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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 in Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson airport (ATL). The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance.
The Delta SkyMiles program is known for devaluations. However, not everything is negative about the airline. For example, it has one of the more generous mileage expiration policies around.
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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 630+ 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:
Small business owners can choose from the following three cards to earn SkyMiles for their business expenses.
Related: Can I receive welcome offers from 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.
- Buy flowers and gifts from FTD.
- Buy wine from Vinesse Wines.
- Purchase tickets from Ticketmaster.
- Earn SkyMiles on your next Lyft ride.
- Earn Delta miles when renting a car from Turo.
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 doing so.
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 several airlines that refuse to cooperate and have forced AwardWallet to stop helping their members track their miles.
Fortunately, while it is not possible to use AwardWallet to track Delta SkyMiles directly, there is a workaround. 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 — like the lack of a published Delta award chart, new Delta lounge access restrictions, and much harder elite status requirements — Delta has one of the most generous points expiration policies: Delta SkyMiles do not expire.
That previously made Delta stand out amongst its peers. However, many U.S. airlines (like United, Southwest, JetBlue) have now ditched mileage expiration. The big exception: American Airlines miles still expire.
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