bettyk

Just received this in my "FeedBlitz" email. Hope somebody can benefit:

Two Delta Sky Miles for the Price of One:

Paying cash for frequent flyer miles is usually not a good idea. However, through March 31, Delta’s Sky Miles program will sell two miles for the price of one. At $.0275 per mile (plus 7.5 percent excise tax) you can, for example, purchase 10,000 miles but get 20,000 for $296. The miles can be used on Delta or its partners, which include Air France and Singapore Airlines. Enrollment in the program is free.

Femi

I did take advantage, used the sale to boost my NW miles.

Momliz

Wow - same with gifting miles - maybe we will be able to afford a trip this summer. And if I use my Delta AmEx, which already gives me 2 for 1 when I use it, I could get 4 for 1? probably not...

Thanks Betty!

bettyk

Momliz, I would think that these are two distinct transactions that would not be related to each other, so yes it's possible to get 4 for 1. Can't hurt to try!

Patty

<i>And if I use my Delta AmEx, which already gives me 2 for 1 when I use it, I could get 4 for 1? probably not...</i>

What specific 2 for 1 are you referring to? I don't see how you could end up with 4x the miles (i.e. buy 10,000, get 40,000).

Momliz

No, I didn't quite understand. Here's from the website:

<i><b>If I use my Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, will I earn double miles?</b>

Yes. As with all Delta purchases, you will earn two miles for every dollar you spend when you purchase miles with your Delta SkyMiles Credit Card. For example, if you charge $236.50 USD to your Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express to purchase 8,000 miles for yourself, American Express will post an additional 473 ($236.50 x 2) miles to your SkyMiles account.</i>

rkkwan

Momliz and Patty are correct.

The OP will get 20,592 miles by charging $296 on her DL AE card to buy 20,000 miles. Not 40,000.

travelgourmet

At less than $0.015 per mile, the $296 is still a decent deal, but only if you redeem your miles for business class. If you typically redeem for coach, I wouldn't go out there buying a ton of miles. Buying a few to top up an award, sure, but not the full allotment, which I think is 60k miles, which of course would be doubled.

Momliz

yes, if my calculations are correct, each of my kids can travel IAD - CDG in June/July for $1970 in business. They each already have about 35,000 miles so I can buy 58,000 (and they double that) more. So, that would be an expensive economy class ticket but a steal for business. Definitely something to consider. Maybe we will be able to afford a trip this summer!

rkkwan

Continental have summer sale to Europe every summer. Washington to Paris can be as low as about $2,260 all-in. Of course, that means a connection at EWR, but you also earn some miles (though only 100% for these "A" fares, not 150%).

And you may find that business class award using your miles have limited availability.

Patty

Momliz,
Wouldn't you need to buy 34,000 more each? US-Europe business awards are 100,000 miles. For 20,000 more you can go to Africa with a stopover in Europe

Availability is pretty limited on the AF IAD-CDG flights in June/July if you were thinking of the nonstop. I only saw a few dates in early June.

Momliz

last night when I was researching this tix were 150,000 miles, so I figured 35,000 + (58,000 x 2) = 151,000. God to go.

But, I dithered

and today tix are 200,000! According to the Delta site, there seemed to be availability. But, I am very new at this, so I may have misread. And, all I could find were routings with stopovers in ATL, and a few elsewhere.

So, I am going to let this ride for a while, and see what happens - 200,000 is getting steep.

Patty

Oh I thought you were looking at the lowest tier (100,000 miles). 150,000 is mid-tier and 200,000 is the highest tier. I've never redeemed anything except the lowest tier. How many seats total do you need?

Momliz

I need three, and I only saw the mid tier, which I guess changed to the highest tier - yes, we would be traveling late June till mid July.

I assume the tiers are according to when you travel and the demand?

Patty

There's more availability as you move up from low to mid tier and there should always be high tier availability. Try checking the Northwest site too. You can link Northwest and Delta accounts and transfer miles between them for free, but in either case, 3 seats won't be easy.

Patty

Sorry, I got confused earlier. 150,000 miles isn't even mid tier and 200,000 isn't high tier either. 150,000 is a combination of one way low tier + one way mid tier and 200,000 is mid tier both ways. High tier both ways is actually 350,000!

See I told you I never book anything but low tier Had to look up the chart.

Momliz

how can you tell which tier is which - is the info on the DL website? keeping track of all this is sometimes so confusing that I'm tempted to just pay for the ticket and be in debt for the rest of my life...

rkkwan

Delta's mileage chart is here:

https://www.delta.com/skymiles/use_m...eage/index.jsp

As you can tell, between US and Europe, you'll be charged 50K/100K/175K DL Skymiles each way in a premium cabin.

When you search for award flights online, you may only see DL or certain partner flights, so on your date, maybe it says you need 150K/200K/225K/350K or whatever miles, but there may be 100K roundtrip awards available on other partners, which you need to call Skymiles to find out.

kybourbon

You can get 20% bonus transferring AmEx points to Delta ff miles through the end of March.
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/ways_t...#mem_rewards_1