Starbucks Purchases Can Now Earn You Miles with Delta Air Lines

Mike Pomranz
·2 min read
Delta Sky Miles x Starbucks Rewards
Delta Sky Miles x Starbucks Rewards

Liz Von Hoene / Getty Images

It's become a financial advice cliche: Cut back on your daily Starbucks and you could save enough money to buy a house or retire early. Not a fan? Well, Starbucks has just partnered with Delta, so how about this option: Drink more coffee and you could earn free flights. Travel is more fun than retirement anyway, right?

Starbucks and Delta Air Lines have announced that, starting today, members of both company's loyalty programs — Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks Rewards — can now link their accounts allowing purchases at one brand to earn rewards at the other.

Specifically, Starbucks Rewards members can now earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on eligible Starbucks purchases, meaning every PSL ordered in autumn can get you one step closer to a summer vacation. (Starbucks also clarifies that miles aren't earned on alcohol, tax, or gratuity.)

Meanwhile, the benefits to Delta flyers aren't quite as robust: On days you have a flight scheduled with Delta, you will earn double Stars on all Starbucks purchases. Additionally, for bigtime frequent flyers, Delta says that Diamond and Platinum SkyMiles Members will be able to select 4,000 Stars as one of their Annual Choice Benefits in 2024.

The partnership is open to both existing and new members of both loyalty programs, and to encourage people to get involved, from now until the end of the year, customers will earn 500 miles just for linking their accounts and an additional 150 Stars after making their first qualifying Starbucks purchase. Accounts can be linked by heading to either deltastarbucks.com or starbucksdelta.com.

"By bringing together two of the country's most celebrated loyalty programs we are able to reward our members with more of what they love," Ryan Butz, vice president of loyalty strategy and marketing at Starbucks, stated. "We are excited to partner with Delta to offer our members even more valuable benefits, as well as invite more customers to join Starbucks Rewards."

Starbucks said this new Delta partnership is the first example in the U.S. of their recent Reward Together program, created to allow Starbucks Rewards members to link their accounts with other brand's loyalty programs. As a result, don't be surprised if we hear about more of these kinds of partnerships in the future.