By Sean Cudahy
When Delta Air Lines unveiled sweeping changes to its loyalty program last month, it was an attempt, executives said, to overhaul the program in one fell swoop.
In an announcement that instantly drew the ire of customers, Delta revealed in September that it would make elite status a lot harder to earn. The airline would award status based solely on how much money a customers spends between bookings with the airline and purchases on Delta’s American Express credit cards.
Delta would also place significant limitations on access to its airport lounges, it said, removing or severely limiting Sky Club privileges for members who have previously enjoyed unlimited access to these airport oases simply by carrying a Delta Amex.
The goal? To thin out Delta’s increasingly jam-packed clubs and elite status ranks which, CEO Ed Bastian later explained, has created an “unsustainable” watering down of the benefits awarded to the company’s highest-end customers.
After easing up on a Sky Club clampdown last year in the face of customer backlash, Bastian said Delta hoped to act swiftly with these changes. “Our team wanted to kind of rip the Band-Aid off . . . didn’t want to have to keep going through this every year with changes; nickel-and-diming and whatnot,” he told an audience at the Atlanta Rotary Club September 25. But following weeks of customer “feedback,” Delta has again decided to backtrack.
So who gets Delta Sky Club access?
This week, the airline unveiled still-robust, but somewhat scaled-back, revisions to its loyalty program and lounge access overhaul. Though the path to elite status will be more difficult and pricier than in past years, it will be about 15% to 20% cheaper than what Delta first outlined in September, depending on the level. But customer spending will still be the sole measuring stick, and some credit cardholders will now get a head start.
Delta will still cap lounge visits for members who earn Sky Club access via the credit card, and will still remove access entirely for SkyMiles Platinum Amex cardholders and all basic economy flyers.
But, it will increase other cardholders’ annual visit allotment. Beginning in Feburary 2025, Delta Reserve Amex cardholders will get 15 visits instead of the previously announced 10. Members with the Platinum Card from American Express will get 10 visits instead of 6 (and only when flying Delta, per existing rules).
Visits to two clubs in one day (before and after a flight, for instance) won’t count twice against that allotment.
1 million miles = lifetime priority
There’s a myriad of other tweaks, too. Delta will give higher lifetime priority to members who have flown a million miles or more. All elite members will be allowed to purchase unlimited lounge access for $695. And high-level Medallion members will have a more robust menu of perks to choose from, such as higher-value travel credits, bigger hauls of bonus miles . . . or unlimited lounge access.
“Status will still be harder than it was for most people, but . . . it’s not completely out of reach,” says Gary Leff, founder of the site, View from the Wing, and a top expert in the field of travel, loyalty points, and miles.
Regarding the somewhat relaxed lounge restrictions, Leff says, “It probably won’t do as much to reduce crowding.”
Suffice it to say, it seems Delta watered down its new loyalty strategy after customers called, wrote in, and posted online—with some frequent fliers citing diminished lounge access as a basis to threaten canceling their Amex cards, from which Delta makes money on every swipe.
“We had too many changes rolled out at the same time,” Bastian acknowledged, diagnosing the source of the discord during the company’s October 12 earnings call.
Ed Bastian: “Something has to be done”
Still, Bastian remained steadfast on the reason for the changes: “Most everyone agrees that something has to be done,” he continued. “Because everyone sees that the [number of premium] customers that we continue to build are in excess of the premium assets that we have to offer.”
It’s a clear signal, Leff says, that Delta—after this backtrack, especially—isn’t done reining in access to its high-end ranks.
“They’ve been clear about the direction they’re going,” Leff says. “That they don’t think they made a mistake in their earlier changes. That the mistake was in marketing them, and imposing too much, too fast.”
In fact, it’s not clear what impact the turbulent last month has ultimately had on Delta’s powerful brand equity. It certainly hasn’t affected its financial trajectory; at least not so far. Delta remains on track to make nearly $7 billion from its Amex partnership this year—up from $5.5 billion last year, president Glen Hauenstein shared with analysts last week.
And to this point, Hauenstein added, threats of canceled credit cards have not materialized en masse. “If anything,” he said, “We’ve seen a shift to higher premium-card acquisitions.”
For Delta, that may be signal enough to continue on its course—albeit with this detour—at a time when company executives increasingly tout the airline’s premium cabins as a key to profitability. Plus, Delta makes no secrets about its long-term goal of pulling in $10 billion annually from its Amex partnership.
Keep in mind, customers who spend $75,000 on their SkyMiles Reserve or Amex Platinum Cards get unlimited Sky Club access. “The path has not changed,” adds Leff. “They’re simply now backing off how quickly it all happens.”
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