If you go back and look at their Q2 Investor Day presentation (https://s2.q4cdn.com/181345880/files...vF-6-26-23.pdf) they basically said they believe that business travel is still soft and that leisure travel is driving incredible demand and supporting the high pricing we've seen.

They also said basically they see that the DL SkyMiles members spend 5x more than non-members and they also are aiming to increase the profitability of the SkyMiles "brand" from $250M in 2023 to >3X long-term and they aim to achieve that by expanding SkyMiles as a defacto currency for travel-adjacent experiences and likely changing their earnings structure to align more closely with the AA approach to drive the DL AMEX as the primary card for folks anywhere (not just to the $25k MQD level).

If you read those tea leaves I think this basically suggests that they are trying to turn SkyMiles into the US version of Avios (which spoiler alert, AMEX is also heavily invested as the co-brand partner for BA/Avios) and make SkyMiles the reward currency you earn across all your spend and then in turn you can redeem for a number of different travel experiences (not just Delta Vacations or Delta flights). By the way this is something they've already dipped their toe in the water doing this with Starbucks and Lyft.