Is the Delta loyalty program free?

Delta Air Lines, the largest airline in the United States, maintains one of the biggest airline frequent flier programs known as SkyMiles. It has over 100 million members among its members. Members of the SkyMiles Program earn miles each time they fly with Delta and any of its affiliated partners. These miles can then be exchanged for free travel and an upgrade in fare categories. But are joining and participating free, and if so, to what extent is one benefiting from SkyMiles? Well, let’s look at the facts:

SkyMiles is a program run by Delta Air Lines, and this passage gives an overview of this program.

SkyMiles is a conventional type of frequent flyer program that is based on the concept of accumulating and using mileage points.

Here are some of the basic things you need to know about how it works:

• Co-branding: Members earn miles depending on the flight numbers flown with Delta and the partner airlines within the same calendar year and through purchases with other partners, such as co-brand credit cards and hotels. There is also a rating similar to the basic and preferred discounted fares, as well as elite status, where you can earn even more miles.

• Rewards: Free Flights and Upgrades You can also redeem your miles for free flights both on this airline and other partner airlines, flight upgrades, and much more. The mileage requirement may vary based on the type of flight and the cabin class where the passenger wants to sit. It can be noted that there are no blackout dates when it comes to using the miles to make a flight with Delta.

• Club Membership: Delta has a Club membership known as Medallion, in which flyers can join depending on the flight frequency in the calendar year, and there are four levels: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Higher status for KM brings in more earning and redemption privileges and bonuses.

• Ease of earning and redemption: The miles do not expire as long as the account has activity or flying once every two years. This ensures that the efforts you put in to accumulate your worthy miles are not eroded over time.

  So is it free to be a part of the SkyMiles?

  Technically speaking, that is indeed right—there are no charges to pay to become a member of the SkyMiles program or to maintain one’s membership status. Registration on the official website of Delta Air Lines does not cost anything and immediately after completion, the user receives a SkyMiles account through which they can accrue and spend points.

  But while joining is free, earning and redeeming miles involves indirect and direct costs.

  Indirect Costs

• Delta’s reward system – So if you want to earn almost any miles to make the account worthwhile, one has to fly often with Delta. That means those flight tickets have to be bought and are not exactly cheap if not going for those low-cost non-reclining seats. Thus, while ‘free’ miles are part of the CPC equation, they are achieved at a significant travel expense.

• Credit Card Fees – This is a technique through which members of SkyMiles can earn many points within a short time without necessarily having to travel by plane but by using Delta credit cards. But those come with annual fees of anywhere between $95 and $550. It’s the right of the perk getting sign-up bonuses, getting rewards miles through spending, and other benefits of the card.

• Partner Activities – Other than the above-mentioned ways of getting miles through spending on fuel, there are other aspects like staying in the hotel, renting a car, shopping online and so on all of which involve spending some amount of money to get the miles reward. The miles are not given out casually without a business exchange, although there is no cash exchanged.

  Direct Costs

  On top of those indirect costs, Delta also charges direct fees related to the loyalty program:

• Redemption Fees –General, to book the reward flights, there are some fees like carrier-imposed surcharges and government taxes to be paid by the passengers. This in turn compliments the perceived value of a reward ticket by increasing the overall ‘cost’ of a ‘free’ ticket redemption.

• This is because when it is an existing award booking, where you want to make some changes or even cancel it, you can end up paying a lot of money in redeposit and reissuing charges. Frequent flyers who fly in premium cabins could be charged fees that amount to hundreds of dollars.

• Accelerated Membership Fees: The company has the provision for the newly listed members to purchase the enhanced Silver Medallion status at a cost to access more of the bonus miles as well as priority benefits from the comfort of their initial membership.

  Thus, although the SkyMiles program is generally free to enter, trying to take advantage of it, whether for earning or for using miles, entails both indirect and direct charges. Even though the loyalty program makes it look like the company is offering free miles, it is not entirely true.

  In the end, the goal is to maximize value despite the associated costs.

  SkyMiles’ Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Medallion tiers cost significantly less than the yearly cost to be an MVP member and include travel privileges and extra miles that many see as worth the expense and time to join the program.

  It is also possible to get a healthy reward point boost from cobranded credit card sign-up bonus mile offers without the need to purchase flight tickets at first.

  Miles cash redemptions are relatively less valuable, but they can help cover some of the costs, especially when the part-miles, part-cash option at the Miles+Cash rates for some payments on flights provides good flight discounts.

  Thus, despite the number of associated charges, which does not allow us to classify Delta Airlines Ticket SkyMiles as a completely free frequent flyer program, earning and redeeming miles still make sense for many passengers. At the end of the day, it depends on how well you manage to leverage the benefits that come with the programs against the costs and money expenditure required to get hold of those benefits.

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