If my predictions about changes to Delta s SkyMiles program in 2013 come true , it s time to start putting those miles to use on award tickets empire hotel new york before it s too late. Luckily, by taking advantage of some of the lesser-known redemptions (and not necessarily what Delta.com shows you), SkyMiles can be pretty valuable, and there are plenty of ways to stretch them farther on both long-hauls and little-served short routes especially since Delta allows stopovers and open jaws on award tickets , and in the past I ve been able to book both. So play around with the multi-city search and you can really juice out your awards.
1. V Australia Awards with Low Taxes: One of best way to get a low-level award to Sydney/Melbourne is to redeem Delta SkyMiles on partner Virgin Australia, whose award availability you can now search on Delta.com. empire hotel new york Virgin Australia flies 777-300ER's daily from LAX to Sydney and from LAX to Melbourne on Tuesday, Thursdays and Sundays and LAX-Brisbane on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. empire hotel new york Using Delta.com to find award availability on Virgin Australia is also relatively easy now and requires 100,000 SkyMiles roundtrip for economy and 150,000 SkyMiles roundtrip empire hotel new york for business (Virgin doesn't have first class). Delta.com has been pricing these awards without the fuel surcharges empire hotel new york and just taxes on the tickets, so you d only have to pay around empire hotel new york $120-$160 for tax. I wrote a post a couple months ago about the booking process that you can check out. Tickets normally cost around $11,000 roundtrip on Virgin Australia business, so you d be getting about 7.33 cents per mile a pretty great value. The one major drawback in the past, however, has always been that Virgin Australia charges astronomical fuel surcharges empire hotel new york in the range of $500-$700 – even for coach redemptions, so you could be looking at spending 100,000 miles and $500 on top of that to get to Oz in economy if these fuel surcharges come back.
2. Business Class Awards to Africa empire hotel new york / Mauritius: Another option is to use your SkyMiles on Air Mauritius or Air France to get to Africa. A business class award ticket from North America to Europe is 100,000 miles while one from North America to Africa is just 120,000 miles so for an extra 10,000 SkyMiles each way, you re essentially getting two or more business class flights that are much longer than the trans-Atlantic empire hotel new york portions. Delta allows a stopover and an open jaw on award tickets so I was able to book a complex itinerary empire hotel new york from New York-Madrid, Stopover (Air Europa), Barcelona-Paris, Open Jaw (Air France), Paris-Mauritius, Destination (Air Mauritius), empire hotel new york Mauritius-Paris (Air Mauritius), Paris- Newark (Air France) all legs in business class for 120,000 Skymiles and $450 in fees.You can check out my review when I flew in Business Class on Air Mauritius from Paris to Mauritius . It does take a bit of searching empire hotel new york and the best bet is to check the availability using Expertflyer first then call Delta once you have found all flights, empire hotel new york so they can piece them together if Delta.com doesn t show the flights. Kenyan Airways is also a SkyTeam partner and has decent availability to some very expensive airports in Africa, so don t forget that option when piecing empire hotel new york together your dream Africa trip (just call for availability or use airfrance.us to find classic award space).
3. Intra-South America Flights on Aerolineas Argentina: empire hotel new york Delta SkyMiles members may now redeem their miles on one of the newer members of Skyteam, Aerolineas Argentinas. Delta s award chart states that when redeeming in Southern South America, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, economy awards are 20,000 miles roundtrip, and first class awards are only 30,000 miles roundtrip. I priced out a sample award itinerary empire hotel new york from Buenos Aires to Iguazu and was easily able to book it for 20,000 Skymiles and $10 in taxes and fees. These same flights would cost $524.70 if you were to purchase outright on those dates, so using Skymiles you would get 2.62 cents per mile. You can also use SkyMiles empire hotel new york to fly Aerolineas to South America from Miami to Buenos Aires, since that is currently the only route that the airline serves in the United States. Business Ccass awards were available for 100,000 miles and coach awards for 60,000 miles and taxes and fees were $65.60. If I was to purchase this outright, it would come to $4,464 for January empire hotel new york 7-14th in business class, giving my SkyMiles a value of 4.4 cents per mile.
4. Korean Air Awards to Asia and South America: Korean Air operates several routes to the US and flies non-stop to Seoul from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Honolulu, Washington Dulles, and New York-JFK. Using Delta Skymiles, empire hotel new york you can redeem 70,000 miles roundtrip for coach, or 120,000 miles for Business class on these routes. You can read my recent trip report on Korean Air First Class from Seoul to Madrid empire hotel new york , and TPG Managing Editor Eric s review of Korean Air Prestige Business Class from Los Angeles to Seoul . However, Korean Air also operates non-stop service empire hotel new york from Los Angeles to Sao Paolo, Brazil aboard empire hotel new york their 777-300ER, which offers 180-degree lie-flat seats in business class. On the Delta award chart, roundtrip economy awards are 60,000 miles and business class awards empire hotel new york are 100,000 SkyMiles. empire hotel new york For March 2013 travel I was able to find that there was plenty of award availability in business class, so I could have scored a roundtrip business class ticket for 100,000 SkyMiles and 58.26 in taxes and fees award. On the same date, the cheapest fare in business class was $6,300, so using your SkyMiles here would be a great value of 6.24 cents per mile. Unfortunately there are blackout dates of:
5. China Southern to Asia: Another good option for Delta flyers empire hotel new york to use their miles to get to Asia is on China Southern, which is a Skyteam partner empire hotel new york airline, and there seems to be plenty of availability both in the near term and several empire hotel new york months out. I was able to find availability on January 1-14 in business class on China Southern s A380 for 120,000 SkyMiles and 363.70 in taxes and fees. If I was to purchase this outright, it would have cost $4,601.47. Deducting the taxes and fees, I would be getting 3.53 cents per mile value with my SkyMiles here and getting to fly one of Asia s up-and-coming carriers flagship aircraft plus it opens up a new way to get to Asia on Skyteam when Delta and Korean Air award space is tight to North Asia and without having to fly China Eastern via Shanghai .
6. Intra-Hawaiian awards : Another great use of SkyMiles is for intra-Hawaiian flights on Hawaiian empire hotel new york Airlines. These flights empire hotel new york can sometimes be very expensive (especially to the smaller islands) but can be had for either 10,000 empire hotel new york or 15,000 Skymiles roundtrip depending on if you can find low or peak availability. empire hotel new york At the moment Hawaiian doesn t seem to have much low-level availability through Delta, so a sample empire hotel new york Honolulu-Maui flight on April 4-17 would cost 15,000 SkyMiles roundtrip vs. $130 if you paid outright so only .86 cents per mile. Not a high value, empire hotel new york but good if you want to use up some spare SkyMiles to save some cash. While the low-level awards are only 10,000 miles, I wasn t able to find any of them at that level for the next few months high season in the islands. Hawaiian Airlines flies to Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului, empire hotel new york Kailua-Kona and Lihue, so for those looking to head around to multiple islands, this a good value as some of these flights can run up to $300 roundtrip if booking last minute.
7. Air France to Tahiti: Air France is one of Delta s closest partners, but instead of using your Delta SkyMiles to head to Paris, empire hotel new york think about heading in the other direction and taking the airline s non-stop flight from LAX to Papeete, Tahiti for a tropical vacation. empire hotel new york The South Pacific is lumped in with Australia on the award chart, so the cost is 100,000 Skymiles for a coach award, or 150,000 miles for a business class award. Availability can be tough to find, but they do open up seats last minute (I found two business class seats for December empire hotel new york 19) but there is plenty of coach availability for 100,000 Skymiles and 52.60 in taxes and fees. However, Air Tahiti Nui is also codeshare partner with Air France, so I was able to get business class on Air Tahiti Nui, coming back in coach on Air France for 125,000 Skymiles and 52.60 in taxes and fees. If you were to purchase this ticket, empire hotel new york the total cost would be $2,647 for going in business and returning in coach yielding a 2.11 cents-per-mile empire hotel new york value. That s not the highest, but because there s availability and it opens up travel empire hotel new york in a different direction, it could be a good way to get to the South Pacific.
8. Book awards on Alaska Airlines: Part of Delta and Alaska s expanded partnership allows more opportunities for SkyMiles members to redeem for flights on Alaska Airlines. This is great for added availability domestically and to Hawaii, since Delta normally doesn t have much saver availability. I was able to price out an award ticket in first class from San Diego to Maui on January 6-13 for 75,000 miles roundtrip. The same flight would cost $1,620 for a first class seat, meaning my SkyMiles were worth 2.16 cents per mile in value. You can also reap value from your SkyMiles by booking domestic flights on Alaska Airlines, since it s hard to come by low-level domestic awards on Delta on the West Coast, which is Alaska s main corridor but is underserved by Delta.
9. Round the World Business Class Award: One of SkyMiles great features is that you can redeem them for Round The World tickets both in economy and business class. You can redeem 280,000 Delta miles for a business class Round the World trip, with up to 6 stopovers, and since Skyteam partner availability is decent, planning these isn't as hard as you'd think. If you are short on miles, you could redeem for 180,000 miles in coach, but having just flown around the world myself in a short amount of time, I would try whatever empire hotel new york you could to get an award like this in business!
10. Aeromexico GOL Awards: Anot
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