10xTravel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Delta Air Lines is one of the largest airlines in the United States by passenger footfall and fleet size. So, it’s no surprise that Delta also offers a robust frequent flyer program with many options for both earning and redeeming miles. The Delta frequent flyer program launched in 1981 and later changed its name to SkyMiles, which it still uses today. For a long period of its history, the Delta SkyMiles program used fixed award charts to price award flights. However, starting a larger trend in the airline industry, the SkyMiles program was the first frequent flyer program to switch over to a dynamic pricing model.
Due to this change, the SkyMiles program underwent a large devaluation and it’s now pretty much impossible to get outsized value for your miles through this program. Many other airlines followed Delta’s example and began using dynamic pricing models to price award flights through their frequent flyer programs.
Now, when redeeming Delta miles for award flights, you can expect to get around 1.1 cents per mile in value, which is slightly below average compared to the value you can expect to get from other frequent flyer programs that use dynamic pricing models. And, through certain frequent flyer programs that still use fixed award charts, you can get considerably more potential value than 1.1 cents per point.
Nevertheless, in this article, we’re going to take a look at how the Delta SkyMiles dynamic pricing model works and how many miles you can expect to pay for award flights on certain routes with this model.
Award Pricing for Flights on Delta Air Lines
The Delta SkyMiles program uses a dynamic pricing model to price award flights, including award flights operated by Delta itself. This means that the award price of a Delta flight is tied to the cash price of that flight and is thus affected by demand. Due to this, you can expect to get around 1.1 cents per mile every time you redeem Delta miles for Delta flights.
For example, we found a round-trip flight from Newark (EWR) to Detroit (DTW) on November 13, 2024, that cost $379 in Basic, $439 in Main, $539 in Comfort+ and $639 in First.
If you were to book the exact same flight on the same date with Delta miles instead of cash, it would cost you 33,000 miles in Basic, 39,000 miles in Main, 46,000 miles in Comfort+ and 58,000 miles in First. Regardless of which fare class you book, you’ll have to pay $12 in taxes and fees for each of these award flight tickets.
Factoring in the taxes and fees that you’d have to pay for the award flights, you’d get a value of about 1.1 cents per mile in all of the aforementioned fare classes.
While Delta doesn’t use award charts to price its award flights, we’ve compiled an unofficial award chart for Delta award flights that includes the estimated number of points that you can expect to pay for award flights to or from the United States’ lower 48 states. Note that, just like cash prices, these rates can fluctuate widely. So, the actual rate for a Delta award flight on a given route may be significantly higher or lower than those presented in this chart.
Here is the award chart for the estimated prices of Delta award flights to or from the U.S. (excluding Alaska and Hawaii):
| Basic | Main | Premium Select | First | Delta One | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 23,000 | 64,000 | N/A | 92,000 | N/A |
| Australia | 95,000 | 121,000 | 275,000 | N/A | 428,000 |
| Canada | 19,000 | 54,0000 | N/A | 74,000 | N/A |
| Caribbean | 23,000 | 56,000 | N/A | 82,000 | 92,000 |
| Central America | 32,000 | 69,000 | N/A | 105,000 | N/A |
| China | N/A | 455,000 | 382,000 | N/A | 492,000 |
| Europe | 63,000 | 108,000 | 185,000 | N/A | 357,000 |
| French Polynesia | 59,000 | 75,000 | 138,000 | N/A | 341,000 |
| Hawaii | 28,000 | 64,000 | N/A | 123,000 | 157,000 |
| Israel | 53,000 | 108,000 | 211,000 | N/A | 439,000 |
| Japan | 71,000 | 128,000 | 175,000 | N/A | 391,000 |
| New Zealand | 87,000 | 154,000 | N/A | N/A | 425,000 |
| Northern South America | 40,000 | 78,000 | N/A | 107,000 | 181,000 |
| South Africa | 82,000 | 144,000 | 257,000 | N/A | 468,000 |
| South Korea | 96,000 | 120,000 | 173,000 | N/A | 370,000 |
| Southern South America | 76,000 | 145,000 | 155,000 | N/A | 348,000 |
| U.S. Lower 48 States | 16,000 | 38,000 | N/A | 53,000 | 99,000 |
The rates listed in the award chart above are for round-trip award itineraries. Once again, these are estimated prices based on consumer data, not actual rates. So, depending on the date and demand of your desired flight, actual rates could be considerably higher or lower.
Award Pricing for Flights on Partner Airlines
In addition to using SkyMiles to pay for flights on Delta Air Lines, you can also use miles to book flights with Delta’s partner airlines. Here’s a full list of the airline partners with which you can use SkyMiles to book award flights:
| Aerolíneas Argentinas | China Southern | Mandarin Airlines |
| Aeroméxico | Czech Airlines | Middle East Airlines |
| Air Europa | Garuda Indonesia | Saudia |
| Air France | Hawaiian Airlines | TAROM |
| Air Tahiti Nui | ITA Airways | Vietnam Airlines |
| Cape Air | Kenya Airways | Virgin Atlantic |
| China Airlines | KLM | WestJet |
| China Eastern | Korean Air | |
| LATAM |
As you can see, the Delta SkyMiles program has a ton of airline partners, both SkyTeam and non-SkyTeam, which means that SkyMiles can be used to fly almost anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, just as with Delta-operated award flights, the SkyMiles program uses a dynamic pricing model to price partner award flights. That means that you won’t be able to find outsized value by redeeming SkyMiles for partner flights.
And, since partner award prices are tied to cash prices, it’s impossible to estimate how many miles will be required for flights on specific routes because it will depend heavily on the partner that’s operating each flight (as well as other factors like seasonality and demand).
Award Pricing for Upgrades on Delta Air Lines
In addition to using your miles to cover the full cost of your Delta flight, you can also use your miles to upgrade your cabin class on a Delta-operated flight. You can use miles to upgrade during the booking process or after you’ve completed a flight booking.
You can use miles to upgrade to any available Delta fare class, including Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort+ and First Class. You can even use your miles to select a Preferred Seat or Exit Row Seat. Upgrades purchased with miles can be used for other passengers as well, even if you aren’t traveling on their flight.
The Delta SkyMiles program uses its dynamic pricing model to price upgrade awards, so the price of your upgrade will be tied to the cash price of that upgrade. This means that you’ll always get around 1 cent per mile when redeeming SkyMiles for cabin class upgrades on Delta flights.
Award Pricing for Flights on Select SkyTeam Partner Airlines
SkyMiles members have the option of redeeming miles for cabin class upgrades on certain SkyTeam Alliance partner flights. These partners include Aeromexico, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic. However, these SkyMiles upgrade awards are only available on certain routes and are subject to certain fare class requirements.
Like upgrades on Delta-operated flights, partner upgrade awards are priced using a dynamic pricing model. So, award rates are tied to cash prices.
The Bottom Line
All in all, the Delta SkyMiles program gives you several options for earning and redeeming SkyMiles. However, because it switched over to dynamic pricing for all of its awards, it’s unlikely to get much more than 1.1 cents per mile when redeeming through this program.
So, if you’re thinking about transferring credit card points to Delta SkyMiles (only American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Delta SkyMiles), you may want to consider that other transfer partners tend to offer considerably more value. And, if you’re planning on crediting a future SkyTeam flight to a frequent flyer program, consider that other SkyTeam programs have much more valuable miles than Delta miles.
Still, with Delta’s bevy of airline partners and the many redemption options available through the SkyMiles program, it’s still worth being familiar with it, despite its dynamic pricing model.
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Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
10xTravel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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