Just what is: “SkyMiles Credit Card Rewards” on Delta .com? We have the hidden bits!

I like to think I am on top of most things when it comes to Delta and their partners (not just airline partners). The airline, while it may seem like flying is the main thing they do, is really only a tiny part of what they do. Their rules, when it comes to many of the partners and programs, are like a maze with what seems like endless doors, some of them that lead you nowhere whereas others are locked until you reach some status or are granted a privileged standing of some sort.

So when a reader sent me a question about the above that he found ONLY when he was looking at his SkyMiles activity page (while logged in to Delta.com) and then ONLY when clicking on “My SkyMiles” word/tab at the top of the drop down choices – I was intrigued.

What is this? Is it some kind of rewards I don’t know about and could be earning? After all I used to LOVE Skybonus that allowed you to, in a way, 2x-ish dip your Delta flights to earn points before they killed the program requiring 5 employees each year (always remember Delta hates small business people flying Delta who get up at 4AM unless 4 others are getting up with you).

I tried to click the link but I, as likely you do as well, only get what you see at the top of the blog screen shot that says:

“The SkyMiles account number you provided is not eligible for access to the SkyMiles Credit Card Rewards experience. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”

Humf! Grrr! Ratz! Well I have been a Delta AMEX Reserve card holder for years and years and currently happen to hold the business Gold and Platinum and Reserve cards and I am still not good enough to be eligible for this who knows what program? So I reached out to Delta for more info and was told this is:

‘The SkyMiles Credit Card dashboard was rolled out in beta test to a small number of SkyMiles Credit Card Members to provide an opportunity for Card Members to better understand their Card value and review the benefits available to them as Card Members.” – Delta Corp representative.

This info is somewhat helpful but then again not really so much and my follow up request for more info received no response. So I did the next best thing when Delta is not talking – that is, I reached out to the Delta FlyerTalk folks and got what we needed from Delta flyer “C. E. Woolman” 😉

Ah ha! So this is what this mysterious page is all about. It is, sorta like Delta told us, a way to help a Delta AMEX card holder to see the value of their card all on one page. This idea, as an educated guess, is to help them see why they should hold and not dump the card when the fee comes around.

First off, thank you to FlyerTalkers and I am happy to learn I am not missing out on some kind of rewards program Delta will not let me be a part of. But further, as some of the users on FlyerTalk mentioned in the thread, this information is hardly earth shattering.

But this did get me thinking (as Delta stuff always does). Rather than the “boring” stuff we all should know (but bet many don’t) what would be fun things to really know? How about “How many“:

• more upgrades we got due to holding the Delta AMEX Reserve card?
• more upgrades we got by meeting the 25k spend level each year?
• MQMs we earned with PWM i.e. Pay With Miles perk?
• times we entered the Sky Club with the card? (well, maybe we don’t want to know this one)

And I am sure you could come up with a number of other fun statistics you may or may not really want to know about that Delta does / could / can track from our use of our co-branded Delta AMEX cards. Fun ideas right?

Anyway, I doubt Delta will listen to me/us and take this test project any further than it currently is nor provide the  really  good insider info we all would like, but at least now we know what it is all about.

BTW, since we are having fun with this, what other Delta / AMEX bits would you love to see the number on each year? Like my list? Have other bits you would love to see? Let us know in the comments below. – René