branded pillars boarding gate Delta Air Lines
Photograph ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
Brian Cohen·
2019 Novel Coronavirus
··2 Comments·10 min read

Delta Air Lines Extends Status and Benefits For Everyone: 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

“On behalf of all of us at Delta, I want to thank our customers for your continued loyalty during these unprecedented times. While our focus is on keeping customers and employees safe and healthy today and always, you are a part of the Delta family and we know how important these benefits are to you. That’s why as coronavirus continues to dramatically impact travel across the globe, you don’t have to worry about your benefits — they’ll be extended so you can enjoy them when you are ready to travel again.”

Delta Air Lines Extends Status and Benefits For Everyone: 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

Delta Air Lines Delta One business class Boeing 747-400
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.

The paragraph you just read was from Sandeep Dube — who is the senior vice president of customer engagement and loyalty at Delta Air Lines; as well as the chief executive officer of Delta Vacations — in response to the constantly evolving situation pertaining to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, according to this article at Delta News Hub.

The latest information from Delta Air Lines pertains to updates with regards to the extensions of elite level status and benefits for everyone — shortly after already having announced the improvement of the flexibility of the booking and cancellation policies of reservations in general by extending the ability to be able to rebook tickets up to two years into the future.

Status of Benefits of Medallion Elite Level Status

Delta Air Lines Sky Club Concourse B Atlanta airport
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.

Your benefits are automatically being extended with no effort or input required on your part as a member of the Delta Air Lines SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program — including:

  • Medallion SkyMiles Members:
    • All Medallion elite level status for 2020 will be automatically extended for the 2021 Medallion year.
    • All Medallion Qualification Miles from 2020 are being rolled over to 2021 to qualify for 2022 Medallion elite level status.
  • Delta Sky Club Individual and Executive memberships with an expiration of Sunday, March 1, 2020 or later will receive six additional months of Delta Sky Club access beyond the expiration date.
  • Delta SkyMiles American Express Card Members:
    • If you have one of the following in your SkyMiles profile “My Wallet” that is valid now or has expired since Sunday, March 1, 2020, the expiration dates will be extended to give you additional time to enjoy your benefits:
      • Delta SkyMiles Gold Card members with a $100.00 Delta Air Lines flight credit will get a six-month extension beyond their current expiration date.
      • Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card members with companion certificates with an original expiration date between Sunday, March 1, 2020 and Tuesday, June 30, 2020 can use them when they book and fly by Thursday, December 31, 2020; and those that expire between Wednesday, July 1, 2020, and Thursday, April 1, 2021 will receive an additional six months beyond the current expiration date.
      • Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card members with companion certificates with an original expiration date between Sunday, March 1, 2020 and Tuesday, June 30, 2020 can use them when they book and fly by Thursday, December 31, 2020; and those that expire between Wednesday, July 1, 2020, and Thursday, April 1, 2021 will receive an additional six months beyond the current expiration date — plus, they will also get an extension of six months to use their Delta Sky Club One-Time guest passes beyond the current expiration date.
  • SkyMiles Members:
    • If you have one of the following in your SkyMiles profile “My Wallet” that is valid now or has expired since Sunday, March 1, 2020, the expiration dates will be extended to give you additional time to enjoy your benefits:
      • Upgrade Certificates or $200 Travel Vouchers with an original expiration date between Sunday, March 1, 2020 and Tuesday, June 30, 2020 are extended — now, they can be booked and flown by Thursday, December 31, 2020. And, SkyMiles Members with Upgrade Certificates or $200.00 travel vouchers which expire after Tuesday, June 30, 2020 will receive an additional six months beyond the current expiration date.
      • SkyMiles Select members will receive an extension of six months to the Priority Boarding benefit and any unused drink vouchers.

Challenges and Promotions

Delta Air Lines Sky Club Ribbon Cutting
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.

SkyMiles members who are enrolled in a challenge or promotion to earn Medallion elite level status — such as the Status Match Challenge, Reclaim My Status or a promotion offered through their employer — can restart that promotion when they are ready to travel again. Those SkyMiles members will receive next steps from Delta Air Lines in the coming weeks.

Summary

Delta Air Lines
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

As with recent announcements from the Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt frequent guest loyalty programs, I find that the team members of Delta Air Lines are doing everything they can to provide maximum flexibility to you and other customers — as well as members of the SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program — is comforting to know when compared to other airlines.

Now, if only other frequent travel loyalty programs would follow suit with similar extension policies — and I understand that the United Airlines MileagePlus frequent flier loyalty program just announced one of their own, which will be covered in an article here at The Gate shortly.

This article is the latest in a series pertaining to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus — which is also known as COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2 — pandemic in an effort to get the facts out with information derived from reliable sources…

See also

…as well as attempt to maintain a reasoned and sensible ongoing discussion towards how to resolve this pandemic.

Other articles at The Gate which pertain to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus include:

All photographs ©2015, ©2016, and ©2018 by Brian Cohen.

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