How to find cheap flights with Delta miles?

  • Jul 27, 2024
How to find cheap flights with Delta miles?

Here is how you can get Cheap Flights with Delta Miles

Introduction

Delta Air Lines is among the companies that manage one of the biggest frequent flyer programs in the airline business. They have over 100 million SkyMiles members who have accumulated their points through traveling with Delta or other partners of that airline and using Delta’s co-branded credit cards. The advantage of burning your Delta SkyMiles is that it enables you to book trips and get your flights for far cheaper than if you were to use your money. The primary purpose is to get a comprehensive guide on how to use Delta miles to book a cheap award flight.

Check Award Availability Carefully

The first way to obtain cheap flights with SkyMiles is by searching to find appropriate award availability. However, you need to note that not all the seats in Delta Airlines are available for miles redemption. They manage the number of awards granted to ensure that they are not redeemed, as well as ensuring that they promote cash bookings. The award flights are not specifically put before you; you have to search around to find the most suitable one. Some days are the only time that high mileage rates are available, while other days they offer cheap awards to the same destinations. One should be willing to compromise on the date and time of travel, as these greatly influence the prices.

Delta has provided strategic information in its Award Calendar Tool.

The best method for finding SkyMile awards is by using Delta’s Award Travel Calendar, which is accessed through the airline’s website. This enables the user to choose the departure airport, destination, and cabin type to get a calendar indicating the mileage rates needed on a certain date. Thus, with the help of the rates, you can easily search and evaluate the possibilities of flying on frequent flyer miles at a low rate. The routes that come with 5,000–10,000 mile awards are going to take you the farthest for the fewest points and redemptions.

Only book one-way flights instead of round-trip flights

Here are some tips that may help you fly for a cheaper price though using SkyMiles: It is better to make one-way award tickets instead of round-trip ones. Some Delta pricing algorithms cost more miles for round-trip economy awards compared to the number of miles required when you book twice, one for one-way economy and the other another one-way economy, on your desired travel dates. You might think that you need a 25000 + mile round trip but when searching the Award calendar, you might come across something like a 12500+ mile one-way outbound flight and a 10000+ miles return flight, which is much less than a round trip.

To this extent, be flexible with airports and connections.

Expanding the search criteria to look at surrounding departure airports will now allow for award space instead of only nonstop flights, which is much greater and will now cost fewer points. Do not limit yourself to only looking for a direct flight out of your home airport; try checking the Award Calendar from airports within 100 miles. One or two connections on the way to the destination are also not a scandal when it can save thousands of miles on the award rate. Lengthening your search is deserving of the trade-off.

Choose Your Date and Time Wisely: Avoid Traveling Over the Weekends and During Peak Hours

Lastly, the most costly SkyMiles awards are for the highest traveled days, or simply, the peak travel days. These include summer weekends, holidays in other months, months of school vacation, and important celebrations. This may require one to be a little flexible in flying around the so-called ’ special season’ to enjoy massive mileage discounts. You will also eliminate unnecessary flying by seeking red-eye flights or unfavorable connection times that the masses avoid. Biz travelers getting into the prime-time nonstops have to pay more, while leisure users with their miles can snag better rewards.

Book Well In Advance

Award seats are capacity-controlled, which means that the number of seats Delta releases on a flight for redemption is limited to ‘X’. The more literal meaning of this phrase is that the sooner a consumer reserves a SkyMile flight, the better he will have a shot at scoring a cheap mileage seat. Once it is available for bookings on the Award Calendar, about 331 days in advance, it is best to secure your travel dates to guarantee the lowest possible mileage rates. Programs have grown and more MVPs are arguing for the award seats, hence raising the probability that cheap awards will demise as the departure nears.

Making use of Mileage sales and offers

Being a member of the SkyMiles program, it is advisable to look at the newsletter or online membership for occasional sales and bonuses in which Delta offers reduced rates for the required mileage to particular places. Delta has several of these per year; one of the most important is the annual September SkyMiles Award Sale, which can slash some routes up to 30%. Whenever the alert is set for “Delta SkyMiles Award Sale”, you will be able to see the actual postings of discounts that are limited to those particular promos. Flash sales in the SkyMiles program have been providing selected members with award flights for as little as 2,000 miles each way.

Integrate the SkyMiles Rewards program with Airbnb.

Another covert strategy to reap benefits from Delta miles for award flights at throwaway prices is by redeeming them for Airbnb travels and experiences. Members of the Delta SkyMiles program who connect their accounts with Airbnb get one SkyMiles for every dollar spent to rent a place or on various activities. One thousand dollars spent on Airbnb gets enough credits to book a one-way award flight in the U. S. economy, while $5,000 pays for a roundtrip. Loose tourists who consciously guide Airbnb travelers toward Delta miles can get awards faster toward their next vacation goal.

Redeem or Upgrade to Improve Your Standing

A highly technical way of boosting one’s mileage is to downgrade one’s Delta co-branded American Express credit card shortly after receiving the sign-up bonus, then re-upgrade or “status match” to collect the welcome back bonus miles a second time. If you are lucky, you can quickly earn 80,000 bonus miles in one year by applying for two Delta cards with a short break between closing, reopening, and matching to activate more miles. But just as a word of caution, Amex has rules against bonus points redemptions in subsequent months.

Conclusion

Yes, it is possible to get cheap and even free flights so it is truly worth it to use Delta SkyMiles to the fullest. Varying your travel times, traveling during non-peak hours, or acquiring flight deals will help to make your miles go around longer. To further travel around the world on the cheap, continue searching for the next award-winning travel deal.

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