Here's what I've learned: Nobody really has any clue.
I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with them today. I only called because the representative that I spoke with yesterday said that if I faxed in the materials right away, it would be cleared up by last night. It wasn't.
The first person that I spoke with said that it would take 5-7 days. I asked her why I had gotten a different answer yesterday and she said she'd check with SkyMiles. She then came back and said it would be 7-10 days. I asked for somebody who could get me a definite answer. She transferred me to a supervisor, who really didn't have any answers, since she doesn't have access to that information and SM won't take direct calls. Fair enough. She did confirm for me that the account was blocked because of a potential hacker.
I expressed my appreciation to her for her help and my concern with Delta's approach to the matter. Apparently, I wasn't the only one, but SkyMiles gave the front-line representatives zero guidance on how to handle these calls and representatives to the internal SkyMiles desk got different answers, depending on who they talked to. I told her that A) it wasn't fair to her, since she had to take the calls from angry customers and couldn't give any answers and, B) it was quite sad that Delta doesn't have a standard response for managing these situations. She agreed. I 5ed her and we moved on.
Mike