Best ways to use Delta miles to get exceptional value

  • Jake Pearring

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    I love redeeming airline frequent flyer miles for award flights within the U.S. and around the globe. Delta offers an excellent frequent flyer program — Delta SkyMiles — that makes earning and redeeming your miles easy and straightforward.

    Delta miles value has gone somewhat downhill in recent years as Delta eliminated its award chart and started charging somewhat outrageous award prices on certain flights. But with Delta’s easy-to-use booking tool, a vast network of airline partners through the SkyTeam alliance and an overall pleasant onboard experience, collecting and redeeming Delta miles remains an attractive option.

    I’ll break down six of the best ways to use Delta Miles (in no particular order) to help you get phenomenal value.

    I’ll show you the best ways to use Delta miles for outstanding value. (Photo by Gem Russan/Shutterstock)

    Best ways to use Delta miles

    Unfortunately, planning how to use your Delta miles can be a guessing game, because Delta got rid of its award chart a few years ago. This means that although there are general guidelines for how much a specific award flight might cost you, the only true way of pricing out an award flight is to search for it on Delta.com.

    If you’re an Amex Delta cardholder, you can always redeem Delta miles for one cent each (with Delta’s Pay with Miles), so I typically use one cent as my floor value for booking award flights. In the past two years, I have consistently redeemed my Delta miles for ~1.5 cents each, so that’s a decent benchmark to use when deciding if you are getting solid value from your Delta miles.

    The ideas in this post are a good starting point, but be sure to always check out award flight options for yourself. Finding valuable award flights can take some searching and flexibility — and sometimes, Delta will be charging upwards of 100,000 (or even 300,000) miles for award flights that are seemingly simple, quick or cheap.

    Searching for Delta award flights on Delta.com is easy, but prices can sometimes be relatively high.

    You never know your exact savings goal until it’s time to book your flights. This makes transferable points (such as Amex Membership Rewards) even more valuable because you can “top off” your Delta account in case you’re a little short on miles.

    You can redeem Delta miles to fly nearly anywhere around the globe. Delta is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which means you can use your Delta miles on many partner airlines such as Air France for travel to Europe, Kenya Airways for travel to Africa, Korean Air for travel to Asia and more.

    You can also redeem Delta miles with other unique airline partners such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Air Tahiti Nui. I primarily redeem Delta miles for flights on SkyTeam partner airlines. Most of these airlines can be booked online at Delta.com, but some will require calling Delta. For more information, read our post about how to use Delta miles.

    Here are some of the best ways to use Delta miles:

    Short flights within the Continental U.S.

    I’ll start with a boring option, but one that can be tremendously valuable. Delta offers short flights within the U.S. for as little as 4,500 Delta miles plus $5.60 per person each way in coach.

    If you need a specific flight between two nearby destinations, under 5,000 miles will be nearly impossible to beat. This is perhaps my favorite use of Delta miles and is a great reason to always keep a few thousand Delta miles on hand.

    International flights on partner airlines

    Although Delta doesn’t publish an award chart, it typically sells award flights on partner airlines for very consistent prices. For example, you’ll typically be able to fly from the continental U.S. to Asia for 37,500 Delta miles plus ~$135 taxes and fees on partners like China Southern, China Eastern and Korean Air (or even fewer miles if there’s an award sale).

    That’s a great deal for an award flight to Asia (Shanghai in this example), and availability is generally excellent. As long as you can find partner award seats you can typically get very strong value.

    Award flights on Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia

    Award flights on Delta partners Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia also can be particularly valuable. For example, you can consistently find last-minute award seats Down Under in coach or business class at a very reasonable price. Especially at the last minute, this can be an excellent deal.

    You can book flights to Australia for just 40,000 Delta miles each way.

    Award flights departing the U.S. with no lap infant fee

    This example is quite personal for me because my wife and I recently flew from Los Angeles to Rome using Delta miles. While we spent 86,000 Delta miles each to fly in business class, we chose to book with Delta because there was no fee for bringing along a lap infant. Other airlines (such as American and United) were charging 10% of the cash rate for my tiny daughter to sit on our laps for the award flight to Europe. This meant that even though we were redeeming miles for the flights, we would be on the hook for a $500 infant fare because the last-minute retail price of the one-way business class flight was nearly $5,000. Ouch!

    My daughter flew free (and slept phenomenally) as a lap infant on our Delta award flight to Europe. (Photo by Jake Pearring)

    This made booking our award flights with Delta a no-brainer, and I will continue to book award flights with a lap infant with Delta whenever it meets my travel needs.

    Delta reduced mileage awards

    Delta is perhaps the most consistent airline when it comes to having award flight sales and offering reduced mileage awards. Whenever there is a valuable sale, we’ll write about it here on Million Mile Secrets. (View our up-to-date post for all the latest Delta SkyMiles deals.)

    For example, recently you could book a round-trip flight in coach to Europe for just 20,000 Delta miles. I always look for award flight deals and reduced mileage awards when starting my adventure planning — you never know what might be available at the time.

    Visit Europe for cheap with Delta reduced mileage awards. (Photo courtesy of KLM)

    Bonus: Delta Pay With Miles

    Certain Amex Delta cardholders can take advantage of a unique offering called Delta Pay With Miles. You can redeem Delta miles for a fixed value of 1 cent each to receive a cash discount on your paid flights.

    You can utilize this perk if you have any of the following Amex Delta credit cards:

    For example, if there’s a flight you need to take which costs $275, you can redeem up to 25,000 Delta miles to reduce the cost of the flight by $250 (in 5,000 mile or $50 increments).

    This isn’t the best use of Delta miles, but it can be very helpful for folks who need a particular flight, or who only have a few miles and just want to get some value out of them. For more inspiration or strategies on growing your miles balance, visit our post about how to earn Delta SkyMiles.

    Bottom line

    However you choose to use your Delta miles, with some flexibility and searching you can get excellent value for rewarding and fun travel experiences. Here are a few of the best ways to use Delta miles:

    The above examples are some of the best uses of Delta miles, but each of you might have a different redemption option or need that provides you with the most value.

    Let us know about your best ever Delta award redemption in the comments.

    For the latest tips and tricks on traveling big without spending a fortune, please subscribe to the Million Mile Secrets email newsletter.

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Gold, click here

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Platinum, click here

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Reserve, click here

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Gold Business Card, click here

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Platinum Business Card, click here

    For rates and fees of the Amex Delta Reserve Business Card, click here

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