Delta’s WNBA deal is winning over Gen Z women travelers

Delta is covering familiar ground: Young said the company has “leaned into sports in general for the better part of two decades,” deepening its commitment in women’s sports specifically over the past 10 years. That includes expanding its WNBA partnership in 2024 to become its official airline and charter provider, a deal Young said Delta recently renewed.

• The brand is focusing on bringing “premium experiences” to customers, and this year’s All-Star Weekend activation is an extension of that approach.

Delta implemented its popular Group Drop strategy in the run-up to ASW, sending a few lucky winners to some of the weekend’s biggest moments: SkyMiles members entered sweepstakes for unparalleled experiences, including courtside tickets, a VIP pass for the All-Star Game and the three-point contest, a shootaround clinic with a WNBA All-Star, and Orange Carpet access.

• The activation also includes parties and custom merch, creating an “all-around, surround-sound” experience for the winners. Instead of highlighting star athletes or teams, it notably dials in on the fans.

“Fandom is beyond just the actual experience of watching the game,” Young noted. “It is culture. It is merch. It is travel. It is sports tourism. All of that is growing, and we want to be right there alongside the WNBA while that happens and bring our customers along for all of those experiences.”

Delta’s investment in women’s sports is not merely “an act of doing the right thing,” Young clarified. “It is an act of doing the right thing for the commercial business, and women's sports is absolutely an area where our most highly engaged customers are engaging, and so we want to be right there with them.”

Delta’s work with the W and focus on its fans has already paid off. They shared that thousands of SkyMiles members entered to win its giveaway, and participants skewed “overwhelmingly young and female”: 74% were women, while 85% were Gen Z or millennial.

• Young told us, “women represent one of our most influential and high-value customer segments. They fly more frequently. They engage more deeply than the average flyer and the average SkyMiles member.”

• “They're a really important audience for us,” she continued, citing their household purchasing influence. “As that audience has grown, we have wanted to grow our investment in women's sports alongside that.”

Delta noted its WNBA partnership “continues to deliver strong business and brand results.” From 2024 to 2025, brand love and preference increased among WNBA fans.

• Young said fandom is changing, and Delta is adapting. For example, as the brand seeks out younger audiences, it’s seen a rise in “bucket-list travel” and sports tourism. “There's trends around people taking girls' trips or guys' trips to sporting events to engage and be a part of these teams and properties and sports that they have a deep passion for.”

With air travel prices especially high this summer, the industry is concerned about losing out on younger, less financially stable demographics. That’s what makes those high Group Drop entry rates among Gen Z women especially encouraging: Delta is genuinely hitting and resonating with a target demo.

“The WNBA represents a property that helps us get to more female fans as well as younger female fans, and younger fans in general,” Young said. For previous Group Drops, “deeply leaning into fandom for new audiences has absolutely brought in new SkyMiles members.”

• “It's also a way to reach younger audiences that maybe don't have a huge bank of miles or massive discretionary income to get that kind of access,” she said. “So we are able to provide it for them via their loyalty to Delta as another sort of commitment to them.”

Delta also showed up for women athletes and fans at last week’s SHE Weekend in Las Vegas, where it served as the official airline to transport over 100 elite women athletes to the event. An added bonus? Athletes were flown by an all-female flight crew, notable because — surprise — women are massively underrepresented among pilots.

“We want to be there with our loyal fans — whether we are taking them to their grandmother's funeral on Thursday, to their business interview on Monday in Tokyo, or to that sporting event, be it the WNBA All-Star Game on the weekend, we want to be right there with them with those with those passion points.” All aboard.