Delta SkyMiles is one of the most polarizing airline loyalty programs. Delta has often been the first to implement changes that are less than friendly to its customers. Earning miles based on the price of your ticket? Delta did that first. Eliminating award charts? Also Delta’s idea.
Longtime frequent flyers are still bitter about Delta’s stance that it can make changes at any time without providing notice to members. Since Delta doesn’t publish award charts, that’s not as much of an issue anymore.
American and United have followed in Delta’s footsteps with revenue-based mileage earning and variable pricing for award tickets, making airline loyalty programs largely indistinguishable.
SkyMiles Redemptions I’ve Made Over the Years
Personally, I’ve always been able to find value in Delta SkyMiles. In 2019, we spent 55,000 miles each way for Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy tickets. And over a decade ago, I redeemed 80,000 miles for business class on a Virgin Australia flight from L.A. to Sydney—it truly feels like a lifetime ago.
I used to think the best way to redeem SkyMiles was for business class tickets with Delta’s partners, so I let my miles accumulate between trips. But it turns out there’s another redemption option that offers decent value.
The lowest value I’d redeem SkyMiles for airfare is 1 cent per point (CPP). If the redemption value falls below that, the Pay with Miles option or simply paying cash often makes more sense.
Finding Unexpected Value in Short-Haul Flights
Lately, I’ve noticed Delta’s shorter flights are priced much lower in miles. For example, flights from Orlando to New York start at 6,000 miles plus $5.60 for Basic Economy. Main Cabin tickets cost 9,000 SkyMiles.
Paying cash for the same ticket would cost $69 or $104. That works out to a value of 1.05 to 1.08 cents per point.
A seat in Comfort+ is a slightly worse value at 1.04 CPP, while First Class seats provide a similar value at 1.08 CPP.
Remember, if you have a Delta co-branded Amex card, you get a 15% discount on award redemptions, making using points an even better deal.
Final Thoughts: A Deal Worth Taking
It’s not a glamorous redemption, but if I can save $208 by spending 15,200 miles, that’s a deal I’m happy to take.
Next time you book a Delta flight, check the mileage cost—you might be pleasantly surprised.
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10 comments
One of my best all time value has been redeeming Sky miles for LAX to LHR in coach. The coach fare was going for around $790 and I got that RT ticket for 24,000 miles.
So, right off the bat I got 2.5 cent value – $800-$180~ in taxes divided by 24,000. Being Platinum helped juice this up a lot. The cheapest C+ (or PE) tickets were going for $1,500 with the one on BA going for almost $3,000. Even if you take $1,500 (given that BA was nonstop and the Delta flight was connecting at JFK), I ended getting almost 5.5 cent value.
This is by far the best coach and C+ redemption I have got. Two of my all time best have been redeeming 140,000 AS miles for a $19K first class ticket on Qantas and redeeming 110K Virgin Atlantic miles for a $14,000 ANA first class ticket.
So a surprising use for Delta skymiles is redeeming them for Delta tickets? You blew it wide open!
LOL Right!
Thanks!
[…] A Surprisingly Valuable Use For Delta Skymiles, Your Mileage May Vary […]
That’s probably just so the two experiences (miles vs cash) are “equal” in terms of status earning.
Since Basic tickets don’t earn status, let’s exclude that.
For Main, the 9000 +$6 matches the $119 almost exactly in terms of status earning. They’ll both earn 100% distance for MQM, and for MQD the miles will earn 9000/100 = 90 MQD, while the $119 will earn based on the underlying fare of (drum roll) $96.74 = 96.74 MQD (note how similar $96 is to 9000+$6). This continues to play with the higher fare options as the percentages are adjusted and indeed you’ll find most domestic, short, main cabin flights will have a miles price (assuming 1 cent per mile) of almost exactly the *base fare* of the cash ticket price.
And in fact!! You can even attribute the missing $6 in MQD between the award and paid fare by accounting for the fact that the paid fare earns actual redeemable miles at a rate of $96 x 5 = 480, lets call it 500, which is worth about $5.
All things considered, it’s not a better value at all – for Delta status members, at least.
I find it interesting how someone with no DL status (myself) and you look at the same numbers and have different opinions.
In 2016 (and if we’d have been able to go in 2020) it was 50,000 miles + over $200 to fly round trip to the U.K. They jacked the price up to 70,000 miles for 2021, but we still couldn’t go due to quarantine restrictions (btw, we got all our miles, money, hotel, everything refunded) So we go in 2022 for 70,000 each. I check for 2023 and round trip to & from Manchester is 152,000 points for same seats!! I end up just paying the (ridiculous) cost of $1792 for my Economy Classic seat (end of August trip each year)
P.S. And even though I book through Delta, you fly on their partner, Virgin Atlantic, so you don’t earn Delta Sky Miles on these trips!!
“ Delta SkyMiles is one of the most polarizing airline loyalty programs”
What???
Everyone occupies only one of the poles!