Lyft Riders Can Score Delta SkyMiles With Every Ride

Another reason to sign up for a frequent flyer account like your mother keeps bugging you to do.

byWill Sabel Courtney|
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Peruse any one of those financial advice websites (like, say, Money) long enough, and you'll probably come across one particular piece of advice: Sign up for a frequent flyer miles program. You may never be George Clooney in Up In the Air, but even occasional airline passengers can still rack up enough points to score, say, a magazine subscription (for example, to Money). 

And now, there's yet another reason—at least, in one airline's case. Frequent flyers who use Delta's SkyMiles program can now receive credit for every Lyft ride.

Lyft and Delta announced the deal on Wednesday, breaking down the details of the joint program. Once a rider-slash-flyer has connected his Lyft account to his SkyMiles one, Lyft riders will earn one frequent flyer mile for every dollar they spend on car rides. (Not counting taxes, tips, and other assorted fees, of course.) For a limited time, riders who hail a Lyft to or from an airport will score bonus miles, racking up three SkyMiles for every dollar spent under those circumstances. And any SkyMiles members who are using Lyft for the first time receive a pair of $10 credits towards future car rides. 

It's not the first time Delta has explored a relationship with an up-and-coming tech company. The airline began allying itself with Airbnb late last year, offering users of the home-away-from-home website a similar deal, where they receive one SkyMile for every dollar they spend on accomodations. 

Of course, before you start thinking that $3,000 in Lyft travel will be enough to buy a cross-country flight. As with most frequent flyer programs nowadays, the term "miles" shouldn't be taken literally. It's 2,475 miles as the crow flies from NYC to L.A., but a Delta flight between those cities will likely run you at least 30,000 SkyMiles, according to the Delta website.

Still, for business travelers largely dependent on both airlines and car-hailing services, merging the two programs seems like a sure bet. 

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