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With more than 50 years in business, Delta Vacations — a Delta Air Lines company — is one of the largest vacation providers in the U.S. We deliver elevated, all-in-one, customized and flexible vacation experiences designed for SkyMiles® Members. With Delta Vacations, SkyMiles Members and Travel Advisors can choose memorable getaways that feature Delta’s notable flight service to more than 330 destinations in 67 countries worldwide, combined with expertly curated hotels and activities, to truly Go Beyond the Flight.

Our dedication to providing outstanding support and service — from planning and booking to traveling and beyond — has earned Delta Vacations numerous industry awards, including the Stevie Awards and Travel Weekly's Readers’ Choice Awards. With deep industry expertise, our leadership and teams across the country go above and beyond to provide our customers, our partners and our people with an experience that matters.  

As a company, Delta Vacations is intentionally working toward being a more inclusive brand by promoting and reflecting the various beliefs, cultures and experiences of our people, travelers and Travel Advisors in all we do.

OUR PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Diversity | equity | inclusion, awards and recognition, dwight james.

Chief Executive Officer

Dwight is responsible for Delta’s digital strategy, SkyMiles loyalty program, Delta Sky Clubs, and industry-leading partnerships with companies like American Express and Lyft.

Kama Winters

Kama is responsible for advancing Delta Vacations’ strategic position to deliver best-in-class vacation experiences while sustaining strong financial performance.

Sumanth Rao

Chief Financial Officer

Sumanth leads the company’s financial strategy and assumes responsibility of corporate finance lead for Delta’s SkyMiles Program and Delta Sky Club teams.

Brian Canning

Chief Marketing, Product and Customer Experience Officer

Brian leads the Marketing and Product Development teams while positioning Delta Vacations as a best-in-class vacation package brand.

Katrin Koenig

Chief Revenue Officer

Katrin is responsible for delivering an omni-channel approach to revenue management across travel advisor and consumer direct channels.

Kristen Molloy

Vice President, Sales

Kristen leads the development and execution of Sales’ strategies and operations by focusing on superior customer service, driving revenue and building new partnerships.

Colleen Phelan

Vice President, Brand Strategy and Customer Experience

Colleen is responsible for identifying and designing new ways to improve the overall customer experience for consumers and travel advisors.

Michelle Cowper

Vice President, Customer Service & Operations

Michelle is responsible for telecommunications, workforce management, training methods and virtual tools.

Cassandra Lee-Austin

Director, Human Resources

Cassandra leads the day-to-day human capital operations for 300+ employees in three U.S. locations while executing and ensuring alignment with Delta.

Headquarters:

Delta Vacations 700 South Central Avenue Atlanta, GA 30354

Reservations and Customer Service:

Customer Engagement Center 2915 N. Broadway Minot, ND 58703 800-800-1504    

Media Inquiries

Contact us via  [email protected] .

Travel Advisor Locator

Terms & Conditions

•  All SkyMiles Program rules apply. To review the rules, please visit delta.com/memberguide . Delta Vacations airfares will earn Medallion ® Qualification Dollars (MQDs – U.S.-based members only) based on fare class and distance flown. Bonus miles do not count toward Medallion Status or Million Miler™ Status. Offers void where prohibited by law. Offers subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply.
• For complete Travel Protection Plan terms and conditions, visit delta.com/vacations-tpp  or contact your travel advisor.

Seller of Travel Registrants

• Delta Vacations is registered in Iowa, Washington and New York under the applicable travel regulations. Iowa Travel Agency registration number: 768; Washington Unified Business ID #: 601198164; and New York City Hotel Occupancy Tax Identification Number: 0041195.
• Notice to California Residents: Delta Vacations is a registered Seller of Travel, registration number CST 2072033-20, pursuant to Cal. Bus. & Prof Code § 17550.13. This transaction is covered by the California Travel Consumer Restitution Fund (TCRF) if the seller of travel was registered and participating in the TCRF at the time of sale and the passenger is located in California at the time of payment. Eligible passengers may file a claim with TCRF if the passenger is owed a refund of more than $50 for transportation or travel services, which the seller of travel failed to forward to a proper provider or such money was not refunded to you when required. This business is a participant in United States Tour Operator’s Association’s (USTOA) Consumer Protection Deposit Plan. You may make a claim to this Plan if you are owed a refund. The Plan covers losses for transportation or travel services that were not delivered or not refunded when required. A claim must be submitted to the TCRF within 12 months after the scheduled completion date of the travel. USTOA’s total liability for all possible consumer claims from this Seller of Travel’s customers is limited to $1,000,000. The maximum amount of any claim you, the passenger, can make against the plan cannot exceed the total amount paid on behalf of the passenger to the Seller of Travel, not to exceed $15,000. A claim must include sufficient documentation to prove your claim and a $35 processing fee. Claimants must agree to waive their right to other civil remedies against a registered participating seller of travel for matters arising out of a sale for which you file a TCRF claim. You may request a claim form by writing to: Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation; P.O. Box 6001; Larkspur, CA 94977-6001; or by visiting TCRC’s website at: www.tcrcinfo.org , opens in a new window .

Learn more about us.

Your elevated vacation experience starts here. Choose from flights, hotels, rides and activities all over the world, all in one place.

WE’RE HERE FOR YOU

As trusted experts, we’ll help with recommendations, booking and support — whenever and wherever you need it.

PREFERRED BY SKYMILES® MEMBERS

We make it easier to  get more from your miles while also  earning bonus miles  and earning toward Medallion® Status.

TRAVEL WITH CONFIDENCE

Things come up, and we’ve got you covered, from  flexible changes   and cancellations to  travel protection plans .

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Delta Vacations and Travel Agents: Coming Full Circle

Despite its past, Delta Vacations is investing heavily in the travel agent channel.

“We love you and we’re here for you!” shouted Ray Redlich, director of operations management at Delta Air Lines, as he closed his lunchtime address to travel agents at Delta Vacations University in Minneapolis this past weekend.

He had spent the previous hour sharing information with the agents about Delta’s new initiatives, routes, destinations, aircraft and seat designs, plotting out the future for decades ahead. And then, he closed the show with a declaration of devotion. Delta loves travel agents.

Delta Air Lines has come a long way since 1995, when it was the first airline to put a cap on travel agent commissions. With that policy change, instead of paying a straight 10 percent commission on any domestic flight booked, travel agents’ commission maxed out at $50 for a domestic roundtrip ticket or $25 for domestic one-way.

Disintermediation Many agents feared it was the first step in a progression of airlines squeezing travel agent commissions into smaller and smaller amounts. And they were right. The airlines had discovered the internet. They had begun the process of disintermediation.

They were phasing out travel agents. The caps were the first step. That was followed by a progression of further cuts, painting agents further and further into a corner. It was a signal to travel agents that they would have to find a new way to make a living.

At that time, travel agents were selling 85 percent of airline tickets. But, with the appearance of the internet, the possibility for airlines to reach their customers directly was within their grasp, and they began to move in that direction.

I remember the first time I walked into a travel agency and discovered that they could book an airline ticket for me right there and not even charge for the service. It was an amazing convenience for customers. For the airlines, it created branch offices in every city across the country. The travel agent distribution system was essential for the airlines to reach into all corners of the country to build their market.

Travel agents were indispensable in building the passenger airline business during the post-World War II era. Then, suddenly in 1995, the airlines were showing signs that the party was over.

Growing pains The airlines had problems of their own. The domestic airlines had lost $14 billion since 1988 and were struggling for survival and viability. They were desperate to cut costs, and they were paying travel agents $7.5 billion a year, as much as they were paying for fuel.

But, whatever the justifications, for travel agents it was a death blow, a knife in the back. Suddenly the bottom dropped out of their businesses. Over the next few years, as other domestic airlines matched Delta’s commission caps, followed by cuts in the percentages of commission and cuts in what kinds of sales were commissionable, the carnage in the retail travel industry was ravaging. It was a major housecleaning. Thousands of agencies closed.

However, the need for travel counseling did not go away, so a new crop of travel agents sprang up to take the place the place of the ones who had folded. The newcomers had never experienced the glory days of easy airline commissions and hardly knew what they had missed. They had to find new ways to do business, and they did. And, so did the airlines.

A new perspective Now, looking back through the wrong end of a telescope, Delta’s move appears not like the end of a relationship, but as the painful first cuts in what would become a major industry restructuring. The relationship between airlines and retail travel agents has changed radically. And, it appears that the relationship, and the industry, are doing remarkably well.

I saw a glimpse of that relationship at work when I attended the Delta Vacations University event in Minneapolis over the weekend. The progression through which airlines bypassed travel agents and connected directly with their customers, was not the end of a relationship. It was a stage along the way in an evolving relationship.

Now, instead of paying a standard commission on every airline ticket sale, the airlines partner with travel agents in different ways. Probably the most significant way is through the airlines’ vacation packaging operations, such as Delta Air Lines’ packaging unit Delta Vacations.

The airline-agent relationship evolved from being a passive one in which travel agents earned straight commissions on all flights, to a more active relationship in which the airlines cultivate more in-depth, participatory relationships with select agents who are good producers.

The wholesale component Wholesalers, the middle men between the airlines and the retail travel agents, have been a vital part of the structural evolution of the travel industry, too. As the airline industry evolved through deregulation in the 1970s, it became clear to some that operating an airline in highly competitive markets, with the major logistical challenges of moving masses of people and heavy equipment from point to point, required a very different skill set from that of marketing vacations to the public.

The airlines needed to market leisure travel to the public to help keep its airplanes as full as possible, but the work of marketing leisure travel was a job that was remote from operating an airline. The airlines struggled with it. Wholesale vacation packagers, most of which evolved from travel agencies that started selling vacation packages, were much better suited to that kind of work.

Wholesalers such as the Mark Travel Corporation and Certified Vacations convinced some of the airlines in the 1970s that they could manage the airlines’ vacation packaging operations better than the airlines could themselves, and ultimately make the airlines more money than if the airlines took on that role for themselves.

One of the wholesalers that rose to the top of the pack as an airline branded vacation packager was MLT Vacations. It started as Main Line Travel, a travel agency founded in 1969. Main Line Travel started selling vacation packages to Las Vegas and became so successful at it that it started selling the packages to other retailers, becoming a wholesaler.

Main Line Travel as a wholesaler was renamed MLT Vacations and got so good at what it did that, in 1985, it was purchased by Northwest Airlines and became the airline’s in-house vacation packaging unit. The company continued to build its skills for the next two decades, and in 2008, when Northwest merged with Delta, MLT became part of Delta Air Lines and was dubbed Delta Vacations.

So, now Delta has the best of both worlds. It has its own in-house wholesale unit that has really mastered the leisure travel business through decades of experience and building institutional knowledge with many employees who have stayed with the business for decades. That brings us back to Delta Vacations University, an annual event through which the airline invests in educating travel agents and building its partnerships with them to the benefit of both sides of the equation.

Back in 1995, who’da thunk it?

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A Shoutout to Travel Advisors Everywhere: We Appreciate You

We’re giving a standing ovation to all the advisors who work tirelessly to fulfill the aspirations of travelers and keep the travel industry going strong.

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