After canceling flights during the worst of the pandemic or simply rebooking after prices drop, Delta flyers are flush with Delta eCredits. But for many of them, the clock is […]
After canceling flights during the worst of the pandemic or simply rebooking after prices drop, Delta flyers are flush with Delta eCredits. But for many of them, the clock is ticking.
Delta repeatedly extended these credits throughout the pandemic, giving travelers more time to put them to use than practically any other carrier. The airline's final big pandemic extension pushed countless eCredits' expiration dates out to Dec. 31, 2023 – just over a week away.
So if you've got them, it's time to put them to use … and not just for a last-minute trip before the New Year. Unlike many other airline credits that must be used for travel before they expire, travelers can use these soon-to-disappear credits when booking Delta flights as far out as late 2024!
Whether you're an ultra-frequent Delta flyer with tons of credits sitting around or you canceled one big trip years ago, here's how to find and put these Delta eCredits to use before they disappear.
How to Find Your Delta eCredits
Finding your Delta eCredits should be a cinch.
These eCredits typically show up in your account within 24 hours of canceling a flight – but often much sooner. But keep in mind that Delta will typically issue eCredits separately to each passenger booked on the reservation, rather than issuing one large eCredit to the person who initially booked the flights. So tracking down all the eCredits from a trip may require some legwork, especially if you canceled or rebooked a family trip.
If you booked your canceled flight using your Delta SkyMiles account, you're in luck. Any vouchers and eCredits should show up in your Delta profile, under “Certificates, Vouchers & eCredits.”
Log in to your Delta account, navigate to your profile, and select that field – or just follow this link to your certificates page. It's easiest to do this on a desktop or laptop, not the mobile app.
There, you should see any active Delta eCredits or vouchers in your account, as well as other perks like Delta companion certificates from select SkyMiles Amex cards. They clearly display the amount of the credit, as well as the expiration date. Any eCredits you see here should be valid through at least the end of 2023.
Didn't book with your SkyMiles number? Don't worry. Just grab your 13-digit e-Ticket number from your Delta confirmation (it begins with #006) and head to Delta.com/redeem. Click the option to “Add a certificate or eCredit” and punch those numbers in.
Search for Hidden Delta eCredits, Too!
Generally, any Delta eCredits you've got will show up in your SkyMiles account. But not always.
Over the last year or so, we've noticed an issue that makes it harder to track these credits down – and much easier to let them go to waste. Rather than automatically inserting a new Delta eCredit into a traveler's online account, Delta may only issue it via email … and bury the details at the bottom of a lengthy message, to boot.
It's cropped up mainly when rebooking an existing flight online to get an a credit after prices drop – not when canceling a flight outright. Whether this is a technical snafu or Delta's way of trying to make eCredits harder to keep track of (and therefore more likely to go unused) is unclear.
Luckily, there's an easy way to track down any eCredits you've got without going through all your emails from the airline.
Simply head to the dedicated eCredit page, click “Look up Certificates and eCredits,” and select the option to search for credits by “Contact Info.” Tap in your phone number and last name, hit enter, and voila: The list should appear, whether they're currently showing up in your Delta wallet of credits and certificates or not.
Read more: How to Make Sure You're Not Missing Delta eCredits!
Got all your eCredits bundled together? Good. Now it's time to put them to use before they expire.
How to Redeem Delta eCredits and Vouchers
Redeeming Delta eCredits has gotten much, much easier in the last few years.
So long as you're logged into your SkyMiles account and your eCredits are saved there, you should be able to book a flight just as you normally would, then select eCredits as a form of payment when you're ready to check out.
Just click “Use eCredits” in the payment section and it should pull up your available eCredits.
Select the credit – or credits – you want to apply toward your flight and it will kick in automatically, bringing your out-of-pocket costs down. If your flight costs more than your credit(s), you'll simply pay the balance. If it's less, Delta will issue you a new credit for the difference.
Have some of those orphaned eCredits that don't show up in your Delta account? No problem, you can add them here, too. Just click “Add an eCredit” and enter the eCredit number you found by following the steps above. You may be required to confirm your first and last name, too.
But within a few clicks, you should be able to add another eCredit to the pile.
Proceed to checkout, and you'll see your eCredit(s) applied automatically. From there, just pay the balance (if necessary) as normal and finalize your purchase!
Use Up to 5 eCredits at Once!
Got a bunch of $10, $20, or even $100 Delta eCredits laying around? Don't worry, you don't have to use them one by one.
Delta now allows you to use up to five eCredits at one time. That's up from the previous maximum of three, which had been the norm for years.
How to Book Multiple Travelers Using Delta eCredits
Looking to rebook a trip for yourself and a companion … or the whole family? These eCredits aren't transferrable, so you can't use eCredits issued in your name on a partner or even your children. But there's still a way to rebook the whole family at once using their own eCredits without each of you booking your own tickets individually.
Start by heading to delta.com/redeem and selecting the eCredit(s) you want to use. But when you make it to the flight search engine, be sure to select the number of passengers that you're booking for. Trying to book a getaway with your spouse or partner? Search two passengers. Family of four? Search for four.
From there, proceed as normal to select your flights. Once you've picked your flights, enter each traveler's information – especially their SkyMiles account number. After that, scroll down to payment and select “Use eCredits.” This time, it will give you the option to apply eCredits to each traveler on the reservation.
If you're lucky, Delta will automatically pull up your companions' available eCredits. Otherwise, you'll need to manually enter the 13-digit eCredit numbers for your companions, and then confirm their names. That means you'll need to pull each additional travelers' eCredits up individually and write them down or copy them beforehand. You can use up to five eCredits for each passenger.
Tap it all in, hit “add eCredit” and then apply them.
Repeat the process for all the travelers on your reservation and boom – those eCredits will kick in to cover each traveler's ticket cost. Then just checkout as normal.
It's a bit of a headache but it can be done. And it's much better than booking each ticket individually.
Tips to Maximize Your eCredits
Now that you know how to find and use your eCredits, let's use them to take you somewhere great in 2024. Hands down, the best way to use them is when you find a cheap Delta flight.
While you'll need to book by Dec. 31 to use those eCredits before they disappear, you can book flights 11 months in advance. That means, as of publication, you can use your expiring eCredits to book an even cheaper trip as far out as November 2024!
Subscribers to Thrifty Traveler Premium get incredible Delta deals sent straight to their inboxes all the time. Here are a few deals we think would be a fantastic use of your eCredits.
Dirt-cheap domestic flight deals have made a comeback recently, and Delta is getting in on the action. How about a cheap fare to Denver (DEN) for a ski trip?
Need a warm-weather getaway this winter? Fares down to Phoenix (PHX) have been tumbling lately, like this stellar $158 Delta deal flying nonstop from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP).
New Yorkers are in luck: You can hop on nonstop flights from New York City (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) and back this winter for just $519 roundtrip. Use those eCredits now to lower the cost – and maybe even cover it all!
Starting from scratch? Use Google Flights Explore – it's the perfect tool to find the cheapest getaway possible, no matter where you want to go. You can filter to see just SkyTeam flights, meaning all you'll see on the map is Delta. Set your dates or do a flexible search, finding the best deals you can month-by-month or anytime over the next six-month span!
A few other things to keep in mind when trying to put these credits to use:
Domestic or international, one-way or roundtrip – it doesn't matter! You can easily apply Delta eCredits to almost any flight you can book directly with Delta. That includes not just Delta and Delta Connection flights, but also flights on partner airlines KLM and Air France overseas. Unfortunately, there's no way to put an eCredit toward the cost of upgrading an existing reservation to Delta Comfort Plus, first class, or Delta One.Pair Your eCredits with Amex Airline Credits
Got unused Amex airline fee credits on cards like *amex platinum card* or the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card? Time is running out to use those up before the end of the year, too. Putting those credit card perks and Delta eCredits together is a great way to kill two birds with one stone.
The Platinum Card gets $200 a year in airline fee credits while Hilton's top-tier card gets $250 to close out 2023. While you can't use these Amex credits to book flights outright, combining them with a Delta eCredit is a crafty workaround that you can employ to use both.
We've tested this method repeatedly over the years and confirmed it still works. In one recent example, it involved a $411 flight using a $266 Delta eCredit, bringing the balance down to about $145. We charged it to a Platinum Card with $200 in unused airline credits and voilŕ – those credits kicked in a few days later.
Regardless of which card you're using or how much in Amex airline credits you've got left, just be sure to charge less than $250 to your Amex travel credit card. That's the key for this method to work.
Two quick words of warning, though. You'll need to make sure you've selected Delta as your preferred airline with Amex for these credits. And you'll want to hurry to book: Lately, these Amex statement credits are taking a week or more to actually kick in.
Or with a Delta Companion Certificate!
It gets even better if you've got a Delta companion certificate to use for a buy one, get one trip next year from cards like the *delta skymiles platinum card* or the *delta reserve card*.
Sometime last year, Delta added the ability to apply Delta eCredits to the paid ticket even when redeeming a Delta companion fare. Using a companion certificate and eCredits together can help make your flights even cheaper.
To do so, just select your companion certificate as normal, then begin your search and select your flights. Once you make it to the checkout screen, select “Use eCredits” and Delta will allow you to pull in credits to offset the cost of your paid fare.
Not sure where to start? Read our guide to maximizing your Delta companion certificate – and a trick to make sure you get the best deal!
Delta allows you to apply up to four additional eCredits to your companion certificate online during these transactions, though you might be able to use even more at once by calling Delta to book your tickets instead.
So long as there's a balance left over – and because you're paying your companion's taxes and fees, there will be – just finish up by paying with an Amex card and you're set!
Bottom Line
Thousands and maybe even millions of Americans racked up Delta eCredits over the last three-plus years, and Delta gave travelers more time to put them to use than any other carrier. But now, many of you are on the clock.
Many Delta eCredits are set to expire in just over a week on Dec. 31, 2023. Use them soon to book a trip as far out as November 2024 before you lose that value!