What is the name of the Delta loyalty program?

The Name Behind Delta's Frequent Flyer Program:

SkyMiles: The principle of the program is that passengers earn SkyMiles for flights with Delta Air Lines and its partners, with these points being the key currency of the program.

Delta Airlines is one of the primary players in the United States and is among the main legacy airlines that have been operating for years. Similar to what many other large flight carriers do, Delta also has a frequent flier program to cater to the most consistent clients. The program mentioned above is referred to as SkyMiles.

The SkyMiles frequent flyer program was introduced in early 1981 as one of the pioneers of the industry. It has been transformed and updated through the years but the concept still holds on to the originality of the program, which is to reward customers for their loyalty to Delta airline.

SkyMiles was chosen as the name for this new frequent flyer program because the term ‘miles’ was already in common use by Delta’s competitors, and ‘sky’ has a colloquial connotation of freedom.

That is why the name of the program, SkyMiles, is rather self-explanatory, indicating what the consumers of the program receive. In other words, members can earn those miles by traveling with Delta as well as several other airlines and services. Such miles are called SkyMiles because of the program. This word relates the word “sky” to flying through the air and “miles” is a common term used in Flyer Programs.

Thus, every time SkyMiles members are airborne flying on Delta, they are accumulating more miles in the sky. It has the unique advantage of relating first-hand to the act of traveling by plane; the name itself points to flying. Although the miles are accumulated on the ground, the concept is that members will cash in these miles for free flights and travel in the sky in the future.

A name that is not too fancy and, at the same time, not so plain.

The company’s name for this membership program is SkyMiles, and this immediately informs the members what they stand to benefit from this program: the ability to gain miles for flying in the sky with Delta. SkyMiles are, as their name suggests, easy to understand and refer to a program for accruing and redeeming frequent flyer points.

Some early critics thought that ‘SkyMiles’ was not a good name at all for the airline’s frequent flyer program that began in 1981, too simple or boring. Still, it appears to have aged very well. It was also the name given to Delta’s frequent flyer program, which gained further popularity due to this program. This is due to the use of alliteration, which makes it easy to remember the words in the phrase. It excludes names that are cumbersome and are likely to create questions as to their meaning or are difficult to memorize by customers.

Some of the airline’s loyalty programs contain more clever names than SkyMiles, but the name is still easy to remember and understand. Thus, an easy association with the airline and a comprehensible, simple meaning are more useful for a loyalty program than a brilliant name lacking meaningful semantics.

Working Directly under the Brand:

Also, the SkyMiles name does not dispense with descriptive words only; it connects directly with Delta’s broad brand and its related tagline, “Keep Climbing. ”

This idea of accumulating miles to climb the status level and accrue enough points to get flights is a wonderful fit with Delta’s brand of moving forward and striving towards its goal of achieving flights. Taking flight or flight in the sky and the use of the term "SkyMiles,” is symbolic of the notion of climbing up in rank, fame, and achievement.

This [keeping the loyalty program name similar to the Delta brand] makes a lot of sense because it links the two very strongly. One cannot help but connect Delta and SkyMiles as two entities that go well together instead of being two individual entities that are not related. The continuous brand association makes SkyMiles easily relatable to Delta’s distinct program.

SkyMiles can also be seen as an accurate portrayal of the actual conditions of air travel.

This is so because, apart from associating Delta with a brand, the name SkyMiles has the essence of flying and aviation technology. However, the term points seems to have a more glamorous ring than the real unit of distance in airlines, which is the miles. Frequent flyer programs exchange the distance flown with the airline and by this, a currency that is common in that airline, in this case, SkyMiles.

Measuring the distance is probably the only technical idea that makes miles a little more accurate than merely calling the loyalty program points. Delta elected to name the program SkyMiles because the concept of getting freebies for air travel means accumulating actual miles in the sky. Travel done by group members is equivalent to SkyMiles, which allows them to travel more since they are compensated with points due to their loyalty.

The expansion of the SkyMiles Program

SkyMiles has expanded significantly over the years, unlike when it started in 1981 as a small program. Currently, SkyMiles has more than 100 million registered members, according to recent data of 2022. The population of last year was using SkyMiles flights on an average of over 500,000 passengers every day.

Delta Air Lines has an estimated customer traffic of approximately 200 million passengers in the current year 2022. A good number of customers flying with Delta often sign up for SkyMiles membership so that they can accumulate points for future usage, such as to get more flights or better seats. As Delta goes on to establish new routes and increase its capacity, so does the SkyMiles program by incentivizing customers for their loyalty, creating incentives for flying more often, and getting people who would not usually fly Delta to become frequent travelers on the airlines.

What SkyMiles Offers Members

Although garnering points for traveling frequency on airlines and using the points to pay for air tickets have remained constant, the SkyMiles program has added on features and uses for its members. Some highlights include:

• Special Member Fares and Last-Minute Deals: All in all, any opportunity to get cheaper base fares is a win to balance out the miles redemptions.
• Upgrades: Depending on the carrier’s policy, points can be used to reduce or eliminate the mileage requirement for a particular flight, or a copayment can enhance future airline travel and experience.
• Delta Sky Club Access: SkyMiles members can get the opportunity to visit the airport lounges of Delta if they are traveling with Delta.
• Partner Perks & Miles: Points and rewards with over 20 airline partners and brands.
• Medallion Status: Membership levels give preferential treatment in terms of services, along with more opportunities to accrue more miles.
• Valuable Miles Redemptions: To redeem your miles, you can redeem them for flights, upgrades, or Delta Vacation packages.
• Miles that Don't Expire: Now, as it is with most airlines, no miles will expire, regardless of how active the account holder is.

After the formation of SkyMiles, it was merely a program used to measure mile earnings and redemptions, with the entire membership having remained stagnant. Innovative changes and additions were made throughout the process, and changes in Delta’s business model were reflected in the development of SkyMiles. In its expanded form, that means that brand satisfaction and loyalty engagement grow over time.

It was in this climate that the decision to call the program SkyMiles was made, and it will always remain a mystery why they decided on this particular name instead of one of the other alternatives.

With SkyMiles starting in the early 1980s, Delta’s leadership made some effort in choosing a name for its frequent flyer program. They aimed at having a straightforward name that depicts the aspect of accumulating several miles for flying, relates to the brand Delta, and has longevity.

Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies: The management team and marketing leaders decided that SkyMiles was the ideal solution to all the issues. It had an air travel connection, it was fluent with the Delta name, images, and jingle, and it was easily mnemonic as well as easily intelligible.

To date, the SkyMiles name is still influential in Delta’s brand image and customer loyalty strategic positioning over forty years later. This is because SkyMiles was probably the only frequent flyer program that Delta could have had at the time, and the company likely could not rename SkyMiles without confusing the frequent flyers. This element has always been helpful for Delta, as SkyMiles sounds precise and descriptive and indeed, it has been a good fit for the airline throughout the years of the air travel industry.

Looking to the Future

SkyMiles has been in operation since 1981, and the program marked its 40th anniversary in 2021 as a member of Delta Airlines. In addition to focusing on past success, which is evident in the celebratory ad, Delta is also considering the future of the SkyMiles program. The future planned changes and developments will seek to offer an even better experience for the members and ensure that the incumbent loyalty and brand growth will be sustained beyond this point.

As the dynamics in the aviation industry begin to involve more sophistication and competitiveness, Delta plans to maintain SkyMiles as a key value-added advantage. The next 40 years of SkyMiles, which has been branded as accumulating points for frequent Delta customers since 1981, will be built on this straightforward, descriptive name. As it is said, Delta would like its members to “keep climbing,” and there is a lot more room for growth in the potential of SkyMiles.

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