Cheap Domestic First Class Short-Haul Mileage Awards on Delta

January 2021
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How to squeeze value from a Delta SkyMile

Nowadays, getting more than a penny of value out of a Delta SkyMile is a tall order. For example, a $1,300 transcontinental domestic First Class flight costs 120,000 SkyMiles – which is about a cent a mile.

Flying to Europe, you can easily spend 360,000 miles on a $2,500 Business Class ticket, netting much less than a penny in value for your SkyMiles (whereas with Amex and other currencies, you can get 4X+ the value).

So what if I could show you how to get 2 cents of value per mile on short-haul First Class Delta trips? Not great, but double or more value than you usually get now, right?

Decisions, Delta, Decisions

It’s a long-time travel conundrum: Should I pay with cash or miles?

The answer is simply a matter of going to the calculator. Check out the example below, which allows you to redeem miles for 3.2 cents each, for the St. Louis-Detroit $454 round-trip First Class fare. In this case, using miles was the obvious way to go.

Delta is also offering low-cost award rates on routes like Seattle to Portland. See screenshot below for 6,500 miles one-way.

Atlanta to Orlando for as low as 11,500 miles one-way.

The deal also flips around advantageously. For example, if you live in Orlando, you can fly to Atlanta for just 11,500 miles one-way in First Class.

Here are some of the lowest cost First Class awards we found on Delta.

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[["Route","Cash Cost R\/T","Miles Cost R\/T","Value of Miles"],["Atlanta to Orlando","$445","23,000","1.9\u00a2"],["Minneapolis to Chicago","$405","23,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Minneapolis to St. Louis","$465","25,000","1.9\u00a2"],["Detroit to Chicago","$409","14,000","2.9\u00a2"],["Detroit to St. Louis","$420","13,000","3.2\u00a2"],["Detroit to Washington, DC","$459","25,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Seattle to Medford","$365","14,000","2.6\u00a2"],["Seattle to Portland","$340","13,000","2.6\u00a2"],["New York to Buffalo","$405","20,000","2\u00a2"],["New York to Chicago","$475","23,000","2.1\u00a2"],["New York to Portland (ME)","$385","23,000","1.7\u00a2"],["New York to Raleigh","$415","24,000","1.7\u00a2"],["New York to Columbus, Ohio","$437","24,000","1.8\u00a2"],["New York to Pittsburgh","$425","24,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Boston to New York","$370","22,000","1.7\u00a2"],["Los Angeles to Las Vegas","$440","24,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Los Angeles to Phoenix","$445","17,000","2.6\u00a2"],["Los Angeles to Reno","$345","19,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Raleigh to Boston","$445","25,000","1.8\u00a2"],["Raleigh to New York","$411","23,000","1.8\u00a2"]]