JS

Whether plain old bonus miles count per the T&C's is not all that relevant (in the business sense, not the legal sense).

My 5 year old son now has 10,000 SkyMiles to his name thanks to Dash to the Gate. He didn't have a SkyMiles account before that promotion (no need to, since he only used my award tickets). So, because it's a new account, his 10,000 miles will not expire for three years.

If you already had an account and you had not flown Delta (or redeemed an award, etc.) in almost three years, why would Delta want to expire that account that just earned 10,000 Dash to the Gate miles, but give my five year 10,000 miles good for the next three years?

That is what would make no business sense, and that is why Delta is fixing the problem if you call them.

mir322

I agree...these points should be given the same rules as the other points that are accrued and posted to your DL account.

jimcoddington

You guys are awesome. I just called Delta, and my miles have been reinstated. As a rule of thumb, when you are having problems with Delta SkyMiles, never e-mail them, but call them at 800-323-2323.

Thank you, Jim

RSSrsvp

JS, that is also why DL should reconsider having a permanent presence on the board. The OSH resolved this issue in a prompt manner. Just think about how many calls are usually made to DL on questions such as this that consume countless wasted man hours. An online presence will save them a great deal of money and at the same time earn them some goodwill which they definitely need.

SPN Lifer

DL miles are good not three years, but until the end of the third year. All DL miles expire in December. For future reference, Diners Club works well. I guess it is one of the "international credit card partners." Send me a PM if you want to sign up, so I can get a referral bonus. Or my sponsor code is in my profile.

However, for this time, JS is quite right about the business inadivisability of deleting "bonus" miles for existing customers but not new ones, so there is still hope.

For the future, go with a Diners Club or Starwood Amex, to keep those accounts alive.

indufan

Any chance they manually changed the date in the case of this particular bonus?

miro

Does anyone know if mileage transfer to the account in question extends the expiration date?

ANDREWCX

I received a reply last night to my response to Delta (wonderful response time - only 20 days to receive a reply!) - stock email saying no to reinstating my miles.....

=========

Dear ANDREWCX,

Thank you for contacting us through the Delta Web site. We apologize
for the delay in responding to your message.

We are sorry to learn that you have not had the opportunity to use your
SkyMiles account or take advantage of our many partner offers. The
SkyMiles Membership Guide and Program Rules state that mileage in the
SkyMiles account will not expire as long as there is participation in
one of the following activities once every three years:

· Travel on a qualifying Delta, Delta Connection, Song or
Delta Shuttle flight
· Participate in the SkyMiles program with one of the SkyMiles program
partners
· Redeem your miles for a SkyMiles Award
. Receiving miles from the new Mileage Transfer Program currently being
offered from November 9, 2004, through April 30, 2005 - Please visit
our Web site at www.delta.com/transfermiles for details

Please note the following types of account activity do not extend the
SkyMiles expiration date:

. Mileage redeposit
. Posting of bonus miles alone
. Mileage transfer to a designated beneficiary due to death or
incapacitation

Your account reflects no qualifying partner activity was posted within
the 36 months prior to your expiration date. If you feel this
information is in error, please resubmit copies of supporting
documentation (tickets, receipts, etc.) for review. As a reminder,
mileage discrepancies need to be submitted within six months of travel.
For your convenience, you may return the documentation via fax
transmission at 404-773-1945 or mail to:

Delta SkyMiles Service Center
P.O. Box 20532
Atlanta, GA 30320-2532

We appreciate your interest in Delta Air Lines.

Sincerely,

============

Can't say I am very impressed. Obviously the OSH info about Delta crediting accounts either hasn't been communicated internally very well or else it isn't policy. Either way this is managing to really annoy me even more than before. I tried calling today but got lost in the auto maze and never reached a live person. So, I am going to wait the 6-8 weeks OSH said it would take to auto-credit the miles back and in the mean time I will not be flying Delta (which I do reasonably often - just credit miles to NW) - if they are so incompetant dealing with such a minor issue I am hesitant to risk relying on them for anything more important.

sfcaFLYER

Account Deletion and Mileage Expiration

Accounts with no activity for 12 consecutive months after enrollment will be deleted. A new SkyMiles number can be obtained by contacting Delta.

Miles will not expire as long as you participate in one of the following activities at least once every three years:

* Earn miles for travel on a qualifying Delta, Song, Delta Shuttle®, SkyTeam, or other SkyMiles airline partner flight.
* Earn or redeem miles with one of the SkyMiles program partners including hotels, car rentals, Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, international credit card partners, Everyday Miles by Rewards Network, MilePoint.com, mortgage lenders, CAP magazine subscriptions, real estate, or telecommunications partners.
* Purchase miles at delta.com/buymiles or by calling the number on the back of your SkyMiles card.
* Redeem miles on Delta, Song, Delta Shuttle, a SkyTeam partner, or another SkyMiles airline partner (Redemption of previous program awards does not extend the mileage expiration date.).

mir322

Don't laugh, but I actually had a dream that the "dash to the gate" thing was up again. The first thing I did this morning was check (sheepish grin).

Miriam

lt1GM

I just checked my wife's account and to my surprise, all her miles were reinstated with the date of March 8, 2005: "Adjustment: RTN 04 EXP MLG".

She had received her 10k Dash To The Gate miles on December 27, 2004 and all her miles were taken due to expiration January 13, 2005. But now they're all back! Thanks Official Delta Helper! ^

honu

FWIW, the 500-mile surveys that are sometimes available (one closed just recently) don't seem to change the expiration date either. I took a survey in March, and the 500 miles posted a week or so ago, but the expiration date is still Dec. 2006.

onetess

I don't fly Delta much, but when I got my most recent statement, I was dissapointed to find that about 3,000 miles that I accumulated a long time ago had expired, because I hadn't flown in the time period necessary to extend them.

Is getting them back a lost cause? Why do miles expire anyway? That practice just seems so unfair to the "infrequent flyer".

Tess

mk92

Probably a lost cause, and also probably not worth the effort. 3K miles is basically 1/10th the way to a free domestic skysaver ticket.

Don't have much sympathy for your "infrequent flyer" complaint because (1) you only have to have one frequent flyer activity every three years and (2) there are tons of things not related to flying that constitute frequent flyer activity (e.g., stay at certain hotels, rental cars, SkyDine program, etc. etc.).

Cholula

Hi Tess. You can kiss those 3K miles good-bye, I'm afraid.
Mile expire on DL...and a few other airlines... because they want to clear out the liability for miles that folks have forgotten about or overlooked.
DL has several trillion miles of outstanding liability for banked SM's and I'm sure they are thrilled everyday when they can write off another few million expired SM's.
My father-in-law passed away a decade ago with several hundred thousand SM's in his account. At the time we weren't aware they could be transferred to Mrs. Cholula's account with a simple letter, a death certificate and a provision for same in his will.
Moral of the story is that one needs to stay on top of miles or points in your various accounts or they tend to disappear.