Last month, I wrote about which awards I was thinking of selecting with my Delta Skybonus points. Granted, the points didn’t officially expire until the end of next year but according to an e-mail Delta sent out, I was going to no longer be eligible to remain in the program and my points would disappear.
Check Your Delta Skybonus Accounts If You Didn’t Re-qualify
I was about 40,000 – 60,000 points shy of the awards I really wanted (and with bonuses that pop up, I could have done it this year) but had to cash out at the level I was at because of the warning that my points would go away. So, I ended up grabbing 5 Delta Skyclub passes and a domestic ticket since a family member had to get up to Alaska so it worked out perfect. I went ahead and cashed in my points leaving a measly 2,000 points in my account.
My Points Are Still In My Account
Fast forward to yesterday and I received a bonus offer on select routes for Skybonus. I thought, “I was supposed to be removed – what’s going on?” I went to the site and looked and saw that my account is still active and the remaining points I have are still there!
I am not sure if it was a scare e-mail they sent to get people to fly more/burn points or if this is just the classic Delta IT goofing (this time in our favor), but whatever it is – check your Delta Skybonus accounts if you did not requalify! You may find that your points are still there if you had not yet redeemed them and you may want to redeem for something before Delta decides to shut the switch on these accounts.
For those wondering, here is what the e-mail that Delta sent out had said:
We value your company’s participation in the SkyBonus program and would like to extend an opportunity for you to review your account and our program rules.
As of October 31, 2015, our records indicate your company may not meet one or both of our qualification requirements to remain active in the SkyBonus program. In order to maintain eligibility in SkyBonus and keep your available points, your company must meet the following requirements by December 31, 2015:
- Spend a minimum of $5,000 USD per calendar year (or the equivalent if paid in non-USD) on Delta or eligible airline partners.1
- Have 5 unique employee travelers2 complete at least one qualifying flight segment per calendar year.
So, unless I and many others read that wrong, it seems that Delta is either offering a grace period (cannot see that happening) or there is a slight window for you to clear out your account if you didn’t requalify for 2016! Whatever the case, think about point redemptions if you forgot to take care of it before December 31, 2015.
Same issue with me. I checked on Monday and orphan points were still there. Let’s see what happens when I take my next trip with them
Accounts will start getting closed on Jan 11th.
Good to know! Thanks for the info!
Too bad there’s nothing I can do with the remaining 4806 points.
My cashout priority was SkyClub day passes. Leftover on HOOU.