Some of our favorite ways to use Delta SkyMiles

As a Delta Diamond Medallion member, I’ve found that although the value of Delta’s award currency has fallen lately, and many of the best outsize value sweet spots are gone, there are still many ways to find value.

Delta SkyMiles is the loyalty program of Delta Air Lines, and I’ve been collecting the currency for years. While in most cases Delta SkyMiles are worth about 1 cent each, you can sometimes find extra value. TPG’s September 2024 valuations peg the value of SkyMiles at 1.2 cents apiece.

Earning Delta SkyMiles is fairly easy, especially with the limited offers available on many cobranded Delta credit cards right now. In fact, several Delta cards currently have best-ever welcome offers. It might be a good time to accumulate a stash of Delta SkyMiles for a rainy day.

While the days of easy 50,000 SkyMiles redemptions for a one-way business-class seat to Europe are long gone (or at least exceedingly rare), the miles retain some value. In fact, there are sweet spots aplenty.

Below are a few of our favorites.

Delta flash sales

Delta’s frequent flash sales, which offer discounted award flights domestically and abroad, can make your miles go really far.

TPG wrote about a Delta flash sale just last week, where you could fly round-trip from various U.S. cities to places like the Bahamas; Tulum, Mexico; Turks and Caicos; and Barbados for as few as 17,000 SkyMiles plus taxes and fees. If you have a Delta-branded American Express credit card, you can save an additional 15% when booking an award flight, which means cardholders could book during this flash sale for as little as 14,400 miles.

It’s not all about published flash sales, though. Delta has a SkyMiles Award Deals page where you can often find compelling deals if you are willing to go where the algorithm takes you.

For this article, I did a test 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 as few as 13,000 miles and $12. If you’re willing to book a basic economy fare, the round-trip award cost drops to 7,000 miles. On the higher end, you can fly to Venice, Italy, for as few as 61,000 miles plus $56 round trip or to Auckland for as few as 74,000 miles plus $100 in taxes and fees round trip.

Coach redemptions are not exactly aspirational, but they can represent a good value for your SkyMiles.

Related: How (and why) to calculate award redemption values

Cheap upgrades to first class

I hate to admit it, but I’ve cashed in my SkyMiles far too often for first-class upgrades. While buying upgrades takes inventory away from 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 have used SkyMiles to buy up to first class.

I’ve mostly done this on short-haul flights where the upgrade offer can be as low as $19, but you’ll often find these offers on international business flights, too.

You’ll rarely get more than a penny per point in value this way, though. (I find it’s usually exactly equal to the cash fare if you go by the value comparing miles to cash in the Delta app.) You can see this in the example below, where the upgrade offer valued Delta SkyMiles at exactly 1 cent each.

Eric Gratton, a friend of mine who is a Delta Diamond member and an event planner, used 79,900 SkyMiles to upgrade a flight from Geneva to New York City from Main Cabin to Delta One. While that’s not an extremely great value, it’s not a bad way to fly in the front of the cabin. A one-way fare on that flight is usually around $3,800 in business class, so that’s not a terrible way to redeem, in my opinion.

Obviously, you should compare the cash price against the cost of upgrading using miles. Doing so will help ensure you get at least a penny per point in 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-too-distant past when partner flights offered great deals using SkyMiles. For example, I booked a flight on Virgin Atlantic to Tel Aviv using Delta SkyMiles for just 85,000 each way in business class; the flight went from New York City to London to Israel on Virgin Atlantic planes. Sadly, those sweet spots are gone, but you can still find some deals on partner flights that don’t touch the U.S.

You can often find really cheap redemptions within 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 each to fly Korean Air business class one-way from Tokyo to Seoul this winter. That’s 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 Koreas, to Bali, Indonesia, on Garuda Indonesia. That’s a seven-hour flight on a very attractive airline.

Delta often has cheap(ish) flights within Europe on partner airlines, too. You can find business-class tickets for as few as 25,000 SkyMiles or economy tickets for as little as 10,000 SkyMiles each way.

If you can swing a trip from Europe or South America to Asia, you can often find some compelling redemptions.

Here’s a one-way flight from Paris to Singapore next August for 50,000 Delta SkyMiles plus about $145 on China Southern Airlines via Guangzhou, China.

That’s a long time in 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 even better deals by researching and playing around with airports. You could get lucky.

Related: 5 things you need to know about Delta SkyMiles

Delta domestic 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 fly round-trip between the cities for as few as 17,800 miles (with the cardholder discount) and $12 in taxes and fees. Cash fares are around $257, so you are getting slightly more than a penny per point for a redemption like this.

It’s nothing exciting, but it can represent a decent deal — even more so if cash fares are higher. Remember, too, that Delta SkyMiles redemptions are fully refundable, so it can make sense to use miles instead of cash for peace of mind.

It also makes sense if you want to have backup bookings for a positioning flight. In my case, I’ll need a positioning flight to Mexico City. I might want to book Delta and American Airlines mileage awards. If something goes wrong with one of the flights, I’ll have a second one already booked. (If you do this, cancel the one 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 from Mexico City were priced much lower than the same awards from Los Angeles. This hack is mostly long gone since several blogs wrote about it back in 2023, but you can occasionally get lucky.

I lucked out recently with an award from Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and then to Australia’s Brisbane Airport (BNE) in Delta One. That flight currently costs 395,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way, but there was a brief moment when the flight was available for just 80,000 SkyMiles one-way. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to fly in Delta One on the newly launched, more-than-14-hour flight to Australia.

The price ended up being just 73,100 SkyMiles plus $120 in taxes and fees because I have the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, which gives a 15% rebate on award bookings. The cash price for this ticket was $6,468 one-way for a similar date.

While we don’t often see huge deals on business-class seats originating in Mexico City anymore, it is always worth checking. When Delta puts new routes up for sale, award tickets are sometimes priced at incredible value. So pay attention to those new route announcements.

I would also flag that you can sometimes find good deals from Mexico City to Europe using partner airline availability. For example, I found a round-trip coach trip from Mexico City to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) on Air France 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 as few as 210,000 SkyMiles and $235 in taxes and fees round-trip in August of next year.

That doesn’t sound like a great deal, but compared to a similar award from Los Angeles to Paris in Delta One for 425,000 SkyMiles, it’s a downright bargain.

Related: The best ways to travel to Europe using points and miles

Bottom line

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it once was to find great ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles. But that doesn’t mean they’re without value. I love always having a stash of SkyMiles for upgrades or when a 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.

Right now is a good time to stockpile some Delta SkyMiles, since there are several 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 on the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. This matches the best-ever welcome offer we have seen on this card with only 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 on the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card. This is the best welcome offer we’ve ever seen on this card.

Both card offers end Oct. 23. Since I burned the last of my stash on that redemption to Australia and my SkyMiles balance is low, I may jump on one of these offers. I’ll see you in Brisbane.

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