Delta SkyMiles is one of the most polarizing airline loyalty programs. Delta has often been the first one to make changes that are less than friendly to its consumers. Earning miles based on the price of your ticket? Delta did that first. Doing away with award charts was also Delta’s idea.
Those who have been doing this for a long time are still bitter about Delta’s stand that they can make changes at any time without providing any notice to their members. Since Delta doesn’t publish award charts, that’s not as much of a problem.
American and United have followed in Delta’s footsteps with mileage earning and variable pricing for award tickets, so now there’s no differentiation between airline programs.
Personally, I’ve always been able to find value in Delta SkyMiles. It was only a few years ago when we spent 55,000 each way for tickets on Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy. It seems like a lifetime ago when I redeemed 80,000 miles for business class on a Virgin Australia flight from LA to Sydney.
I thought the best way to use my SkyMiles was for business class tickets with Delta’s partners, so the miles I earned between trips just stayed in my account. Turns out there’s another use for SkyMiles that gets a decent value.
The least value I’d redeem SkyMiles for airfare is 1 CPP (Cent Per Point). If the value is less than that, it will make more sense to use the pay-with-miles option. In that case, I’d probably pay cash for the tickets.
What I’ve been finding is that Delta’s shorter flights have been priced much less than the standard 12,500 miles they used to cost. For example, prices for a flight from New York to Orlando start at 6,000 miles plus $5.60 for Basic Economy. Main Cabin tickets cost 9,000 SkyMiles.
That works out to a value of 1.5 to 1.3 cents per point.
A seat in Comfort+ is slightly a worse value at 1.25 CPP. First Class seats work out to be a horrible value, only getting 0.82 cents per point.
It’s not a glamorous redemption, but if I can save $240 by spending 18,000 miles, that’s a deal I’m willing to take.
The next time you need to book a ticket on Delta, be sure to click and see how many miles that ticket costs. You could be pleasantly surprised.
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