How To Handle the SkyMiles Account of a Deceased Spouse or Relative
 

My brother passed away last week. Has over 200K miles in his DL account. Family would like to use them if possible.

Is there any way to transfer his miles to my account so I can obtain award tickets for my family?

If not, is there any other way we can recover these miles? My family feels that it would be a shame for these miles to just 'disappear' due to his passing.

Any thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sorry to hear about your loss, but in a word, YES. My sister passed away in January; a letter to SkyMiles along with a copy of the death certificate plus a copy of the obituary where you are named along with your relationship to the deceased is all it takes. Posting was within 3 weeks, as I recall.

I thought this was in a posting a while back. I believe that at that time it was said that miles need to be in will.

Works for some programs not others. IE, Hilton points supposedly die with member. That's why you join Mutual Fund.

Someone please help clarify.

Sorry about your loss.

I don't have specific information, but many programs will respect a will if there was one. A will typically names someone called an executor to administer the will. Therefore, some programs will require a letter from the executor directing where the points should go.

If there was not a will, state law generally determines where property goes. This can get extremely complicated, but generally it goes to a spouse if there is one, if not to the kids, if not to siblings, if not to parents. So if you are a sibling, you might want to point out that your brother did not have a spouse or kids since it would be reasonable for an airline to be inclinded to give the points to the surviving spouse (if there is one) or surviving kids (if there are any) before giving them to surviving siblings. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, only that this generally is the predetermined order of inheritance in most states if you die without a will.

With all due respect Kwaj, but there must have been a bit more to your situation. For example, what if another sister, brother, son, daughter, wife, etc wrote letters and wanted the miles. Who would get them?

one more thing.. the miles will be posted as bonus and not base miles. And if they were under the old frequent flier program, they will be posted as SkyMiles.

Kwaj is correct. DL makes the transfer relatively easily and quickly, with proper documentation.

[This message has been edited by jeffreyt (edited 04-28-2002).]

Sorry to hear about your loss Brilove.

Just for the purposes of discussion -- I would NEVER NEVER do this, of course! -- who says that an airline needs to be told about a death? If you know the deceased's PIN, you can continue to order awards from the account until it's cleaned out. Airlines don't match their frequent flyer account records against state-issued death certificates, like Social Security does.

In this case, that deception is unnecessary because Delta is pretty obliging about transferring miles, but wouldn't my approach work in general? Only if you know the PIN, of course.

Bruce

Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

I appreciate all of the information very much. Sounds like Delta will be able to take care of this in a relatively painless manner.

Yes, we thought of the idea of keeping the account open. Unfortunately, we don't have his PIN. I have requested that it be sent to his address, but that will take a couple weeks. We may end up doing this for the other airlines and hotel programs he was in (US Air, Continental, United, Marriott, Hilton) if they end up being uncooperative.

Thanks again for the answers and the kind thoughts!

NoStressHere: My other sister was the executor of my late sister's will and the letter came from her. Even though the Skymiles account was not mentioned in the will, my other sister (the only other close living relative other than myself) did not want the miles for herself so sent the letter and documentation to Delta. 'Nuf said.

Transfer DL miles after death of spouse?
 

I couldn't find an answer to this question searching on this site or Delta.com. Is it possible to get the miles of a deceased member transferred to the account of the surviving spouse?

Hi uthornsgo.

From GRS:

IF TO SPOUSE -AND- MLG UNDER 50000..SND TO SVC CTR:
LETTER RQSTG XFR MUST INCLUDE NAME/ADDRS/ID NBRS MUST SEND COPY OF DEATH CERTIF INDICATING SPOUSE NAME (CERTIFIED COPY NOT REQUIRED).

IF MILEAGE 50000/OVER -OR- BEING GIVEN TO OTHER THAN SPOUSE:

HAVE THE RES AGT TRANSFER YOUR CALL TO "ASPECT 9711" TO LEAVE MAILING INFO ON RECORDER. DL WILL SEND AFFIDAVIT TO BE COMPLETED AND RETURNED WITH COPY OF DEATH CERTIFICATE.

------------------
I am not a sanctioned representative of Delta on these boards, just an interested participant. I'm only here trying to shed light on DL issues brought up on this board and to provide my opinion and/or to try to answer Qs. I do work for Delta, but I don't represent DL's final word when answering a question (in any capacity). Please e-mail Customer Care with your questions to get a corporately-supported reply.www.delta.com/email

UDH, does this mean that miles do not have to be in Will?

That's correct. There just has to be the proof as stated by UDH.

Keep in mind though, DL only transfers them as SkyMiles. So, if you have a wife and she had 200,000 OLD miles in her account and dies, the husband would receive 200,000 SKyMiles, not the Old Miles.

[This message has been edited by jeffreyt (edited Jan 17, 2004).]

Also, the transfer transaction itself does not constitute activity for purposes of extending the transferee's account mileage expiration date.

UDL: Thanks for the information. This is but another example of the very helpful information you have provided on this board and I know all of us DL flyers appreciate it. My wife and I both have provisions in our wills for the transfer of these miles just to be safe. This information should eliminate any problem when the unfortunate triggering event occurs. Given the discussion elsewhere regarding DL and Chapter 11, let's hope DL is still around to accept the transfer.

I take it from the sentance

-OR- BEING GIVEN TO OTHER THAN SPOUSE:

that Skymiles could be transferred to ANYONE else, not just a spouse?

Jeff

If it is willed to someone, why not?

It doesn't even have to be just a spouse. When my father died a few years ago (1997), I was able to transfer his Sky Miles into my account. He did not have anything about them in his will. It was very easy to do. I was both his executor and primary beneficiary, and the part I don't remember is which of those (executor or beneficiary) allowed me to direct where they went. Regardless, I just had to send a copy of the Death Certificate and either a copy of the will or the Letter of Administration--the transfer happened fairly quickly after I did that.

UDH- Thanks so much. This really helps a great deal, as I'm doing this for my grandmother, and she'll be very appreciative. You're great!

Related question. Assuming you already had access to the person (say parent's) skymiles acct + pin, and there wouldn't be a lot of orphaned miles, would it be better to use their account to request a ticket for yourself or someone else after they died, or to go through the process of getting the miles transferred?


Jeff

This has been discussed many times and some people continue to use the account. Technically you probably should/could not, but since DL does not read the obits on a regular basis, who would know.

Like many of you, I personally do all the tracking and ticketing out of my spouse's account already, same with the kids. If one died, what would change?

You are exposing yourself to the possibility that another beneficiary comes along with a claim that you had stolen miles which should have gone to them, especially if the will could be contested. If this is not a real possibility, then I don't see a problem.

Redeeming Skymiles for deceased father
 

Friends,
My father recently passed away and was also a Road Warrier, a PM for many years, he was less than 100K from MM but had recently dropped down to SM due to less travel. He has around 500K in his account and I need to know the best way to manage them for my Mom.

Thanks for any insight.

Sympathies indeed.

As I understand it, this is the one and only way that miles can be transferred between accounts. So, if your mother doesn't have an account she can get one and transferred. Or transferred to you to book for her. However, the easiest way is that if you have the PIN number just to let it remain active and book the travel out of that account. I wouldn't have any ethical issues with it and I doubt there are any legal ones (unless it would be a disputed estate which I am not getting those feelings from you) but I am not an attorney.

The leaving them alone method might be better. I don't think we have ever confirmed this but availability might be better for MM status, I suspect if they were transferred, it would lose that distinction.

Sorry to hear about your father passing away, flying chicken .

When my father died in 1996 he had roughly 30,000 Sky Miles in his account. It was very easy for me to transfer them into my account. I just sent them a copy of the death certificate and instructions on where to transfer them, and it happened within two or three weeks of when I sent the request. I was both my father's executor and his main beneficiary and the part I don't remember is which made me eligible to assign them or authorized to receive them (they weren't in his will or anything). Regardless, it was very straightforward and not complicated. However, I do agree with the above post from indufan that any accumulation toward MM status would almost certainly be terminated.

My condolences, flying chicken.
A recent issue of Inside Flyer magazine addressed this very issue. It seems DL has one of the more liberal policies about transferring miles to family members after a death. Many of the other majors insist on both a death certificate AND a copy of the will or trust specifically instructing where the deceased wants the miles to go.
The suggestion in the magazine was to include a paragraph in your will or trust covering your wishes for any airline or hotel miles/points you may have accumulated. The more miles and points you have, the more important this obviously is. And if you wish to will your miles to a non-family member, it's almost mandatory that this be spelled out regardless of airline.
Even though most of my outstanding miles are with DL and they CURRENTLY have a liberal transfer policy, who knows what the future will bring. Better to take care of this now and not have to worry about DL changing their attitude at some point in the future.

How to handle miles from a deceased relative?
 

Hi. My father passed away about a year ago and he currently has about 21k Delta SkyMiles...I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the best way to handle it. Is there any way to either transfer the miles to my mother's account or to even put in an award claim on them?

Thanks in advance.

When my dad died a year ago, my mom had no problems claiming his miles. The (obvious) first step: call Delta.

When my father passed away, I was able to transfer his miles into my account without problem. I just called SMS, and they explained the procedure to me. As I recall, I wrote them a letter, explaining that my father had passed away, and giving them both his SkyMiles number and my SkyMiles number. I had to enclose copies of the death certificate (Note to anyone: If you ever lose a loved one, be sure you get LOTS of copies of the death certificate. You'll use them all!) and his will. The miles transfered in about 4-6 weeks.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I also did this when my dad died. I transferred the miles into my mom's account.

If it is not a spouse with the same address, does the will need to clearly state who gets the FF miles or can you just request the transfer and give the FF #s?

I too am sorry for your loss.

Let me too add my condolences.
My father-in-law passed away a few years ago and he had several hundred thousand SM's banked.
We were the trustees of his rather complicated estate and with all the other issues never gave his miles a second thought,
As I've read about this on FT over the last couple years, I now know we could probably have captured the miles. Too late for us but since only a year has passed perhaps you can get the miles transferred.
I've read elsewhere that transferring the miles is a lot easier if one has the foresight to include specific instructions in the will or trust. It can still be done with no will provisions and with the proper documentation. But if you want to transfer them to a distant relative or a charity, for example, it's better if this is spelled out in advance.
Perhaps one of the legal folks on this board can weigh in on this subject.

My sincere condolences go to our fellow Delta forum FlyerTalk members who have lost loved ones. My thoughts are with you.

As the FlyerTalk community (and the community in the Delta forum) increases in population, this is a question that will unfortunately be asked increasingly more often in the future.

Therefore, as a service to facilitate finding the answer to the questions asked by those FlyerTalk members whose parents, children, spouses, siblings and relatives become deceased and have SkyMiles accounts, I have carefully merged several threads into this one, ensuring that the flow of the discussion remains consistent. This thread will then be permanently linked into the PLEASE READ FIRST: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Anything To Do With Delta “sticky” thread for easy reference in the future by anyone who needs it.

I truly hope that this helps those who need the information.

Sincerely,

Canarsie
Co-Moderator, Delta forum

My condolences to those FT members that have lost loved ones. I have been thru this twice, once helping my father receive my mother's SkyMiles when she passed away (pretty straightforward transfer to surviving spouse and well-covered in previous posts).

I also went thru this when my life partner passed away. Since we were not related legally, DL obviously asked for more documentation. However, he had SPECIFICALLY listed his SkyMiles in his will. A copy of the will, a certified copy of the death certificate (yes, you can never have too many of those), and some nice folks at DL got it all worked out. I should add that, as the surviving half of a gay couple, I received nothing but professional treatment, respect and courtesy from DL. This was one of those times when everything did work the way that it should.

Transferring miles after death
 

My sister's husband died several months ago. His estate is very complicated and his will doesn't explicitly mention skymiles. Can she get the miles transferred to her account just by presenting a death certificate and proof of marriage? I have tried searching, but haven't found a relevant thread.

My experience was that all we needed to provide Delta was a copy of the death certificate and the miles were transfered into my mom's account. Just write a short letter, mention her FF# and his and enclose a certified copy of the death certificate. I was given several of these (although I can't remember who gave them to me ... not something I want to think about much).

Billy

transfer of miles of deceased to spouse
 

Does anyone have knowledge of how one can transfer miles of a deceased spouse to the surviving spouse ? Are most of the airline policies on this matter similar?

Each airlines is different. Some will do it without a copy of the death certificate and some require one. I did this a few years ago for my mom when my dad died. I would call customer service of the individual airlines.

Sometimes it is better to NOT transfer the miles if the deceased person has status with the airlines.

I am sorry for your loss and would like to offer my condolensces.

There is generally a fee as well. My mother died and had so few miles that the fee was greater than the value of the miles. I agree that just using them if you have the PIN is easier.

Miles Transfer for a Death ?
 

Hello, What happens to a persons Skymiles if they become deceased ? Can they be passed on to a another family member ?