Delta Air Lines has been growing its presence in Seattle for several years now, and has been trying to steal market share from Alaska Airlines. Seattle is a different market than most, in the sense that many locals are fiercely loyal, and like giving business to companies that they perceive to be part of their community.
As a result, Delta hasn’t just been growing its presence in Seattle in terms of the destinations it flies to, but has also been trying to appeal to Seattleites in a different way. The Seattle Seahawks have become increasingly popular the past several years, and Alaska Airlines has even had a partnership with the team, with former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson being Alaska Airlines’ “Chief Football Officer.”
Naturally Delta has also been trying to take advantage of Seattle’s football success. Since 2016 the airline has been offering “Delta 12Status,” and it’s returning this year, for the 2024-2025 NFL season.
In this post:
Delta 12Status registration & benefits
You can register for Delta 12Status here, and it’s available exclusively to Washington state residents 18 years of age or older. Note that if you registered in past years, you’ll have to do so again this year — your registration doesn’t carry over from year to year.
What are the perks of Delta 12Status?
- One Delta SkyMile for every yard the Seahawks throw on the field at both home and away games during the 2024-2025 NFL Season
- Priority boarding — 12Status members receive Group 5 boarding (main priority) when departing SeaTac Airport (SEA) from September 8, 2024, until the end of the Seahawks 2024-2025 season
- A 12% discount at Seahawks Pro Shop retail stores on the 12th of each month during the Seahawks season
For those of you not familiar, you can read about the significance of the number 12 for the Seattle Seahawks here.
How many bonus Delta SkyMiles can you earn?
The Seahawks typically have somewhere around 4,000 passing yards every season, which would mean you’d earn around 4,000 free SkyMiles this season if results are similar.
Since the program was launched in 2016, Delta has given away over 1.4 billion miles. It’s actually pretty interesting how fast this program has grown. Prior to last season, the total was “only” around 900 million miles, so in a single year, the total number of miles given away increased by roughly 50%.
Delta SkyMiles is more or less revenue based, so at the rate of one cent per mile, the 1.4 billion miles is worth around $14 million. For more opportunities to earn Delta SkyMiles, see this post for the best credit cards for earning Delta miles.
Bottom line
If you’re a Washington state resident, signing up for Delta 12Status is a no brainer. You’ll earn thousands of bonus miles for free (hopefully), and there’s nothing you have to do other than to sign up.
Love the insights on Delta 12Status! It’s great to see the benefits laid out so clearly. The registration seems simple and the perks are worth it. Thanks for sharing.
This would be such a fun and productive idea if the DL C Suite hadn't pickled their brains in hubris and demolished their program. As it stands, this feels insulting -- hell of a way to waste a great concept, but I guess that's just what you've got to do if you want to burn cash going upside down at a wannabe hub that never made sense and never will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Why? Can you give a reason why it doesn't make sense? It's a bunch of rich people wanting to fly ...
Useful. I'm a WA resident so why not? Thanks.
The first game was this past Sunday. If one signs up now, does one forfeit the miles that could have been earned last Sunday or do they give miles for the entire season's games?
The NFL season doesn't start for another week
Over on airliners.net, some Delta fanboy is crying "but but... Delta is profitable in SEA. Why would they ever need to provide anything free to attract customers? EVERYONE is dying to fly Delta when given the chance. How dare anyone even question their profitability there" and the mods are also QUICKLY deleting any reference/post to Delta in SEA that questions Delta's profitability, wisdom, or scares aforementioned fans.
I think it's pretty evident Delta at SEA is a mixed bag. I looked up some of their historical data, they do have some high performing routes. For example, AMS is actually doing really great, so they even started doubling up on frequencies there. On the other hand, LHR is pretty weak, Delta's SEA-LHR is now the weakest after LAX got dropped.
Domestically, they can't compare at all to Alaska, but it's relevant to look...
I think it's pretty evident Delta at SEA is a mixed bag. I looked up some of their historical data, they do have some high performing routes. For example, AMS is actually doing really great, so they even started doubling up on frequencies there. On the other hand, LHR is pretty weak, Delta's SEA-LHR is now the weakest after LAX got dropped.
Domestically, they can't compare at all to Alaska, but it's relevant to look at the whole system. Their TPAC routes are all doing relatively well, HND, PVG, and ICN plus CDG. No doubt, SEA is a weak hub for Delta, esp compared to ATL and their interior hubs, but I also don't think the situation is as dire as some people make it out to be. SEA is overall a growing hub/city, it's not a bad place to be. The dumpstering on Delta's SEA hub is out of proportion since I doubt it's that much weaker than Delta's position in LAX, where they have 60% LF South Pacific flights.
They may very well be profitable in Seattle.
But the absolute horror or contemplation of data by some users on that site about the topic borders on the absurd.
And the way the mods quickly delete anything casting doubt or causing debate on the topic is weird.
Not to mention the hatred of Enilria by the same group of fanboys
I just think the discourse is so irrational sometimes. It's very normal to do promotions with local business/organizations. I don't know how someone can infer Delta's success or lack thereof simply because they are doing a marketing promotion w/ a local NFL team.
Seattle is profitable for Delta, but it's also a fairly tough market to be in. Besides Delta who has a hub, Alaska Airlines has it's largest hub there and people are pretty loyal to it in Seattle as it is the hometown airline. They also face competition on a lot of routes with either Alaska, other legacy carriers, Southwest, Low cost carriers, or other international legacy carriers. They would ideally love Seattle to be a...
Seattle is profitable for Delta, but it's also a fairly tough market to be in. Besides Delta who has a hub, Alaska Airlines has it's largest hub there and people are pretty loyal to it in Seattle as it is the hometown airline. They also face competition on a lot of routes with either Alaska, other legacy carriers, Southwest, Low cost carriers, or other international legacy carriers. They would ideally love Seattle to be a fortress hub but unfortunately that isn't the case. Like SEA-DEN you have Alaska, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and United. Same thing with LAS, but take out United and replace with Spirit. So they all have to compete on rpice, that means lower fares, and less revenue on the more competitive routes.
American carriers really need to streamline their boarding. The fact that Group 5 is still considered priority is a bit comical...
“Group 27 now boarding…”
Not sure how they do it at Delta, but I regularly see groups either directly called together or called so quickly after another that nobody had time to go through the gate.
Priority boarding is actually a curse, they should just allow a hand trolly only for what is now priority boarding and let them board last, so the plane can fill up from the back.
Watch “Boarding a plane shouldn’t be this hard” by Key & Peele if you want a laugh!