How Delta’s Loyalty Offering Is Improving Its Direct Booking Business


Skift Take

Another strong quarter for Delta. Investing to create more customer loyalty is paying off. What a concept: doing what it takes to keep people keep coming back.

A decade ago around a third of Delta Air Lines tickets were sold via online travel agencies. That amount today is somewhere between 10 and 15 percent, and CEO Ed Bastian only sees it continuing that way. “Delta.com is going to take more and more of the traffic,” he told analysts on an earnings call Thursday after the release of the company’s second-quarter results. "So I don't think we need to put a stake in the ground and say that we won't sell over those channels. But at the same time, the online agencies are aware that they need to provide a differentiated experience to our customers in order for us to continue to invest in them and together our content on their sites." Airlines, hotels