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Delta Air Lines is one of the oldest and biggest airlines in the world. As the oldest surviving U.S. airline, Delta serves a wide range of global destinations from nine hubs across the U.S., including its home at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport (ATL). The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance.
The Delta SkyMiles program is infamous for its devaluations. However, not everything is negative about the airline. For example, it has one of the more generous mileage expiration policies around. Here is everything you need to know about whether Delta miles expire.
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Do Delta Miles Expire?
Delta SkyMiles do not expire due to inactivity. However, Delta may close your account in some circumstances. In these cases, all your miles would be forfeited. Per the Delta Program rules:
“Under the SkyMiles Mileage Expiration policy, miles do not expire. Delta reserves the right to deactivate or close an account (and accordingly remove all miles in the account).”
Track your points and miles expiration for 620+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
Related: Top Reasons to Fly Delta Air Lines
Why Can Delta Close Your Account?
According to the Delta rules page, your account can be terminated — and your miles forfeited — in any of the following cases:
- Fraudulent activity on your account.
- You request account closure.
- Death of the Delta SkyMiles member.
- Repeated failure to respond to communications from Delta.
- Creating more than one account under your name.
- You move to a country that prohibits membership in frequent flyer programs.
- You break the rules of the Delta SkyMiles program.
Delta also notes it can audit your account at any time and without notice to ensure you're following the SkyMiles rules.
Related: The Complete Guide To Delta SkyMiles.
Earning SkyMiles Through Delta Credit Cards
Although you can earn Delta SkyMiles in various ways, the easiest way to earn a pile of SkyMiles quickly is through welcome bonuses or everyday spending on a Delta credit card.
Delta offers four consumer credit cards and three small business cards that earn Delta SkyMiles. Fortunately, if you navigate the new Delta family card rules, you can earn bonus miles from a welcome offer on each one. Delta consumer cards include:
- Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 2X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 2X miles per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 1X miles on all other eligible purchases
$350Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 3X miles per dollar at hotels
- 2X miles per dollar at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X Miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.
$650Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 1X miles on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.
Small business owners can choose from the following three cards to earn SkyMiles for their business expenses.
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 2X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (annual cap of $50,000 in eligible purchases)
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible U.S. shipping purchases (annual cap of $50,000 in eligible purchases)
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible dining purchases
- 1X miles per dollar on all other eligible purchases
$350Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta
- 3X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases with hotels
- 1.5x miles on eligible purchases over $5,000 (up to 50,000 bonus miles annually)
- 1.5X miles on eligible transit and U.S. shipping purchases*
- 1X miles per dollar on all other eligible purchases.
$650Rates & Fees
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 1.5X miles per dollar on eligible transit, U.S. shipping, and U.S. office supply store purchases, plus all eligible purchases after spending $150K per calendar year
- 1 mile on every dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
Related: How to Earn Welcome Offers on Multiple Delta Amex Cards
Other Ways To Earn Delta SkyMiles
Aside from credit card spending, you have many ways to earn Delta SkyMiles. Since Delta Miles don’t expire, you can focus on continuously growing your balance without ever setting foot on a Delta aircraft. You can earn Delta SkyMiles in any of the following ways.
- Fly with Delta or any of its SkyTeam partners.
- Stay at a variety of hotel brands, including Marriott Bonvoy and IHG, as well as Airbnb and reservations through the “hotels” tab on Delta's website.
- Rent a car with a wide range of partners, including National, Hertz, Dollar, Alamo, and more.
- Shop through the Delta shopping portal.
- Dine out with Delta’s dining rewards program.
- Book a Delta Vacation package.
- Earn miles on your energy or gas bill with select partners.
- Earn Delta miles on Starbucks purchases after linking your accounts.
- Earn SkyMiles on a Lyft ride.
Since Delta SkyMiles do not expire, you don't have to worry about which of these earning options are “qualifying.” You can focus on earning and getting the best value for your miles.
Related: Best Ways to Use Delta SkyMiles
Boosting Your Delta SkyMiles Balance
If you are a few SkyMiles short of a redemption and want to boost your mileage balance quickly, you have a couple of options. Delta is a transfer partner with just two of the six major flexible points currencies. You can use American Express Membership Rewards or transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to boost your SkyMiles balance quickly.
If you want to quickly boost your miles, transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Delta SkyMiles is the clear winner. Typically, transfers are immediate. We recommend finding your award first. Then, make your transfer and finalize your booking quickly. Transferring Marriott Bonvoy points typically takes one to two days, so it is not ideal if you want to secure an award quickly.
Alternatively, you can buy Delta miles, but we usually don't recommend it.
Use AwardWallet To Track Your Delta SkyMiles Balance
Even though Delta Miles do not expire, it still pays to keep an eye on your balances. Unfortunately, Delta is one of only a few airlines that block AwardWallet from tracking miles balances directly.
Fortunately, there is a workaround to tracking your Delta SkyMiles through AwardWallet. You can check out our comprehensive guide on how to use AwardWallet to track your Delta SkyMiles account balance.
Related: How to Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Our Take
Despite the program's other shortcomings — such as the lack of a published Delta award chart, lounge access restrictions, and harder elite status requirements — Delta has one of the most generous points expiration policies: Delta SkyMiles do not expire.
Years ago, that made Delta stand out amongst its peers. However, many U.S. airlines (such as United, Southwest, and JetBlue) have now ditched mileage expiration. The big exception: American Airlines miles still expire.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees)
