The outcomes are in!
Final month, Delta Air Traces prospects and staff acquired to vote on which European vacation spot the provider would launch as its subsequent vacation spot.
The alternatives Delta supplied: Sardinia in Italy, Malta or Ibiza, a part of Spain’s Balearic Islands.
After practically 150,000 votes, two winners emerged.
Delta SkyMiles members topped Sardinia because the winner, however Malta obtained essentially the most votes from the Atlanta-based airline’s staff.
The decision: Delta will launch service to each islands for the summer time of 2026, with each routes departing from its hub at New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK).
JFK flights to the Italian island of Sardinia will launch Might 20, 2026, days earlier than Memorial Day weekend and the large ramp-up of summer time journey.
Delta will function its Sardinia route 4 occasions every week through Olbia Costa Smerelda Airport (SLB), positioned within the northeast portion of the island.
Flights to Malta, the Mediterranean island nation south of Sicily, start June 7, 2026 and run 3 times per week, out and in of Malta Worldwide Airport (MLA).
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Learn extra: How you can redeem your Delta SkyMiles for optimum worth
Bookings went reside immediately on Tuesday, each for passengers paying for his or her flights and SkyMiles members hoping to redeem miles.
Most SkyMiles redemptions I discovered for subsequent summer time began someplace between 70,000 and 80,000 miles, spherical journey, to Sardinia — although this is one late-summer possibility for just below 70,000 miles (or over 200,000 for Delta One).
The Sardinia itinerary features a 6:25 p.m. departure from JFK, with a next-day 9 a.m. native time arrival in Olbia. On the best way dwelling, you’d depart at 11 p.m. Sardinia time, arriving simply after 2:30 p.m. at JFK.
Malta award area gave the impression to be loading, nonetheless, however I did discover a comparable pricing setup for an August spherical journey.
The itinerary for these flights: a barely earlier 5 p.m. JFK departure, with an 8:20 a.m. next-day arrival at MLA. It is a late-morning departure on the return, touching down in New York slightly earlier than 3 p.m. EDT.
Bear in mind, eligible Delta-American Categorical bank card holders can save 15% on award bookings.
Finest ever welcome provides: Earn as much as 125,000 miles with a Delta Amex card
Delta lets the voters determine
Delta’s strategy for its newest European enlargement was a head-turning one for an airline, permitting loyalty members and staff to weigh in on the place it sends its planes; airways normally hold their selections on routes and locations near the vest.
“We will now say that our community isn’t just constructed for our most loyal prospects, however by them,” Paul Baldoni, Delta’s senior vp of community planning, stated in a press release saying the information.
That is not the one cause why Sardinia and Malta are groundbreaking new locations for vacationers.
No airline presently connects the U.S. with Sardinia or Malta (the identical would have been true of Ibiza, too).
Each needs to be alluring new choices for vacationers at a time when flyers have continued to flock to southern Europe in droves — together with to close by Sicily, Italy, the place each Delta and prime competitor United Airways launched nonstop service this previous summer time.
We must also level out that each Sardinia and Malta have a couple of motels you’ll be able to ebook with factors, together with the brand-new W Sardinia — Poltu Quatu, a part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio.
Plane plans
Delta will function each routes from JFK with its Boeing 767-300ER — particularly, its three-cabin 767 that is configured with each Delta One and Premium Choose seats.
Prospects who ebook the airline’s lie-flat Delta One cabin could have entry to the airline’s swanky Delta One Lounge and a devoted, semiprivate safety entrance at JFK’s Terminal 4.
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