In October 2022, Delta and Starbucks launched a loyalty collaboration, intended to reward customers from both brands. While we often see partnerships like this between travel brands (like between airlines and hotels), it’s cool to see an airline partner with a coffee chain.
Continue reading: Delta SkyMiles & Starbucks Rewards Partnership Changing
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Earning Skymiles isn't something I go out of my way to do, but every now and again I find myself redeeming Skymiles for a flight - just because I can. There's nothing aspirational about Delta or their product. It's purely utilitarian and I would never redeem for D1, especially at the 375,000 level we see too frequently.
But, this change, for me, is a negative. Where I live my local grocery store incentivizes the purchase of gift cards by awarding "gas money." So, with the current program, I was able to buy a $50 Starbucks card earn 10 cents off a gallon of fuel (up to $20). That's a value of $2. Then, I'd buy that gift card with my Amex Gold card to get my 200 MR points. When buying Starbucks I would get the stars and, then, tap into the lousy Delta miles as a bonus. In cases when I bought coffee at the Starbucks in the grocery store I would also earn 5 cents off fuels for purchases over $10 (this is has now been discontinued since the store enabled order ahead and is no longer using PLUs). There were multiple levels of rewards involved on the purchase of two coffees. With the switch to reloads, this will ultimately be a devaluation for me. But it's really insignificant at the end of the day. My spending at Starbucks has also significantly decreased as well simply because I draw the line at coffee approaching $6-7.
"Come swing by Edmark Toyota and get a FREE pack of Kleenex with the purchase of a new Sienna!"
I kind of like seeing my SkyMiles balance update every time I bought a coffee (haha) but the way you explained it sort of put it into context that this isn't really a devaluation per se. It's basically just a "prepay and earn" thing.
One thing that was unclear though from Delta's email. On Delta travel days, do you earn 2x for individual purchases like normal, or 2x the amount for reloads, or both?
For me this is actually good news. I should probably refill by $25 allotments instead of $10 anyway… I’m just in denial… and my SkyMiles activity was getting bombarded with Starbucks activity so this will be easier to track things.
Haha, you got taken advantage of. I got a box of 8 Godiva chocolates for my BMW purchase! Only the smart ones get ahead in life...
This is a "downgrade" for me, too, as I currently pay with my Amex Gold in the app such that I earn MR points, Stabucks rewards, *and* SkyPesos on direct purchases without the silliness of having to "reload" a Starbucks card that I don't care to maintain. I understand where S'bucks is coming from but overall it's a garbage update for me because I don't care for the additional reload step.
You are earning half as many Starbucks stars when you pay with the Amex in the app rather than reloading a Starbucks with that Amex and then using it. (2x per dollar vs. 1x)
I reload my Starbucks app by buying a gift card through the United MileagePlus X app which gets me 2 UA miles per dollar and charging it to my CFU which gets me 1.5 points per dollar. So I bump it up to $100 rather than $20 and in the end, I’ll have 200 UA, 300 UR and 200 DL. Slow going for sure but I’ll always take extra miles/points wherever I can get them.
Except 2x Skymiles on $100, you will earn Skymiles on sales taxes as well which was excluded.
Does this work with any credit card or does it have to be one affiliated with Delta?
As someone who rarely flies Delta, I did enjoy the opportunity to collect a few more Delta miles for my twice a month Starbucks visits. With the change, I don't see earning a lot of miles since I reload my Starbucks card three or four times a year, with $20-25.
The people who come out worse off are the ones in my situation.
In my house, we use Starbucks so much, that I've been buying discounted gift cards from online gift card marketplaces to maintain the balance in our Starbucks account. The rate I pay for those gift cards changes frequently but is usually roughly around maybe 4 to 8 percent. Doesn't sound like much but it adds up.
So, under the existing program, we were earning one SkyMile per eligible dollar we spent at Starbucks. Now, as we read in this article. we would earn only on reload. However, since I'm buying those gift cards in a secondary marketplace, when I use this doesn't result in any reload in our Starbucks account. So, no more SkyMiles for us in those cases
The plan is we'll still keep buying those discounted gift cards, because it's a better deal.
I suspect people like me are one main reason Starbucks just made this change....
I think this would remain as it was. Stars aren't something that can be reloaded, right? They're just earned and redeemed as you go?
I had a reload today, and earned the 25 miles for it. I don't have any Delta-affiliated cards currently