Travelers wait for an Uber to pick up passengers at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on February 8, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Delta Airlines It will link its lucrative SkyMiles loyalty program to Uber This spring, the companies announced Tuesday, the airline ended its eight-year partnership with a smaller passenger-carrying competitor. Lyft.
Once customer accounts are linked, Delta SkyMiles members can earn one mile per dollar spent on UberX airport rides, two miles per dollar spent on “premium rides” like Uber Comfort and Uber Black, and three miles per dollar on Uber Reserve rides. Uber said Tuesday. For Uber Eats food delivery, members will earn 1 mile per dollar on orders over $40 from restaurants and grocery stores.
“With a record number of passengers taking to the skies, we’re focused on helping make your airport travel as efficient, affordable, and effortless as possible,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a press release.
Delta and other airlines have expanded their partnerships to earn and use frequent flyer miles, part of loyalty programs that have generated billions of dollars for airlines. Other Delta partners include Starbucks, Hertz and Ticket manager.
Customers who link their Lyft accounts with Delta can earn miles through April 7, a Delta spokesperson said.
“Customers with linked accounts will receive direct communications from Delta and Lyft in the coming days about the transfer,” the spokesperson said. “We value the partnership we have with Lyft that benefits loyal customers who have collectively earned billions of miles.”
Travelers wait for ride-sharing vehicles at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, United States, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“Years ago, we partnered with our first airline to open more ways to elevate and innovate travel experiences, thereby turning these customers into Lyft loyalists,” Lyft said in a statement. “We continue to expand our horizons by joining forces with major brands that share our obsession with customers, like Alaska Airlines, Chase, DoorDash, Mastercard, Hilton, Disney and Bilt.”
Delta did not comment on why it switched ride-hailing partners, despite Delta's credit card partner American Express It offers some credits for cardholders to use with Uber for rides and food deliveries.
Delta, which reports quarterly earnings on Friday, estimated at its investor day in November that it would receive about $7 billion in 2024 from the AmEx partnership, and set a long-term goal of $10 billion annually.
Lyft had 24.4 million active riders as of the end of the third quarter, and customers booked more than 216 million rides on the platform in the three months ended Sept. 30, a record high and up 16% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Uber had 161 million monthly active users on its ride-hailing and food delivery platforms at the end of September, and its customers recorded more than 2.8 billion trips, which include delivery, shipping, ride-sharing and private trips, in 2019. The third quarter, up 17% from the same time. period of last year.
Last year, Uber launched a shuttle service to New York's LaGuardia Airport from Manhattan.
Delta and Uber announced the new partnership at the CES technology show in Las Vegas, where Delta also said it would launch an AI-powered “assistant” in its app and make upgrades to its in-flight entertainment systems.
