Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used...
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With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...
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Kellie’s professional experience has led her to a deep passion for compliance, data reporting, and process improvement. Kellie’s learned the ins and outs of the points and miles world and leads UP’s c...
45 comments
John
March 05, 2018
I am astonished at how difficult it has been to use Skymiles for the past couple of years. For travel to the middle east in business, it is almost 600,000 miles per person. I am going to stop using Delta once my miles are finished.
grant m ayjian
March 10, 2018
I am retired, don’t want to fly anymore and have about 300,000 miles. Is there any other way to use the mileage for anything other then flying?
Alex Miller
March 10, 2018
Yes, there are lots of other ways such as “Delta Vacations” and “SkyMiles Experiences” – here’s some more info: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/how-to-use-miles.html
Remember though, you can also use your miles to book flights for family members, friends etc if you’re feeling very generous! 🙂
Karen
March 20, 2018
Hello. I live in LA and want to fly round trip to Detroit. In dollars how much would 5000 sky miles be worth towards my ticket? Thank you
Alex Miller
March 20, 2018
Your 5000 Skymiles would be worth approximately $50…
RC
July 03, 2018
Like many others, I am having difficulty booking award travel on Delta. I want to go from Orlando, Florida to Bergen, Norway. It is a long trip so I want to stay 11 days. With the 331 day rule, the challenge I have is that at or near the 331 day for my outbound flight, there are plenty of low miles, decent flights. However, I cannot book those as I have to wait until 331 days from my return trip. By the time this occurs, all the decent flights at reasonable miles are gone. In fact, most if not all seats are gone even on lousy flights with long layovers. Would appreciate any and all suggestions. Even considering booking a short duration trip (3 days or so) as soon as the outbound day becomes available to secure it and then a week – 10 days later, changing my return date when the one i want actually becomes available. A Delta agent said I could do this and that it was probably my only alternative. For example, today (7/3)I could book a trip of 5/25 outbound with a return on 5/28. On 7/8, I could change the return date to the real date I want of 6/7. Supposedly for a $150 fee. Thoughts? comments? Better suggestions? Thanks!!!!!
Michael McHugh
July 05, 2018
Hi RC
Another option to consider is booking the award flight and either cancelling or making a flight change within the 24 hour fee cancellation window. If the flight on the date that you want opens up in the 24 hour window, you should be able to make a flight change for free. If the flight does not open up in the 24 hour window, simply cancel the flight.
Joyce Kotzamanis
September 20, 2018
I have 28,257 Delta Air Miles, and I don’t fly anymore. Can these be cashed in for credit cards or cash?
Stephen Au
September 20, 2018
Hi Joyce,
If you are no longer flying, you can definitely cash these in for gift cards. Follow this link to do so:
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/how-to-use-miles/shop-with-miles.html
Hope this helps!
Carol Gasho
November 05, 2018
I am having problems finding any Air France Flights from the USA to Europe using Delta Skymiles for 75000 each way as noted in article. Any hints?
Stephen Au
November 05, 2018
Hi Carol,
Air France is difficult to search for award availability. The best way to find it is to keep searching for different dates and be sure to use the Delta “5 weeks” flexible date search when searching on Delta’s website.
Sandra Spencer
November 16, 2018
Hello, I have 8045 miles to redeem. May I get magazines or a cash refund? My reference is available if you need it. Thank you. I tried to go to magsformiles.com however after making my selection, I was unable to complete the process.
Christine Krzyszton
November 17, 2018
Hi Sandra! Sorry you are having trouble. First, let me say that we are not Delta Airlines, we are a travel blog. You might try this link which takes you to the Delta site so that you can use your SkyMiles to make a purchase. Several options are available, including purchasing magazines. You will need to log in to your SkyMiles account so be sure to have that information handy. Cash refunds for miles are unfortunately not available. https://marketplace.delta.com/b2r/ui/index#!/landing
David
August 09, 2019
Please note that Jet Airways has, since April 2019, ceased operations.
Andrew Kunesh
August 15, 2019
Hi David, thanks for pointing this out. We’ve confirmed that this is true and have updated the article to reflect.
Will Shrop
September 24, 2019
You guys have a great website. Just wanted to let you know. I always recommend you to people who have questions about rewards travel.
Jarrod West
September 24, 2019
Hi Will,
Thanks for the kind words! We greatly appreciate it!
CK
October 28, 2019
Hello… Anyone having issues booking economy (x) China Airlines Award Tickets through Delta Skymiles? Whenever I book international tickets this way over past months the check in agents of China Airlines say I have NO CHECKED BAGGAGE allowance.
Delta ticketing goes through as ‘zero’ baggage allowance.
How Is this correct??
Economy (x) award booking using delta skymiles. Any feedback appreciated. Makes me not want to book any more award flights through delta.
Stephen Au
October 28, 2019
Hi CK,
Thanks for reading. We’d suggest giving Delta Air Lines a call to double-check the baggage allowance.
CK
November 26, 2019
Thanks. When I call Delta: they say it is up to China Airlines.
When I call China Airlines: They say it is a delta owned ticket and up to delta.
Of note is that China Airlines doesn’t even have an option for international ” 0′ checked bags. lol
maria
November 02, 2019
I have about 70k miles. I used to get cash-back. I cannot fly anymore due to disability. What happened? How much do I get for gift cards? I need money badly. It should be 700 dollars. That is what I used to get in a check.
Jarrod West
November 06, 2019
Hi Maria,
To access your options for redeeming your miles for gift cards you can visit the Delta shop with miles website.
You can also contact Delta directly to inquire about what other options might be available to you.
Thanks for reading!
Vera
November 27, 2019
Hi, my husband and I will be flying from Detroit to Bangkok at the end of December, returning in January. The leg from DTW to JFK was booked with Delta SkyMiles (yay) but we had to pay cash on a separate itinerary for the rest on Air China. We currently have premium economy booked from JFK to Beijing and economy on the 2nd leg from Beijing to Bangkok. Can you think of any creative ways to move SkyMiles around to be able to upgrade the long haul flight to business class? If not, do you have any other tips on getting the upgrade even if we need to pay cash? (we booked through One Travel, so Air China said we need to deal with them for any upgrades, they cannot help us “bid” on an upgrade.
Thanks a bunch!
Stephen Au
December 11, 2019
Let me try to summarize what you said.
You’re flying from DTW – JFK booked with SkyMiles. Then, you’re flying on a ticket booked with One Travel (a third party travel agency) from JFK – PEK – BKK.
Let me address the 1st question about using SkyMiles for the long-haul flight upgrade. You will not be able to upgrade this flight using Delta SkyMiles because this flight is on Air China. Delta miles can only be used to upgrade flights on Delta.
You can bid online for an upgrade directly on Air China’s website here:
https://www.airchina.us/US/GB/promotion/BidForUpgrade
Besides that, you can also walk up to the check-in counter and ask for a price to upgrade to business class on the day of departure. Other than that, you will not have any other options to get upgraded.
In the long-term, consider earning and using different airline miles so you can always fly business/first class. Thanks for reading!
Jason
November 27, 2019
In fact, SkyPesos are by now almost completely useless for international flights. Not only that, but “partner airlines” are carefully controlled such that bypassing Delta’s terrible awards (particularly in business class) are by now almost impossible to avoid.
Therefore, I will be dumping my Amex Platinum card next time around. It can no longer justify its expense.
paul
December 19, 2019
I have about 200k SkyMiles and would love to take my wife to a tropical island somewhere in business class. What’s the best use of the miles? Business class one way somewhere?
Andrew Kunesh
December 23, 2019
Hey Paul, great question.
Delta prices award tickets dynamically, so there are no set redemption rates. However, you can find some pretty solid deals if you’re flexible. For example, I found New York (JFK) to Bermuda (BDA) in business class for under 90,000 SkyMiles round-trips per person in May. I’d recommend making a list of destinations and searching for them on different dates that work for you.
Also, keep an eye out for Delta flash sales. These are temporary discounts from specific locations — check Delta’s website for the current lineup.
Thanks and safe travels!
Yogesh Bhatnagar
July 06, 2020
I have about 75000 Delta SkyMiles and my spouse has about the same. Will these be sufficient for one way to travel to Mumbai from Atlanta either by Delta or by KLM /AirFrance? Can the booking be made online?
Jarrod West
July 09, 2020
Hi Yogesh,
Delta does not publish an award chart so the number of miles needed for a particular award flight can vary quite a bit. But just based off a few searches I’ve just run, yes 75k miles should be enough for a one-way flight between Atlanta and Mumbai.
This ticket can be booked online easily. Just head to the Delta website, sign in to your account, enter your flight details and the approximate date that you would like to fly, then click “shop with miles” and hit search. This will bring up your award flight options. If your travel dates are flexible, you can then click “price calendar” to see a monthly view which highlights the cheapest days to fly, and their award price, for that given month.
Hope this helps and thanks for reading!
Max C. Meier
January 22, 2021
Where can I exchange my Delta SkyMiles for merchandise?
Stephen Au
January 25, 2021
Hey Max,
You can only exchange SkyMiles for Delta gift cards, magazines, SkyMiles experiences, charity, and Delta Vacations, in addition to redeeming them for flights.
Here’s where you can learn more about the redemption options.
https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-use-miles/overview
NANCY MUST
April 26, 2021
Can I redeem miles for hotel rooms without booking a flight? I would like to travel by car somewhere and use Delta Sky Miles to pay for the hotel stay – is that possible? I haven’t been able to connect with anyone at Delta Sky Miles to answer that question. I have a total of 600,000 miles and would like to use them in some way other than buying magazines!
Jarrod West
April 27, 2021
Hi Nancy,
You can book hotel rooms through the Delta Vacations program. You can view all of the ways you can redeem your Delta miles through this page. Happy booking!
jusliene
June 28, 2021
Delta Vacations program only works for packages, not letting me book a hotel only.
AL
September 16, 2021
China Airlines based in Taipei is a Taiwanese airline, not a Chinese airline as mentioned in item #7 above…
Stephen Au
September 16, 2021
Good catch! This has been fixed.
Airlinespolicy
October 01, 2021
If the changes are made within the given time frame then no fee will be charged, if you are unable to make changes within 24 hours then you will have to pay Aeroflot Flight Change Fee. One thing you will have to keep in mind is all changes should be made within 24 hours of purchase this will save you from paying extra charges.
https://airlinespolicy.com/flight-change-policy/aeroflot-change-flight-policy/
Rob Beatty
November 29, 2021
120,000 Skymiles Air France Flights to Europe seem to mostly be pulled from the Delta portal. I have been looking for a business class lie flat from Boston to Athens end of August and about a week ago, there were fares all over the place. Now when I switch from $ to points on the delta portal, the same flights no longer show up and they aren’t full. The one I was looking at had 2 people booked in business, 1 in premium, and about 30-40 in the main cabin. Thoughts?
Stephen Au
November 30, 2021
Hi Rob,
When you are thinking of redeeming SkyMiles for flights, you have to understand that these are subject to availability, which means that even if there are lots of empty seats in business class, Delta SkyMiles will not allow you to redeem miles for all of these seats. In fact, they may only ever release 4 seats out of 30+ on a given plane.
To combat this, you have to do a lot of searching around, as well as searching at different points in time because you can never predict when Air France releases these award seats.
Rob Beatty
December 05, 2021
My point was that for the 2 weeks prior to Thanksgiving 2021, there were 120K flights 4 days a week from Boston and from JFK. There were literally dozens of options. Then all of a sudden either on Thanksgiving or the day before, all of the AF award flights vanished. The only ones I have found still on the delta portal in Boston / JFK are KLM or Virgin.
Aelita
January 24, 2023
Me & my mom are planning to go to Dubai & Israel (JFK – Dubai, Dubai – Tel Aviv, & then Tel Aviv – JFK) sometime this April. We’d like to both fly Business Class at least one way (either JFK- Dubai or Tel Aviv – JFK). As of now I have 208,500 Delta SkyMiles & my mom has 88,102 (12,452 current SkyMiles plus 75,650 AmEx points she could transfer to her account or mine). Any advice on how to get those 2 Business Class seats either way for minimum miles? I’m seeing JFK – Dubai in April one way between 300K & 400k per person. I also heard you can use JetBlue miles on Emirates. If true, how do we do that? We both have quite a lot of those too.
Jarrod West
January 24, 2023
Hi Aelita,
Check out our guide on the best ways to fly to Dubai with points and miles.
Jane Kramer
July 10, 2023
Can you use skymiles to book hotels? I only see an option on Delta Vacations to book a hotel but it has to be bundled with a car.
Christine Krzyszton
July 10, 2023
Hi Jane. Unfortunately, hotels can only be booked using miles on Delta Vacations and a rental car or flight must be included.
mileagespot
August 02, 2023
Delta SkyMiles offer exciting redemption options. Thanks for the informative guide!
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