When I last examined the value of Delta miles towards domestic economy flights, in February 2023, I found a median value of 1.3 cents per mile. That was based on a manual process where I looked at flights between 8 of the busiest airports in the U.S. and I compared the cash prices to the award prices.
Now, we have a better way of pinning down the value of Delta miles. Points Path, which is a Google Flights extension, keeps records of both the point prices and cash prices of all searches done its platform. The Points Path founder, and my friend, Julian Kheel, has made this data available to us for the purpose of identifying program point values. With over a million search results contributing to this statistic, this provides a far better estimate than I was able to calculate manually.
Based on an analyses of Points Path’s data, we’ve concluded that the new Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Delta miles = 1.1 Cents Per Mile.
At Frequent Miler, we keep a database of point valuations (we call these “Reasonable Redemption Values“). These are point estimates of airline miles, hotel points, transferable points, and more. The idea is that we try to identify the value at which it is “reasonable” to get that much value or more from your points. This information is critical for making informed decisions. In fact, it’s a key component of the First Year Value information shown on our Best Credit Card Offers page, and it’s similarly used to show which cards offer the best value for everyday spend, and which offer the best category bonuses.
Calculations
- Points Path Median Observed Value for Delta Main Cabin Flights: 1.1 Cents Per Mile
(based on the past 365 days of data as of June 20, 2024)- Decrease by 7% to account for the fact that award flights do not earn redeemable miles: 1.0 Cents Per Mile.
- Consider that Delta Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cardholders get 15% off award flights with the TakeOff 15 award discount. For cardholders, the starting cents per mile = 1.1 / 0.85 = 1.29 Cents Per Mile.
- Decrease by 7% to account for the fact that award flights do not earn redeemable miles: 1.2 Cents Per Mile.
- Range: 1.0 to 1.2.
- For our RRV, we’ll pick the middle point between 1.1 and 1.2: 1.1 Cents Per Point.
Conclusion
The exercise described above resulted in a new Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Delta miles. Where we previously pegged the Delta Reasonable Redemption Value at 1.3 cents per mile, we now list it at 1.1 cents per mile. That’s the point at which you are likely to get that much value or more.
Please keep in mind that this does not mean that you will always get 1.1 cents per mile value from your Delta miles. In practice, you’ll sometimes find better than 1.1 cents per mile value and sometimes you’ll find worse. As a Delta Gold, Platinum, or Reserve cardholder, you’re likely to get slightly better value. Additionally, note that there are some ways to get better value from Delta miles. For details, see: Best uses for Delta miles.
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