Delta is flirting with seven-figure redemptions for SkyMiles award tickets, with a simple round-trip to Europe costing as much as 990,000 miles round-trip in business class. There are even more egregious examples, however, and anyone collecting SkyMiles should stop and question their sanity.
Delta Air Lines Approaches Seven-Figure Redemption Pricing With Award Tickets To Europe Costing 990,000 SkyMiles
A friend lamented yesterday that he wanted to go to Paris before Christmas but Delta wanted 990,000 miles r/t from Detroit (or only 986,000 miles r/t if he was willing to make a stop in New York on the way).
“Who is going to have enough? Like that’s impossible unless you’re a super road warrior flying Delta One internationally week in and week out Let alone enough for two.”
Indeed, pricing is very high leading up to the holidays:
But just because a redemption is 990,000 miles r/t does not mean it is inherently a poor redemption, for you must always compare the cash price in order to compute what that SkyMile is actually worth. Here, had he purchased a business class ticket on the same flights, the cost would have been $11,831.
I still consider that a horrible redemption, but here at least each SkyMiles is worth (ever slightly) more than one cent each.
Take another example. Say you’re flying in the opposite direction, where fares originating in Europe tend to be cheaper in premium cabins. You can fly Delta round-trip from Paris to Detroit for $3658:
The SkyMiles price for the same ticket? 630,000 SkyMiles (plus €201), netting you only marginally more than a half cent per mile:
That’s even worse!
Delta Seems Hesitant To Charge More Than A Million Miles Per Ticket
My research was not exhaustive, but I checked several of Delta’s most premium destinations like Johannesburg (JNB) and Sydney (SYD) and in no case did I find a flight price higher than 990,000 miles round-trip, which seems to be the current unofficial upper limit charged on a SkyMiles ticket in the Delta One cabin.
I don’t think that will last into 2027, but there is something jarring about seeing seven-digit pricing for a single ticket and up until now, it is a psychological line that it appears even Delta is not yet willing to cross.
That’s “good” for you as a consumer, but really, unless you are a business generating hundreds of thousands of SkyMiles per month or more, my friend is correct. Who possibly has this many points?
And if you are generating that much spending, may I suggest a cash-back card or at least using a credit card with a flexible currency like Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards?
CONCLUSION
These days, I am happy if I get two cents per point/miles in value….that is very rarely the case on Delta with any itinerary that starts or ends in the USA. Delta still offers some value on redemptions outside the USA, but U.S. customers are on the cusp of seeing redemptions running more than one million SkyMiles per ticket…that’s an ominous sign.
I can’t fault Delta for charging what the market will bear, but it is not a loyalty program I am interested in as someone who lives in the USA.
top image: Delta
Imagine being the poor SOB saving up miles and gaming credit cards to get 630,000 miles or 990,000 miles only to then see the price increase to over 1 million. This is just absurd. Part of loyalty program marketing, be it hotels or airlines, is aspiration. How are you ever supposed to know how many points you’ll need with this kind of pricing? There’s absolutely no way I would ever pay 990,000 miles or $11,000+ for Delta One on a 767 or A330.
Unfortunately, AA and UA are following closely behind DL as these days it is not unusual to see one way international J tickets to Asia on AA and UA pricing out in excess of 400,000 miles.
Yes indeed, UA is actually charging 1MN miles r/t (I’ll cover that tomorrow, but working on a story on MileagePlus changes now).
Disgusting. We need regulation to actually enforce relative values with these frequent flyer programs. Otherwise, it’ll continue to be a bait-and-switch, rug-pull, inflationary gamble every time. Delta’s the canary in the coal mine. The rest are following. Shameful.
Good luck with that. This administration just let southwest off the hook for their totally preventable meltdown from a couple years ago
@ Matthew — OLD NEWS. Who cares? It’s the price, get over it. There are some decent SM redemptions available, but this isnt one of them.
Gene, yeah, I get it, when you see these absurd rates, don’t waste your miles, but, the fact that Delta has gone so egregiously ‘dynamic’ pricing it’s just laughable to think someone’s out there with millions of SkyPesos, burning them on a single one-way transatlantic DeltaOne 763 route… yikes.
@Gene, no, I won’t get over it because I find the pricing absurd.
Good that you and FCQ (and me) can redeem our Delta miles for trips outside the USA, where there is still great value, but US flyers who do not know better are hosed.
@ Matthew — I don’t find 1.3 cpp for a domestic redemption to be the end of the world. After all, that is the approximate average value assigned to AA, UA, DL miles. There are times when I get 2-3 cpp for international J redeptions on DL (with out a crappy 763), so that beats the average.
Mileage programs are increasingly a scam for the “ordinary” consumer. Having run the math on my own spending from last year, it seems it’s much better to just put your spending on a cash back card like Citi DoubleCash and pay cash when you want to fly premium.
DL clearly does get the fares they want for their Delta One flights or they wouldn’t charge what they do. Since SkyMiles redemptions are related to the actual fare, as Matthew notes, a $12,000 TATL flight is the real eye opener.
DL gets the revenue premiums they do, I believe, in part, because they carry so much more corporate travel than AA and UA which means that DL has alot of high value SM members that earn their status at the expense of someone else – or their own business.
UA is trying to push its revenues up by fencing their premium cabin redemptions so they are well aware of what has worked for DL and want to copy it for themselves.
@ Tim — Please go away.
@Tim Dunn
If that’s the case…why are the fares for the same flights $3700 when originating in Europe? No, this is nothing more than baiting out US flyers with large credit card miles banks who don’t know better. As well with paid fares and redemptions where they assume that Europeans pay the same. They don’t. It’s been going on for years and it needs to stop.
It’s quite funny that for all of Trump’s passion in Europeans getting better deals than we do here he missed the obvious where it’s American companies gouging American consumers and giving massive discounts to Europeans for the same product. You know why? Because Europeans are smarter and see through the bullshit.
Someone paying $11K for a sub 8h flight on a DL 763 makes me think of the old adage about a fool and their money
Yeah if we are being honest DL is not worth that price, in cash or miles.
Why is the $12K flight on Delta1 showing only one free checked bag? BTW, notice the “Delta One Classic” label. Get ready for Delta One Lite.