Delta revamps SkyBonus business rewards program, adds eCredit redemptions

Delta Air Lines has made some changes to their small business program, SkyBonus, that are likely to affect everyone who participates. Whether you're happy about the changes will depend on how you used the SkyBonus program in the past. The changes are effective immediately.

Here's what you need to know.

Earn extra points through small business rewards programs

Delta SkyBonus is a rewards program for small businesses that book flights with Delta Air Lines and select partners.

Points awarded via the SkyBonus program are in addition to any miles earned on individual airline tickets. Participation in the program doesn't take anything away from your employees. Rather, you can use SkyBonus points to reward your employees — or yourself — with free travel and other rewards.

Delta isn't the only airline that features a program to reward small businesses. American Airlines has the Business Extra program, while United has the PerksPlus program. While there are some variations across the programs, they all function similarly.

Earning points in the SkyBonus program is easy, just add your company's SkyBonus number to employee bookings. How many points you earn is another matter.

If you have employees that frequently travel to and from non-hub cities, you're in luck. You can earn up to 30 points per dollar spent on those tickets. If most of your travel (or your employees' travel) starts or ends in a Delta hub the earnings are much lower. Additional levels fold in fare classes and different carriers that Delta partners with.

Related: Your complete guide to the Delta SkyMiles program

Redeem Delta SkyBonus Points for eCredits

The newest redemption option in the SkyBonus program is also the most flexible.

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This week, Delta added the ability to redeem SkyBonus points for eCredits. This is great for people who want an easy way to get value from their SkyBonus points.

If you've ever had to cancel a Delta flight or had a flight delay you've probably received a Delta eCredit. The SkyBonus version of eCredits can be used for any passenger on virtually any airline ticket Delta sells. Redemptions start as low as 7,500 SkyBonus points for a $25 Credit.

On a level 1 ticket that starts and ends somewhere other than a Delta hub, it would only take $250 in base fare to earn this redemption. The rate of redemption is the same for all eCredit awards.

International SkyBonus certificates are no longer available

The unfortunate part of the recent SkyBonus changes are that international certificates seem to have disappeared as a redemption option.

These certificates were valuable if you were willing to put in a bit of work (and save up a bunch of SkyBonus points). They could even be redeemed for premium cabin flights. Alas, they seem to be gone now.

Thankfully, you can still redeem SkyBonus points for free flight certificates valid in the U.S. and Canada, including premium cabin travel.

Related: Everything you need to know about maximizing Delta SkyMiles award tickets

Bottom Line

There are other SkyBonus redemptions, such as Delta Sky Club memberships. And, you can still redeem for U.S./Canada flight certificates. But, the most valuable, and flexible, SkyBonus redemption now appears to be eCredits.

Whether you choose to use them on your next flight or give them as a gift, they're pretty easy to redeem. The program has been popular with many small businesses, including the guy who allegedly scammed Delta out of 42 million SkyBonus points. We wouldn't be surprised if today's changes were influenced in part by previous bad actors.

Feature photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images.