Is it worth it to buy Delta miles?

It is a ranking of whether or not it is worthwhile to purchase Delta miles.

Miles are the most sought-after currency in the travel or travel rewards arena. Airlines employ the use of miles to lure consumer loyalty, while consumers accumulate such miles to benefit from free transportation and/or upgrades within the cabins. SkyMiles is the eldest loyalty program and belongs to Delta Air Lines, and it has millions of members. To help you decide whether it makes sense to invest your hard-earned money to purchase Delta miles, let us start first by taking a look at the many miles that one can use for nearly everything. With this understanding, there are several things that you need to look out for when determining whether to use cash to buy the miles.

Why People Buy Miles

Two primary reasons exist for people to buy miles: to augment their accounts and to have a ticket with award miles.

Topping Off Accounts

It is common for many passengers to travel frequently but be a few flights short of amassing the required points for an award ticket. For instance, a roundtrip economy ticket to Europe costs 70,000 SkyMiles, while you only have 62,000 miles stored in your account. However, instead of letting those miles just sit there doing nothing, some members opt to pay for the additional 8,000 miles that would be required for the redemption of the ticket. The purchase fees still make it cheaper to buy smaller amounts of the miles that are needed to fund a particular flight than to purchase the flight itself.

Buying Award Tickets

Another reason for buying miles is to make sure that one has an adequate amount of miles for a particular award. Delta periodically offers special sales, which can drastically lower the price of the miles you buy. During such promotions, you can purchase tens of thousands of miles at a much lower rate than you would have to pay normally. This means that you earn points for flying those costly international business or first-class award tickets, which, otherwise, would take you ages to achieve.

What can impact the value of the miles that are purchased?

When deciding if buying Delta miles makes sense, consider these major factors that impact the value of the purchased miles:

• Prices: Besides the basic membership, prices range from 2–5 cents per mile, although they are cheaper when on promotion. Some promotions go to the extreme of charging as little as 1 cent for every mile.
• Award ticket rates: They focus on the number of miles required for acquiring free flight tickets and the cash value of the tickets.
• Delta SkyMiles program: this policy requires customers to make transactions at least once every 2 years to retain the Delta miles.
• Mileage or points earned: Points accumulated towards elite status can give value to awards like free upgrades and fee waivers.
• Getting to the next level: if you rarely fly Delta, then transfers or purchases might be a better idea.

Travel Hints: Best Practices When Purchasing Miles

Follow these expert recommendations when buying SkyMiles:

• While having a large stock of miles is an appealing idea, it is best to only purchase miles when necessary—for example, to replenish an account or to secure a specific award flight.
• There is usually a chance to decrease purchase rates during certain offers or campaigns.
• Before transferring points, they recommend comparing their value to other loyalty programs.
• Expire miles as soon as possible to be able to use them for the prizes you want.
• Estimate the value that you would be able to gain from using the perks that are associated with elite status.

On the contrary, it is logical to buy the miles when it is possible, as it enables one to have enough time to accrue more and qualify for a certain status.

• As a general rule of thumb, it can make financial sense to buy Delta Airlines Flight miles when: As a general rule of thumb, it can make financial sense to buy Delta miles when:
• To help you with this, you can take advantage of the low promotional rate of 1-2 cents per mile.
• Miles will enable you to book an award that will cost half the price of paying for the same service or product in cash.
• You need a small amount of gasoline to fill up to get to the redemption center within the next few days.
• This means that to get or maintain Medallion elite status, you can spend miles, which can be translated as spending miles to earn more miles.
• You do not actually build up many Delta miles when flying.

When the Loyalty Program’s Buy Miles Feature Is Not Beneficial

On the other hand, purchasing miles may not give you an optimal return when: On the other hand, purchasing miles may not give you an optimal return when:

• Actual miles, as many people would think, are brought down a little from normal rates.
• You will not fly within the period that is necessary for the expiration of the miles and their consequent loss.
• You already have or can fairly quickly earn sufficient points for the desired redemptions through flights.
• Award ticket rates act as if they have been completely stripped of value, and you then need more miles.

The Bottom Line

Delta SkyMiles is a program that can offer terrific value for money when you decide to purchase the points, as I underscore below. While occasional or seldom-flying Delta customers rarely get enough additional value to offset the cost of purchased miles at such steep prices,. Make the calculations for your situation before you transfer or buy the miles and decide whether it is worth it to purchase for you.

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