For many years, Delta Air Lines SkyMiles has been the least valuable loyalty program among the three major US network carriers. While elite status benefits are roughly similar to American and United, redemption pricing is in a different league of uncompetitiveness, both relatively and objectively (based on my valuations of the points). Yet there are very attractive uses for your SkyMiles if you look beyond the USA. Here, I’ll highlight my top five Delta SkyMiles redemption sweet spots.

5 Delta SkyMiles Redemption Sweet Spots

It used to be rather easy to avoid Delta’s high US prices by adding a segment to Mexico at the end of your trip. For example, Sydney – Los Angeles in Delta One might have cost 350K miles one-way in business class while Sydney – Los Angeles – Mexico City brought the price down to 95K.

When that “loophole” was put out in the open by another blog, Delta quickly closed it. These days, adding on Latin America segments to save on miles is no longer a straightforward possibility, though it does not hurt to poke around. But there are still attractive deals outside the USA.

My focus is on premium cabins because that is where I find the most valuable and that is also the fun of collecting miles…

1. Europe -or- Africa ⇄ East Asia Via Europe – 80K SkyMiles In Business Class

You can fly from Africa to East Asia for 80K miles one-way in business class. For example, Johannesburg to Tokyo via Paris for 80K Skymiles to Ho Chi Minh City for 90K Skymiles…two longhaul flights. Taxes/fees are also low.

You can also fly from Europe to Asia for the same price, which itself is a good deal:

Note this pricing does not work on Virgin Atlantic, which would price at 145K one-way if you went via London (still relatively decent compared to pricing touching the USA).

2. Africa ⇄ Europe – 65K SkyMiles In Business Class

For 65K SkyMiles, you can fly Air France or KLM between Europe and Africa in business class. Note that taxes and fees will be high coming out of Europe.

3. North Asia ⇄ South Asia – 40K SkyMiles In Business Class

A 7-hour nonstop from Tokyo to Bali will only run you 40,000 SkyMiles in business class on Garuda Indonesia or you can travel via Seoul on Korean Air or the same price.

4. Intra-Europe Business Class – 25K SkyMiles

While not a very sexy redemption, 25K one-way business class pricing within Europe is often much better than paying cash or using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles.

5. Europe ⇄ South America – 105K SkyMiles In Business Class

While it will cost you three times as much to fly to the USA or Canada, you can fly from Europe to South America for 105K SkyMiles one-way in business class.

Flash Sales

Note that Delta occasionally runs flash sales where you can score a good deal. In addition to some domestic routes, Delta’s Seattle-Tapei route is often an outlier in offering more competitive redemption prices while originating in the USA. You can check for SkyMiles award deals here.

Credit Card Discount…For Delta Flights

If you are Delta Gold, Platinum, and/or Reserve cardholder, you can enjoy a 15% discount on all Delta award flights, but this discount does not apply to partner award flights like Air France or Virgin Atlantic.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, Delta’s SkyMiles program outside the USA is very competitive…the sad reality is that Delta has chosen not to offer such deals to travelers starting or ending their journeys in the USA, calculating that they are captive customers anyway and there is no need to offer such deals. If you’re in the USA, I don’t recommend collecting SkyMiles, but if you’re outside the USA it can certainly make a lot of sense.

Finally, want to see how far we have come? Here’s a post on the same subject I did in 2016. Wow! We’ve come a long way from 70K business class awards to Europe or 80K business class awards to Asia!

image: Air France