Delta Effects Changes in the Skymiles Program

Delta Airlines, one of the major carriers in US, has announced changes in its frequent flyer program (FFP)- SkyMiles. The changes have been made with a view to make the awards more lucrative for the travelers. They would now be able to redeem their miles at lower prices for one-way tickets and will be able to earn the Medallion Qualification Dollars on the partner airlines.

Some of these changes are:

1. one-way award tickets to be redeemable for travel of 10000 miles till December 2015. However, this comes with a limitation of travel upto to certain US, Mexican and Caribbean markets.
2. Award travel has been expanded to include more partner airlines and the carrier has also enable people to book the award tickets from their mobile devices using the Fly Delta mobile application.
3. Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) has also been elaborated so that the people can earn these miles irrespective of the ticketing carrier. This will lead to faster accumulation of MQDs even when the ticketing is done by another carrier with which Delta has codeshare or interline agreements.

Delta had shifted its FFP from being based on flight miles to spending in US dollar terms from the beginning of January 2015.