For businesses that regularly send employees to conferences and client meetings in different cities, Delta Air Lines' (DAL) -) SkyBonus program offered significant benefits.
Separate from the miles that regular travelers accumulate by flying with the airline, the corporate loyalty program would give free flights to small- and mid-size businesses that regularly booked Delta travel for employees while also letting the same employees earn personal Skymiles on top of the corporate points.
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As first reported by flight industry website Points Guy, the airline is planning to phase out SkyBonus in order to make it part of the wider SkyMiles program.
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Here's What Will Change With Delta's Corporate Loyalty Program
Dubbed SkyMiles for Business, the new points system will still target small- to mid-size businesses but become a branch of the wider airline program rather than a standalone currency.
The requirements for opting in are changing very little — to start earning corporate points, a company still needs to have five of its employees designated as "regular travelers" and spend at least $5,000 on flights in a given year.
Flights taken with Delta partner airlines like Air France-KLM (AFRAF) -), Virgin Atlantic and Aeromexico (GRPAQ) -) will also count for points while the official name switch to SkyMiles for Business name will take place at the start of October. Meeting the above requirements, rather than company size, will determine eligibility although national corporations generally have separate partnerships with airlines.
A key change is that Delta is also introducing a new "Member" level on top of SkyBonus' existing "Plus" and "Elite" tiers — the lowest level allows any business to sign up but they will not start earning points until reaching the "Plus" level by spending $5,000.
The "Elite" level is reserved for companies that spend more than $300,000 on employee travel and comes with faster point-collection and additional perks.
Delta Starts Examining 'The When, Why And How Of Business Travel'
"As businesses and their travelers continue to redefine the when, why and how of business travel, Delta is prepared to cater to their evolving needs — regardless of company size," a Delta spokesperson told the outlet.
Collecting points through the system is an intricate web that depends on whether one travels from "Delta hubs" in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City or other cities. But similarly to most other loyalty programs, point collection speeds up with the more flights the company books. Booking employee flights of higher travel classes and spending money on in-flight products and services will also accelerate earning.
During the transition period leading up to the final switch in October, any SkyBonus points will be converted to SkyMiles at the same 3:1 ratio that was used when the program was running.
Also in line with the past corporate-personal crossover, the employees sent by the company will still be able to get points for flights booked by the company added to their personal accounts.
"Miles can be redeemed when booking travel to 1k+ destinations and no blackout dates on any Delta flight," the airline says on its site for the new SkyMiles for Business branch. "[...] A new feature allows companies to transfer business miles to individual employee accounts to enable redemptions on award travel, seat upgrades, checked bags and more."
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