Whereas that is solely a restricted time promotion for now, this certain suggests to me that Delta SkyMiles could also be trying to comply with the lead of American AAdvantage…
Delta SkyMiles awarding MQDs for resorts & rental vehicles
Nearly all main airways have portals by means of which you’ll be able to earn bonus miles for reserving resorts and rental vehicles. In any case, there are commissions to be made on this, and people who fly quite a bit are additionally prone to keep at resorts and lease vehicles quite a bit.
Traditionally Delta SkyMiles has solely awarded redeemable miles for these sorts of actions, however that’s altering for a restricted time. In the mean time Delta SkyMiles is providing one Medallion Qualifying Greenback (MQD) for each greenback spent when reserving a resort or rental automobile at this hyperlink, along with incomes two redeemable miles. As you’d anticipate, there are some phrases to pay attention to:
- That is legitimate for resort and rental automobile bookings between February 27 and March 31, 2023
- You need to journey between February 27 and September 4, 2023
- You’ll earn one MQD per greenback spent on base charges for resorts and rental vehicles, earlier than taxes, charges, and so forth.
- The SkyMiles account and bank card getting used should belong to the identical individual, and the primary and final title should match
- It may take as much as eight weeks after a accomplished exercise for MQDs to publish to accounts
For context, Delta SkyMiles Medallion elite standing is earned primarily based on a mix of incomes Medallion Qualifying {Dollars} (MQDs) AND Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) OR Medallion Qualifying Segments (MQSs). You may as well earn standing by means of bank card spending, together with incomes a waiver of the MQD requirement that manner.
It’s essential to say that whereas incomes miles and even elite standing for a resort or rental automobile reserving would possibly sound interesting, remember the fact that there’s usually a chance value to doing so. For instance, with resorts you’ll be able to’t earn resort factors in case you e-book this manner, and also you usually don’t get elite perks. Moreover, you’ll usually discover higher charges elsewhere.
Will Delta comply with American’s lead?
Independently this promotion isn’t that rewarding or fascinating, in my view. What I’m way more intrigued by is whether or not that is Delta’s first step to following American’s lead.
Whereas Delta is the airline that pioneered incomes elite standing with bank cards (and does extremely nicely with its Amex co-brand settlement), arguably American overtook Delta in 2022 in terms of incomes standing by means of non-flying means, with the introduction of the Loyalty Factors system. With Loyalty Factors, the idea of spending necessities and elite miles was eradicated, in favor of a brand new program that rewards miles earned from most sources in the identical manner.
As a lot as I’m not essentially a fan of the Loyalty Factors system for my very own preferences, I believe this system is sensible. I don’t assume Delta will go fairly so far as American did, however I do assume we’ll see Delta create some long run approach to earn elite standing qualification with resorts and rental vehicles.
In any case, there are commissions to be made, that is pure revenue for Delta, and any incentives that might trigger folks to e-book this manner make sense. Presumably this promotion is being run as a check, and as a doable first step to one thing extra everlasting.
Backside line
Delta SkyMiles has a promotion whereby you’ll be able to earn MQDs for resorts and rental vehicles booked by means of the provider’s portal. For a restricted time, you’ll be able to earn one MQD per greenback spent, along with the usual two redeemable miles you earn per greenback spent.
Whereas this promotion is simply legitimate for bookings over the approaching weeks, one thing tells me that Delta shall be counting extra than simply flying and bank card spending towards elite standing within the close to future.
What do you make of this Delta SkyMiles promotion, and do you assume we’ll see this system more and more reward non-flying and bank card exercise?