As a Delta Diamond Medallion member, I’ve seen the value of Delta’s award currency drop recently, and many of the best outsize value sweet spots have disappeared, even though there are many ways to find value.
Delta SkyMiles is Delta Air Lines’ loyalty program and I’ve been collecting the currency for years. While Delta SkyMiles are worth about 1 cent in most cases, you can sometimes find extra value. TPG’s September 2024 valuations value SkyMiles at 1.2 cents.
Earning Delta SkyMiles is fairly easy, especially with the limited offers currently available on many cobranded Delta credit cards. In fact, some Delta cards currently have great welcome offers. Now might be a good time to stock up on Delta SkyMiles for a rainy day.
While the days of an easy 50,000 SkyMiles redemption for a one-way business-class seat in Europe are long gone (or at least extremely rare), the miles retain some value. In fact, there are plenty of sweet spots.
Below are some of our favorites.
Delta Flash Sale
Delta’s frequent flash sales, which offer discounted award flights domestically and internationally, can really stretch your miles.
It’s not all about published flash sales, though. Delta has a SkyMiles Award Deals page You can often find great deals if you’re willing to go where the algorithm takes you.
For this article, I did a test by choosing San Francisco International Airport (SFO) as my home airport. On the low end, you can book a main cabin round-trip fare from the Bay Area to Seattle for 13,000 miles and $12. If you’re willing to book a basic economy fare, the round-trip award price drops to 7,000 miles. At the high end, you can fly to Venice, Italy for 61,000 miles plus $56 round trip, or to Oakland for 74,000 miles plus $100 in taxes and fees round trip.
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Delta SkyMiles award deals page. Delta
Coach redemptions aren’t exactly ambitious, but they can represent good value for your SkyMiles.
Related: How (and Why) to Calculate Award Redemption Values
Cheap upgrade to first class
I hate to admit it, but I’ve cashed in my SkyMiles for first-class upgrades quite a few times. When purchasing an upgrade, inventory is removed Delta elite members like myself, it’s getting harder and harder to count on free upgrades these days. Sometimes, if the upgrade offer is cheap enough, I’ve used SkyMiles to buy up to first class.
I’ve mostly done this on short-haul flights where upgrade offers can be as low as $19, but you’ll often find these offers on international business flights as well.
However, you’ll rarely get a penny for the value this way. (I think if you go by the value comparing miles to cash in the Delta app it’s usually equal to the cash fare.) You can see this in the example below, where the value of the upgrade offer is exactly 1 cent per Delta SkyMiles.
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Offer to upgrade to Delta One from New York to London. Delta
My friend Eric Gratton, a Delta Diamond member and event planner, used 79,900 SkyMiles to upgrade his flight from Geneva to New York City from main cabin to Delta One. While it’s not a great value, it’s not a bad way to fly in the front of the cabin. The one-way fare for that flight is usually around $3,800 in business class, so it’s not a terrible way to redeem in my opinion.
Obviously, you should compare the cash price against the price of upgrading using miles. Doing so will help ensure you get at least a penny worth of value for using your SkyMiles.
Related: Secure a Better Seat: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Upgraded on Delta Flights
Delta partner flights
There was a time in the not so distant past when partner flights used to offer great deals using SkyMiles. For example, I have booked a flight Just 85,000 each way in business class using Delta SkyMiles from Virgin Atlantic to Tel Aviv; The flight was from New York City to London to Israel on a Virgin Atlantic plane. Sadly, those sweet spots are gone, but you can still find some deals on partner flights that don’t touch the US.
You can often find really cheap redemptions in Asia. For example, TPG senior points and miles writer Katie Genter and her husband redeemed just 15,000 Delta SkyMiles plus $30 in taxes and fees to fly Korean Air business class one-way from Tokyo to Seoul this winter. It is a fabulous redemption.
Here’s a look at another great award available using SkyMiles in Asia: Pay 80,000 Delta SkyMiles plus $49 in taxes and fees for a round-trip business-class flight from Seoul, South Korea, to Bali, Indonesia, on Garuda Indonesia. It’s a seven-hour flight on a very attractive airline.
Delta often has cheap(ish) flights within Europe on partner airlines as well. You can get business-class tickets for up to 25,000 SkyMiles or economy tickets for as little as 10,000 SkyMiles each way.
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Amsterdam to Naples, Italy, award search results. Delta
If you can swing a trip from Europe or South America to Asia, you can often find some attractive redemptions.
Here’s a one-way flight from Paris to Singapore next August for 50,000 Delta SkyMiles plus China Southern Airlines via Guangzhou, China for about $145.
It’s a long time in a coach, but it’s an option. I also found business-class availability from Amsterdam to Bangkok via Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for 100,000 SkyMiles each way.
You can find better deals by researching and playing around the airport. You may be lucky.
RELATED: 5 Things You Need to Know About Delta SkyMiles
Delta Local Deals
We don’t generally recommend using Delta SkyMiles for domestic flights, but they can provide good value if cash fares are high.
You can often find reasonable redemptions between New York City and Atlanta. In the example below, you can round-trip between cities for 17,800 miles (with cardholder discounts) and $12 in taxes and fees. Cash fares are around $257, so you’ll get a little more than a penny per point for a redemption like this.
It’s nothing exciting, but it could represent a decent deal – even more so if the cash rent is higher. Also remember that Delta SkyMiles redemptions are fully refundable, so it makes sense to use miles instead of cash for peace of mind.
It also makes sense if you want to book a backup for that Positioning flight. In my case, I would need a positioning flight to Mexico City. I want to book Delta and American Airlines Mileage Awards. If something goes wrong with one of the flights, I will have another flight already booked. (If you do this, cancel the ones you don’t need before the flight to get your miles back.)
RELATED: 6 award chart sweet spots that can save you money on domestic flights
Delta business-class deals from Mexico City
It wasn’t widely reported, but for a while, Delta International business-class awards to Mexico City cost much less than similar awards to Los Angeles. This hack is mostly long gone since many blogs wrote about it in 2023, but you can get lucky on occasion.
I recently lucked out with an award from Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and then to Australia’s Brisbane Airport (BNE) on Delta One. That flight currently costs 395,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way, but there was a brief moment when the flight was only available for 80,000 SkyMiles one-way. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to fly Delta One Newly launched over 14-hour flight to Australia.
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SkyMiles award prices for flights from Mexico City to Brisbane, Australia. Delta
The price was only 73,100 SkyMiles plus $120 in taxes and fees because I have Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express CardWhich offers 15% rebate on award bookings. The cash price of this ticket was $6,468 one-way for the same date.
While we don’t often see great deals on business-class seats arising in Mexico City, it’s always worth checking out. When Delta puts new routes on sale, award tickets are sometimes priced at incredible prices. So watch out for those new route announcements.
I’ll also flag that you can sometimes find good deals from Mexico City to Europe using partner airline availability. For example, I got a round-trip coach trip on Air France from Mexico City to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for 70,000 Delta SkyMiles plus $176 in taxes and fees.
I also found business-class availability on Air France from Mexico City to Paris for 210,000 SkyMiles and $235 in August of next year, taxes and fees round-trip.
That may not sound like a great deal, but compared to a similar award from Los Angeles to Paris on Delta One for 425,000 SkyMiles, it’s quite a deal.
Related: Best Ways to Travel Europe Using Points and Miles
The bottom line
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it once was to find a great one Ways to Redeem Delta SkyMiles But that doesn’t mean they are without value. I always like to stock up on SkyMiles for upgrades or when once-in-a-blue-moon Delta One cheap award availability pops up. Flash sales can also be a great way to get outsize value from your miles.
Now is a good time to stock up on some Delta SkyMiles, as there are some great limited-time offers on Delta credit cards.
For example, you can earn 100,000 bonus miles after spending $6,000 in purchases in the first six months of card membership. Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. This matches the best welcome offer we’ve seen on this card with just a $1,000 higher minimum spending requirement.
Or you can earn 80,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in purchases in the first six months of card membership. Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card. This is the best welcome offer we’ve seen on this card.
Both cards offer Oct. Expires on 23 Since I burned through the last of my savings on that redemption to Australia and my SkyMiles balance is low, I might jump on one of these offers. I’ll see you in Brisbane.
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