Delta to link its loyalty program to Uber, ending partnership with Lyft

Delta Air Lines will link its lucrative SkyMiles loyalty program to Uber this spring, the companies announced Tuesday, as the airline ends its eight-year partnership with smaller ride-hailing rival Lyft.

Once customer accounts are linked, Delta SkyMiles members can earn one mile per dollar spent on UberX airport rides, two miles for every dollar spent on "premium rides" such as Uber Comfort and Uber Black, and three miles per dollar on Uber Reserve trips, Uber said Tuesday. For Uber Eats food-delivery service, members will earn one mile for every dollar on orders over $40 from restaurants and grocery stores.

"With a record number of travelers taking to the skies, we're focused on helping to make your airport travel journey as efficient, affordable, and effortless as possible," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a news release.

Delta and other airlines have expanded their partnerships for earning and using frequent flyer miles, part of loyalty programs that have generated billions of dollars for carriers. Other Delta partners include Starbucks, Hertz and Ticketmaster.

Customers who have linked their Lyft accounts to Delta can earn miles through April 7, a Delta spokesperson said.

"Customers with linked accounts will receive direct communication from Delta and Lyft in the coming days about the transition," the spokesperson said. "We are appreciative of the partnership we've had with Lyft benefiting loyal customers who have collectively earned billions of miles."

Lyft didn't immediately comment on Delta's loyalty-program change.

The carrier did not comment on why it is switching ride-hailing partners, though Delta's credit card partner American Express offers some cardholders credits to use with Uber for rides and food delivery.

Delta, which reports quarterly earnings on Friday, estimated at an investor day in November that it would receive about $7 billion in 2024 from the AmEx partnership, and it set a long-term target of $10 billion a year.

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 and up 16% from a year earlier.

Uber, meanwhile, had 161 million monthly active users on both its ride-hailing and food delivery platforms at the end of September, and its customers posted more than 2.8 billion rides, which includes delivery, freight, ride-shares and private rides, in the third quarter, up 17% from the year-earlier period.

Uber last year rolled out a shuttle service to New York's LaGuardia Airport from Manhattan.

Delta and Uber announced the new partnership at the CES tech show in Las Vegas, where Delta also said it would launch an artificial intelligence-powered "assistant" in its app and make upgrades to its in-flight entertainment systems.