How to Use the AMEX Delta 60,000 Point Bonus for $1,200 Worth of US Flights

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    Although Delta miles can sometimes be hard to use, you can book award flights on many routes where your miles are worth over 2 cents each.

    This means you can get more value with the limited-time increased sign-up bonuses of 50,000 Delta miles on the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express personal and small business cards and 60,000 Delta miles on the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express personal and small business cards.

    If you consistently get 2+ cents per mile on Delta award flights, a 60,000 mile sign-up bonus is worth at least $1,200!

    Use Delta Miles to Book a Round-Trip Award Flight to New York This Summer and Get More Than 2 Cents per Mile in Value

    I’ll show you how to book US award flights to get the most value for your Delta miles!

    Benefits of Booking Delta Award Flights

    Link:   Gold Delta SkyMiles Card From American Express (Personal)

    Link:   Gold Delta SkyMiles Card From American Express (Business) 

    Link:   Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card From American Express (Personal)

    Link:   Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card (Business)

    Although Delta doesn’t publish an award chart, there are perks to using Delta miles like:

    Also, if you enter your departure and arrival airports, it’s easy to find the cheapest Delta award flights using the 5-week calendar view.

    For example, here’s a 5-week view of one-way award flights from Atlanta to New York (JFK).

    Delta’s 5-Week Calendar View Allows You to Find the Cheapest Award Flights

    You can use these tricks to help get the most value for your Delta miles!

    How to Get More Than 2 Cents Per Mile on Delta US Award Flights

    Link:   How to Use the AMEX Delta 60,000 Point Bonus to Europe

    Link:   Limited-Time Increased Sign-Up Bonuses on AMEX Delta Cards!

    If you’re an AMEX Delta cardholder and don’t want to worry about finding available award seats, you can easily use Delta miles towards paid tickets at a rate of 1 cent per mile.

    But you can often get a much better value by booking award tickets!

    To figure out how much value you’re getting for your Delta miles you can calculate airfare cost / award flight cost.

    For example, if you book a $200 flight using 10,000 Delta miles, you’re getting ~2 cents per mile ($200 airfare / 10,000 Delta miles).  Keep in mind, you should subtract the taxes on an award ticket from the paid airfare to get the most accurate calculation.

    Here are 3 examples of using Delta miles to get more than 2 cents per mile.

    Round-Trip Atlanta to New York (JFK)

    If you’re thinking of a trip to New York this summer, I found a round-trip award flight in July from Atlanta for 20,000 Delta miles plus ~$11 in coach.

    A Round-Trip Award Flight in July From Atlanta to New York Costs 20,000 Delta Miles in Coach

    This same round-trip flight costs ~$471 if you pay cash.

    Paying Cash for a Round-Trip Flight From Atlanta to New York Costs ~$471 in July

    Subtract the taxes on an award ticket from the paid fare to calculate how much your miles are worth.  In this case, ~$471 – ~$11 = ~$460.

    This means you’ll get ~2.3 cents per mile (~$460 / 20,000 Delta miles).  If you used the 60,000 Delta miles sign-up bonus from the AMEX Platinum Delta for 3 of these flights, you’d save ~$1,380.

    One-Way San Francisco to Los Angeles

    If you’re flying along the California coast in June, you can book a one-way award flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles for 5,500 Delta miles plus ~$6 in coach.

    Fly From San Francisco to Los Angeles This June for 5,500 Delta Miles + ~$6 in Coach

    The same flight costs ~$124 if paid in cash, so you’d get ~2.1 cents per mile ((~$124 – ~$6 taxes on award ticket) / 5,500 Delta miles).

    Round-Trip Seattle to Minneapolis in Business Class

    You can use Delta miles to book an award flight on SkyTeam alliance partners and other partners like Alaska Airlines.

    If you’re booking a last-minute flight, you can get more than 2 cents per Delta mile booking a Business Class award ticket on Alaska Airlines.

    For example, here’s a round-trip Business Class trip from Seattle to Minneapolis for 50,000 Delta miles plus ~$11.

    Use Delta Miles to Book an Award Flight on Partner Airlines Like Alaska Airlines

    If you paid cash, this flight costs ~$1,101.  So, you’ll get ~2.2 cents per mile ((~$1,101 – $11 taxes on award ticket) / 50,000 Delta miles).

    Bottom Line

    You can use the limited-time increased sign-up bonuses from the AMEX Delta cards to get more than 2 cents per mile in value.  This means the 60,000 Delta mile AMEX Platinum Delta personal or small business sign-up bonus can be worth more than $1,200.

    Although Delta miles can be hard to use, there are no fees for last-minute award bookings, they don’t expire, and you can use them for award flights on partner airlines.

    How do you like to use Delta miles for award flights?

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