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Rundown of Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles for Canadians (updated January 28, 2018)

ByMatt

Delta Air Lines is one of the most prominent foreign airlines that flies through Canada. That being said, I would be more than happy if they continued to expand their presence here. Today, I will provide an updated rundown on Delta’s rewards program, SkyMiles for Canadians.

Expiry Policy

Delta SkyMiles is one of the rare programs that do not have an expiry policy, regardless of activity. So I am more than happy to give them my business.

Earning Miles

Unfortunately, there are currently no more co-branded Delta SkyMiles credit cards in Canada, since they discontinued their partnership with Capital One. However, they are a transfer partner with American Express.

American Express Membership Rewards

SkyMiles is a transfer partner of the American Express Membership Rewards program. You need to transfer a minimum of 1,000 Membership Rewards to receive 750 Delta SkyMiles, while in the U.S., there is a more generous 1:1 transfer ratio. Unfortunately, I have never seen a transfer bonus promotion. It would be nice to see a 1:1 transfer during a promotional period.

Airline Alliance 

I like to have at least one main loyalty program per airline alliance. When it comes to SkyTeam, my primary program is Delta SkyMiles. The benefit is that whenever you fly with any of its members, you can pool the miles you earn into one program. So whenever I fly with any SkyTeam member, I bank my miles to SkyMiles instead of earning miles with the other frequent flyer programs.

  • Aeroflot
  • Aerolíneas Argentinas
  • Aeroméxico
  • Air Europa
  • Air France
  • Alitalia
  • China Airlines
  • China Eastern Airlines
  • China Southern Airlines
  • Czech Airlines
  • Delta Air Lines
  • Garuda Indonesia
  • Kenya Airways
  • KLM
  • Korean Air
  • Middle East Airlines
  • Saudia Airlines
  • TAROM
  • Vietnam Airlines
  • Xiamen Airlines

Code Share Partners

Aside from airline alliance members, Delta also partners up with other airlines that you can earn miles:

  • Gol Transportes Aéreos
  • Great Lakes Airlines
  • Hawaiian Airlines
  • Jet Airways
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Virgin Australia
  • WestJet

Car Partners

When renting a car, instead of earning car rental points, you can earn SkyMiles directly instead, with the follow partners:

  • Alamo Rent A Car (earn 500 miles per rental)
  • Carmel Car and Limousine Service (earn 100 miles base miles; earn 1 mile per dollar on the first $100 and 2 miles per dollar above $100)
  • Enterprise (earn 500 miles per rental)
  • Europcar (earn 60 miles per day)
  • ExecuCar (earn 150 miles per direction)
  • Hertz (earn 500 base miles per rental, depending on elite status)
  • lyft (earn 1 mile for every $1 spent)
  • National Car Rental (earn 500 miles per rental)
  • Sixt rent a car (earn 500 miles per rental)
  • SuperShuttle (earn 50 miles per direction)

Remember to always watch for bonus offers.

Hotels & Airbnb

Same goes for hotel stays. If you rather not earn hotel points, you can choose the option of earning SkyMiles directly instead, with the following partners:

  • Accor Hotels (earn 2.5 to 12.5 miles for every 10€ spent, depending on the brand)
  • Airbnb (earn 1 mile for every $1 spent)
  • Carlson Rezidor (earn 250 miles per stay)
  • Hilton (earn 1 mile for every $1 spent)
  • Hyatt Hotels & Resorts (earn 500 miles per stay)
  • InterContinental Hotel Group (earn 1 mile for every $1 spent)
  • Langham Hospitality Group (earn up to 250 to 500 miles per night, to a maximum of 750-1500 miles per stay, depending on the brand)
  • Marriott International (earn 1 or 2 miles for every $1 spent depending on the hotel brand)
  • Millennium Hotels and Resorts (earn 250 to 500 miles per stay, depending on the brand)
  • Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts (earn 500 miles per stay)
  • Starwood Hotels & Resorts (members earn 2 miles for every $1 spent; Gold and Platinum SPG members earn 3 miles for every $1 spent)
  • Worldhotels (earn 500 miles per stay)

Online Shopping

Shopping portals are a great way to accumulate miles, and Delta has SkyMiles Shopping.

What’s missing in Canada are dining programs.

Direct Destinations Departing from Canadian Airports

As mentioned earlier, Delta has a decent presence across Canadian airports, but there is always room for more flights. Below is an updated list, from last time, of Delta Air Lines flights that depart from Canadian airports (recent changes are in brackets or struck-through):

Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)

  • Delta Air Lines: Atlanta, Salt Lake City
  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK (added)
  • Delta Connection: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK

Vancouver International Airport (YVR)

  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles (added), Minneapolis/St Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City
  • Delta Connection: Los Angeles (ends February 28, 2018), Minneapolis/St. Paul (switched from seasonal), Salt Lake City, Seattle/Tacoma
  • Delta Connection (Seasonal): Minneapolis/St. Paul (switched from permanent)

Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)

  • Delta Air Lines: Atlanta
  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Atlanta (added)
  • Delta Connection: Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia

Calgary International Airport (YYC)

  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City (added), Seattle/Tacoma (added)
  • Delta Connection: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Seattle/Tacoma

Edmonton International Airport (YEG)

  • Delta Air Lines: Minneapolis/St. Paul (switched from seasonal), Seattle/Tacoma (added)
  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Delta Connection: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle/Tacoma

Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (YOW)

  • Delta Air Lines: Detroit, New York–LaGuardia

Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (YWG)

  • Delta Air Lines: Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Delta Connection: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ)

  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): New York–JFK (ends on May 1, 2018), New York-LaGuardia (begins on May 2, 2018)
  • Delta Connection: New York-LaGuardia

Victoria International Airport (YYJ)

  • Delta Air Lines: Seattle/Tacoma (added)
  • Delta Connection: Seattle/Tacoma (added)

Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)

  • Delta Connection: New York-JFK

Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport (YXE)

  • Delta Air Lines (seasonal): Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Delta Connection: Minneapolis/St. Paul

What I would like to see Going Forward

I hope to see a new co-branded credit card to replace the two discontinued Capital One cards.

I would like to see American Express Membership Rewards increase their transfer ratio to 1:1. Or at the very least, offer transfer bonus promotions.

Lastly, I would like to see Delta expand its service across the nation to establish more competition.

4 Comments

  1. Hello Matthew;
    Thanks for the update and your informative post.
    With Air France and KLM as partners these can be very valuable miles however finding availability on these airlines has been tough for me to find. I notice that Flying Blue often has point sales from Calgary to Amsterdam in business class for example. To me this makes Starwood points very valuable as you can get a 5K bonus when you convert 20K in SPG points to Flying Blue for example. I have searched Delta flights on http://www.delta.com using Delta Points but rarely find flights at minimum redemption levels. They may not expire but they might before I get to use them 🙂
    Daniel

    Reply

  2. Hi. On Delta Canada website (actually the U.S. site says the same), it says “Medallion Status is earned for U.S.-based Members through a combination of flying and spending with Delta and our partner airlines each year”, but it didn’t mention non-US-based members (e.g. residents of Canada). Does it mean THAT there are no Medallion status for non-US-based members, OR THAT members outside U.S. do not need MQD to qualify for a status?

    Reply

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