The low down on Delta frequent flyer miles...

I travel all the time and just never really thought to use them. Thanks for the advice.

The big win with miles is getting up to the point that you can exchange for 1st class international flights. You can get an incredible $/mile return at that point.

The trouble lately (especially with United), is that they keep devaluing the miles, making redemption more expensive, then you just lose value as you are trying to save up to a certain milestone.

190k at minimum is $1900 worth of fare credit. So don't use them for anything less than $1900 in value.

25,000 (and some specific routes 20k) is the minimum for a domestic round trip ticket.

40k is closer to the average for a domestic ticket and low level on a Caribbean bound travel

60k is high for domestic coach but lowest award for international (mainly Europe)

190k will get you one ticket in international business class if you hunt for it. At worst you can book international business in one direction and coach in the other.

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but several years ago, you could exchange 11,000 or 10,500 miles for a $100 AMEX gift card.

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I just got a ticket for NY for 120k points - which was a $500 ticket via our AMEX card.

Economy. But I've got Medallion status so in going to upgrade to economy comfort for cash.

I would use them as soon as possible. The airlines keep devaluing them by requiring increased mileage for redemption and limiting the availability of the lowest-level redemptions. I have a a shitload of United miles that I've recently redeemed since they've been devaluing somewhat, but Delta has really been guilty of devaluing SkyMiles so much that they're frequently referred to as "SkyPesos."

I think the best redemption for large mileage quantities is in international saver business class, but your mileage may vary (pun intended). Just make sure you you check your potential redemption ahead of time so that you don't waste miles on what might be a cheap ticket.

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190k will get you one ticket in international business class if you hunt for it. At worst you can book international business in one direction and coach in the other.

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I definitely wouldn't do this since one-way in economy on international flights (particularly on Delta) is frequently more expensive than the round-trip itinerary of the same flight.

You can--at least on United--get international business saver awards starting at 60k each way. I think spending 120k miles on a round trip business flight from, say, San Francisco to Rome, is a pretty solid deal.

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I never really pay attention to miles, but I saw on the statement today it looks like we have close to 190,000 Delta miles. Question - what will this reasonably get me with Delta? Are they worth using now or does a certain milestone get me something, i.e. 250,000 275,000, etc. Thanks for any input.

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Regular Miles are essentially most useful for redeeming--either for travel flights or upgrades, goods with qualified merchants, and other travel needs with partners (SPG is a big one). Unlike MQMs, which count toward your status as a Delta traveler, your actual "Miles" don't expire unless spent, and your counter towards being a million miler keeps going regardless of your actual balance as long as you pay for travel. So travelling on Miles is a hit to reaching million-miler status as well as reaching and maintaining your silver, gold, platinum, or diamond status--but it's great when you find reasonable offers for flights and upgrades. I was in the same boat from official travel and returned to the states with about 260000 miles that I've mostly spent upgrading cheap economy flights to business and first class. Haven't flown economy on a domestic flight since 2010. It's nice.

I fricking HATE Delta. I used to go to Asia all the time. They'd always give me credit for going over there but never the trip home (round trip tix were always bought.)


They never did get it right. I finally got tired of screwing with it.