Actually it is not, based on this thread I just found.

Delta Gift Card - unclaimed property?

For the majority of the posters, they can NOT find their "properties" that are being turned over to their State Unclaimed Property Dept even after Months have passed (the letter said it needs 3 months for the records to show up in State's database).

There is ONLY ONE success case reported in the above thread that the claimant was able to claim his $200 DL property plus $14.40 interest, from Montana.

It is all for the breakage because once DL turns this over, DL can then remove the value from its book versus carrying it.

AA and UA do not have such practice, fwiw. And they are not afraid for non-compliance.

Obviously there are fine prints in the property categories. Because I have Retailer's gift cards that are older than 5 years - they are deactivated by the retailers but NEVER are turned over. A few phone calls get those cards reactivated and just usable as brand new.

DL chose to remove the liability from its book. How the accounting is done, who knows. I suspect there must be some advantages for DL to go thru the motion to "meet the compliance" while its competitors do not.