The way to “win” the points & miles game is to acquire points cheaply (or for free) and to then use them towards outsized value. For example, you may be able to earn 60,000 points or more from a single credit card bonus. Then, if you find great sweet spot awards, you may be able to use those points for a thousand dollars or more value.
With Delta, however opportunities to get far outsized value are increasingly slim; we recently set our Reasonable Redemption Value for SkyMiles at only 1.1 cents each (not counting cardholder discounts).
Still, there are a few opportunities left to get good value for your SkyMiles. Here’s a round-up of some of the best uses.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Great Value Options
Delta Skymiles Flash Sales
Delta periodically runs SkyMiles sales, and often doesn’t even advertise them. When blogs like this one post about these sales, it’s worth running some searches yourself on Delta.com. Sometimes you can get extraordinary value from these deals…and now that Delta is offering cardholders 15% off award flights, even better deals should soon be available.
Here’s an example where Delta was offering one-way flights for as little as 2,000 miles:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This was a rare case where Delta miles were often worth more than 2 cents per mile. Even rarer was the situation where a domestic first class award netted nearly 4 cents per mile value (for the 7:35am flight, above). Here’s the calculated value per mile for each class of service from the above example:
- Basic Economy: 2.14
- Main Cabin: 2.3
- Comfort+: 2.1
- First: 3.7
US to Canada via WestJet for 12.5K – 17.5K one-way, economy
Clik here to view.
Delta prices most awards on WestJet at 12,500 – 17,500 miles one-way within the US and Canada. WestJet has flights to Canada from Atlanta, Boston, Denver, JFK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, and more. Anytime the cash price is over $200 one-way, you’ll get good value from your miles, and anytime the cash price is over $300 one-way, you’ll get great value from your miles. I was easily able to dig up a few cases where one-way prices were over $300, especially to more remote parts of Canada.
Tip: Don’t trust Delta’s cash price for WestJet flights. I found an example where Delta wanted either 17,500 miles or $1,062 for a nonstop flight from JFK to Calgary! That would give you a theoretical value of 6 cents per Delta mile. Via Google Flights, though, I found that the exact same flight could be purchased through WestJet for only $271. When compared to the more reasonable price, the 17,500 mile award offers 1.5 cents per mile value. That’s still good for Delta miles, but not the insane value I first thought.
Flights that originate and end outside of the U.S. and Canada
Delta charges much less for most flights originating and ending outside of the U.S. and Canada. In each case where this works, at least one segment is flown by a partner airline, but often the bulk of the flying is on Delta itself. Below you’ll find a number of examples. For full details, see: Delta SkyMiles Business class deals aren’t dead. Here’s how to find them.
Unfortunately, the Delta credit card 15% discount applies only to itineraries flown entirely by Delta and so there is no additional discount for flights like those shown below.
Mexico to/from South Africa in business class for 110K
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Example: Johannesburg to Mexico City
Mexico and South America to/from Europe in business class for 105K
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Examples:
- Mexico City to London via Amsterdam on KLM
- Amsterdam to Mexico City via Paris on Air France
- Colombia to Paris on Air France
- Brazil to Paris on Air France
- Chile to Paris on Air France
Europe to/from Asia in business class for 80K
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Examples:
- Prague to Seoul on Korean Air
- Paris to Seoul on Korean Air
- Seoul to Amsterdam on Korean Air
- Vienna to Taipei via China Airlines business class
Australia/New Zealand to/from Asia in business class for 65K
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Examples:
- Seoul to Australia/NZ on Korean Air
- Taipei to Australia on China Air
- Mainland China to Australia/NZ on Korean Air
South Korea to/from Japan business class for 15K
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Example: Seoul to Tokyo on Korean Air business class
Good Value Options
15% Off for Delta cardholders
Now that Delta offers a 15% award discount to Delta Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cardholders, you can get good (but not exciting) value on almost any flight.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Shown above you can see both the cash and award search results for a one-way flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. In the table below, I’ve calculated the value of using SkyMiles to book into each of the 3 cabin options both with and without the 15% discount:
| Main Cabin Cents Per Point |
Comfort+ Cents Per Point |
First Class Cents Per Point |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Without Discount | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| With 15% Discount | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
As you can see above, the value of SkyMiles for a domestic flight often hovers around 1.0 – 1.2 cents per point, but with the 15% discount you’re more likely to get 1.2 – 1.4 cents per point value.
Fly within Europe for 10K economy or 20K/25K business
Delta offers fixed award prices when flying partner airlines within Europe. Economy appears to be fixed at 10K miles one-way whereas business class costs 20K within a country or 25K across countries. Whether or not this is a good deal depends upon cash rates at the time. Also note that you can often do much better with Virgin Atlantic miles. See: Air France & KLM across Europe for less.
Unfortunately, the Delta credit card 15% discount applies only to itineraries flown entirely by Delta and so there is no additional discount for flights like these.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Sky Club Premium Drinks
Clik here to view.
Delta Sky Clubs offer both complementary and premium alcohol options. The latter must be paid for with cash or with miles. When using miles to pay for premium drinks, you’ll get 1.5 cents per mile value. You can view a recent menu with prices here.
A cool bonus: you can tip the server with miles at the same rate! For example, you can give the server a $3 tip and it will cost you only 200 miles.
What did I miss?
Do you know of great uses for Delta miles not included above? Please comment below.
The post Best uses for Delta miles appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.