Delta Extends Loyalty Program Elite Status For One Year

Delta Air Lines has become the first major U.S. carrier to extend the benefits in its loyalty program for a full year. On Sunday, the Atlanta-based carrier made the announcement in a release on its website.

As part of the message, Sandeep Dube, Delta’s Senior Vice President – Customer Engagement and Loyalty, and CEO of Delta Vacations. shared that “as coronavirus continues to dramatically impact travel across the globe, you don’t have to worry about your benefits – they’ll be extended so you can enjoy them when you are ready to travel again.”

For the 2020, Delta’s Medallion program will now carry 2019 earnings and status forward a full year; now, without further action, that elite status will expire in early 2022 instead of early 2021.

Other facets of the Medallion program are also being extended. Any earned elite qualifying miles so far this year will be rolled over into next year to qualify for 2022 status while Delta Sky Club memberships that expire after March 1 will be extended for six months. Many upgrades and vouchers associated with the SkyMiles program and its associated credit card will also be extended.

Typically, airline elite status at legacy carriers is earned on an annual rolling basis. By flying a set number of miles and spending a correlating amount of cash, frequent flyers earn status in tiers like Silver, Gold, Platinum or Diamond. Each of those tiers returns increasing rewards for travelers like upgrades and bonus miles — and at the top levels, the rewards can be quite lucrative.

Airline elite status, however, also expires if the annual flight and spend requirements aren’t met. If a traveler flew and earned enough miles to earn Diamond in 2018, for example, the status lasts through all of 2019 and expires in early 2020 unless the same level of activity is maintained in 2019.

Now, with the coronavirus pandemic limiting travel in 2020, many airlines are realizing that passengers will have difficulty in flying and spending the requisite miles and cash. But the airlines also want to make sure that loyalty levels are maintained so that lucrative frequent flyers don’t see any lapse in their benefits. As a result, it finally made sense to begin extending loyalty programs for a full year.

So far, several worldwide carriers including Finnair, Qantas and British Airways have extended parts of elite status benefits into 2021 — but until this weekend no major U.S. carrier had provided any guidance. In making the change, Delta becomes the first legacy air carrier to update its policy. American and United have so far not provided guidance.