additional bonus SkyMiles by booking a cruise through Delta SkyMiles Cruises. The exact number of miles depends on the cruise line and length of cruise, among other factors. Major cruise lines, including Norwegian, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, let you earn points when booking through the Delta SkyMiles Cruises portal.

Delta is one of many airline transfer partners available through American Express Membership Rewards. The transfer rate is 1,000 Membership Rewards points to 1,000 SkyMiles.

If you often fly with Delta and don’t currently own an American Express Membership Rewards card, you should consider signing up for one, as some cards offer special benefits with Delta in addition to points.

Delta sells SkyMiles directly to members at a cost of $70 per 2,000 miles (3.5 cents per mile) for a maximum of 60,000 SkyMiles per calendar year — but at this price, purchasing SkyMiles is rarely worth it.

Buying miles should only be an option when you’re either getting more than 3.5 cents per mile in value from the award booking, or when you need to top off your account with a few miles for an award. Even then, transferring Membership Rewards points to Delta SkyMiles is a better strategy.

The easiest way to redeem your SkyMiles is to use them to book a flight with Delta. You can easily search for award flights at Delta.com. Because Delta doesn’t publish an award chart, prices depend entirely on your origin, destination and travel dates.

Here are some sample one-way prices for various cabins to sample destinations:

Taxes and fees on award flights start at $6 one-way. In general, you’ll get a better value for your SkyMiles when redeeming them for premium cabin products, although Delta’s pricing can often be sky-high for certain destinations or nonstop flights (the example above from Anchorage to Hong Kong is a good example).

Domestic itineraries booked with Delta SkyMiles typically start at around 6,000 miles one-way in economy. However, domestic flights can cost dramatically more due to Delta’s dynamic pricing model, which is based on demand. International flights can cost less than 10,000 miles one-way depending on the itinerary, but they tend to cost more for longer haul flights.

If you want to fly Delta One business class with rewards, you may have to fork over hundreds of thousands of miles for a flight. In fact, it’s not uncommon for international Delta One awards to go for 300,000 miles or more, plus airline taxes and fees.

You can use Delta SkyMiles with SkyTeam partners by searching for flight options through Delta.com. You can find manySkyTeam partner flights on the Delta website alongside flights offered by Delta itself, making it easy to book flights directly with your miles.

To get started, simply head to Delta.com and select “book” or do a search for flights in the Delta app. From there, you’ll select “Shop with miles” and begin searching for flights with Delta and partners.

Delta routinely offers SkyMiles Flash Deals to destinations all over the world. Flash Deals are limited-time promotions where Delta offers flights between select origins and destinations for a discount.

SkyMiles Flash Deals can be excellent value. For example, in the past, Delta has offered:

• One-way flights to Caribbean destinations starting at just 11,000 SkyMiles
• One-way tickets to some major European cities starting at just 22,000 miles
• One-way flights to Asia starting at just 30,000 miles

These prices are much better than what’s offered by major competitors that operate a region-based award chart. For instance, American Airlines charges a minimum of 25,000 miles for a one-way economy ticket to Europe during off-peak dates.

Note, however, that without an award chart to compare prices, it’s hard to tell how great of a deal you’re getting. It’s a good idea to compare award prices to cash fares to determine the redemption value in each case.

Delta also gives SkyMiles members the ability to use its miles for cabin upgrades. You can upgrade with miles either at time of booking or after you purchase your ticket. Tickets eligible to upgrade with miles at time of booking will show it as an option on the Trip Summary page. This is the easiest and most seamless way to upgrade with miles.

After booking, you may be presented with the option to upgrade with miles at Delta.com or through the Fly Delta app. You can check your reservation at any time to see if this is an option. Alternatively, you can contact a Delta representative to upgrade with miles.

As you can see in the example screenshot above, however, paying to upgrade with miles may only get you 1 cent per mile in value. This is less than the average value you can get for redeeming miles for flights, so you may want to skip this option.

Delta also lets members pay for bookings with a combination of miles and cash, which theoretically makes sense for people who are short miles for a redemption they want. However, booking this way won’t get you outsized value for your rewards. For example, a one-way flight from New York City (JFK) to San Juan, Puerto Rico can cost 17,000 miles plus $6 on a random travel date we searched.

In the meantime, the miles and cash option for the same flight comes in at 12,000 miles plus $146. This means you would effectively be paying $140 to save 5,000 miles. That’s a cost of 2.8 cents per mile, more than double our estimated value of 1.1 cents per mile.

Other uses for Delta miles include magazine subscriptions, SkyMiles Experiences (unique experiences for miles), Delta Sky Club membership, payment for checked baggage fees and more.

Delta SkyMiles never expire. However, Delta does reserve the right to close an account in a variety of unusual circ*mstances.

Yes, Delta SkyMiles is free to join.

Delta SkyMiles is a frequent flyer program that allows you to earn miles through a variety of methods and lets you redeem them for free flights as well as other uses.

Log into your Delta account at Delta.com or through the Delta mobile app.

You can find your Delta SkyMiles number online at Delta.com by logging in to your Delta account and navigating to your profile. You can also find your SkyMiles number in the initial email communication you receive from Delta.

Because we value Delta SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, 50,000 Delta SkyMiles would be worth around $550.

No, you cannot transfer Delta SkyMiles to Marriott points. However, you can do the reverse and convert Marriott points to Delta SkyMiles at a 3:1 ratio.

Yes, you can use Delta SkyMiles to book flights on any of its partner airlines, including Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Korean Airlines and LATAM, all of which are bookable online at Delta.com.

There are a number of ways to earn Delta SkyMiles, including flying on Delta airlines and their partners, shopping through the Delta portal and using a co-branded Delta credit card.

You can easily sign up for Delta SkyMiles online at Delta.com. See the “Sign Up” button in the upper right corner of the screen — you’ll be required to provide personal information.

Delta Air Lines does not offer a status match program.