For Delta Air Lines’ most loyal customers, the extra perks they get to choose at the start of each year are a key benefit of their elite frequent flyer status.
The Atlanta-based airline reevaluates these benefits every year, and its latest changes, announced in December, offer insights into Delta’s larger loyalty strategy.
Frequent flyers with platinum or diamond Medallion status in the SkyMiles program can choose from bonus miles, Delta Vacations coupons, cash toward an American Express credit card statement and other options.
The airline is cutting back on the credit card statement benefit — but boosting other options designed to cultivate new Delta loyalists in other ways.
For 2026, the company is increasing the SkyMiles and travel voucher benefits — as well as doubling the total “gift” statuses that members can bestow on friends or family.
The popular American Express statement benefits are being cut from $700 to $500 for diamond and from $400 to $250 for platinum.
Josh Lopez, a diamond Medallion member from Idaho Falls, said he always saw that benefit as justifying the Delta/American Express Reserve card’s annual fee.
At $650 it could be canceled out by the $700 Diamond “Choice Benefit” statement credit.
He runs a construction company and travels frequently for projects.
But if that statement benefit for diamond drops any lower, Lopez said he’ll question if the card is still worth it.
The reduced statement credits show Delta’s closer focus on cultivating frequent flyers who benefit from perks for travel, and less on credit card game theorists more interested in collecting monetary benefits to offset an annual fee.
Themby Kobus, a platinum member from Northwest Arkansas, has also always chosen the American Express statement benefit.
As a current platinum member, she was still able to secure last year’s rates by selecting before Feb. 1.
But next year, she said she’ll take the miles or the gifting power instead.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
She’s clear-eyed about why the change makes more sense for Delta, though.
“The credit was cash,” versus the miles, which she called “paper money” for the airline, said Kobus, who travels frequently to visit friends and family.
“It’s like, you come into my house and I either give you cash or I give you some trinkets in my house that I already had. It doesn’t cost me as much,” she said.
Both Lopez and Kobus see the value in the gift benefit.
Lopez loves getting pictures from his sister-in-law, a travel nurse who gets better upgrades with her gifted status. Kobus said she’d probably gift status to her two kids, her husband and her mom.
Delta hears positive things from members about the gift benefit, James said — which drove the decision to double the benefits: Diamonds can now gift four gold statuses, and platinums can gift four silver.
“One of the things that we’ve tried to really anchor on and as an airline, is we want to be for the community, friends and family and loved ones,” he said.
The change also reflects the rise of “supplementary” American Express credit cards that don’t carry status for family members.
And for Delta, it helps widen its tent of possible loyalists, giving nonfrequent flyers a shortcut into the benefits of status and of course, hopefully get them hooked.
“It gives them a taste of that experience,” James said.
“So much about our program is really predicated on aspiration: We want our members to have aspiration for what’s next.”
Lopez said he “can guarantee you that the two people that I gifted that to … they have chosen Delta” over other airlines despite higher priced tickets.
Years ago, the only way for airlines to cultivate new customers was adding airplane seats in a market, James said.
Delta’s Uber and Starbucks loyalty partnerships and gifted status have changed that dynamic.
None of this will work, however, if Delta does not continue to excel in customer service. That’s one way it can continue to appeal to customers flying coach without status.
“Without the brand and without the people, the program becomes very, very dilutive to overall satisfaction,” he said.
Indeed, customer service experience can be a make or break.
Lopez said he loves it when an airline employee thanks him for his diamond status.
But he said he recently had a terrible experience with Delta on a delayed trip to Mexico that ended up costing thousands more in Delta-booked car rentals. He said he didn’t receive enough compensation afterward to make it right.
He said he’s going to give his credit card and diamond status one more year to reevaluate if it’s still worth it to keep paying the premium to fly Delta.
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