Delta Extends Elite Status for Frequent Flyers Who Take a Break

It was a good week for loyalty members at Delta Air Lines. Early in the week, the Atlanta-based carrier kicked off a program called Reclaim My Status, which allows frequent flyers who took a break from travel due to a major life-changing event to fast-track their way back to their former status level.

Through the program, when a SkyMiles member takes a major break from travel after the birth of a child or a major medical issue, it's now easier to step back into the flow of elite travel.

No tier of elite status is exempt from the program, but it's handled on a case-by-case basis depending on the life event. Once a traveler signs up, Delta immediately grants status and then extends a sort of challenge to the flyer to ensure that he or she can keep up with the level of flying that's typical of that tier. After a three-month trial, the status locks into a longer extension that includes the remainder of the year in which the trial was successfully completed and the year after that.

In launching Reclaim My Status, Delta becomes the first U.S. legacy carrier to creatively extend an olive branch to frequent flyers who have to take a break at some point — whether it's due to family issues or other milestones in life. The effort will do wonders for engendering long-term loyalty within the SkyMiles program, which was once written off by many frequent flyers as too stingy.

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

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Grant Martin [gm@skift.com] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. He is director of product marketing at TripActions. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.