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Airfare can be one of the biggest expenses when planning a trip, but travel rewards can make a serious dent in those costs. Right now, generous welcome offers from Delta Air Lines make that long-overdue vacation more accessible than ever.
Even better, you’re not limited to flying Delta. As a member of the SkyTeam alliance, Delta allows you to use SkyMiles on partner airlines like Air France, KLM, Aeromexico and more, opening up nearly endless possibilities around the world.
With that in mind, here’s a closer look at Delta’s current credit card offers and five standout ways to redeem SkyMiles for maximum value.
Delta currently has seven cobranded credit cards: four personal cards and three business cards. Depending on the one you choose, you can earn between 10,000 and 80,000 bonus SkyMiles with a new welcome offer.
Here’s a breakdown of the current offers available for Delta’s personal credit cards.
And these are the current offers for small business Delta credit cards.
Even better, the Delta Amex Gold, Delta Amex Platinum and Delta Amex Reserve cards — and their small business equivalents — are eligible for the TakeOff 15 benefit. This benefit provides a 15% discount on the SkyMiles required for Delta-operated award flights.
For example, if you want to book a flight that requires 11,500 SkyMiles, it will only cost 9,700 SkyMiles with the discount.
The TakeOff 15 discount will appear automatically in your flight search results if you’re an eligible card member and logged into your account. You must pay the flight’s taxes and fees with your eligible Delta Amex to receive the discount.
Delta doesn’t have a fixed award chart, so the cost of a flight using SkyMiles varies by route, date and other factors. For example, a flight from New York to Los Angeles, California, could be a different price depending on the day you book.
That said, you can often book flights throughout the US for as few as 4,500 SkyMiles, plus taxes and fees. These deals are even sweeter if you pair them with the TakeOff 15 discount.
At the time of writing, you can book a flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) for 3,800 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes if you have an eligible Delta credit card. With up to 80,000 SkyMiles in your account, you could fly this route 10 times round trip.
We also found one-way flights from New York-JFK to Atlanta (ATL) on many dates for just 6,300 SkyMiles with the TakeOff 15 benefit, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees.
The lowest fares are usually in basic economy, which means you can’t pick your seats ahead of time. If you want to guarantee that you and your travel partner or family are seated together, consider spending extra SkyMiles to book a Main Cabin award ticket instead.
If you don’t have a specific destination or date in mind, following Delta’s flight deals page can help you book a vacation for even fewer SkyMiles. These deals change regularly but often provide excellent value.
All you have to do is enter your departure city and all deals on both paid fares and bookings using award SkyMiles will appear. We suggest visiting the page often, as Delta typically populates the page with travel dates for the next three months.
There are some excellent deals to be found here. At the time of writing, we found flights from New York-JFK to Madrid (MAD) for just 32,000 miles round trip, plus $51 in taxes and fees. That’s before the TakeOff 15 discount.
There are also flights from New York-JFK to Taipei, Taiwan (TPE), available for just 68,000 SkyMiles round trip, plus $46 in taxes and fees. Again, that’s before the TakeOff 15 discount for eligible card holders.
With about a dozen destinations in the Caribbean, such as Aruba, Grand Cayman, Montego Bay, Nassau, San Juan, St. Thomas and others, redeeming SkyMiles for sun and relaxation is incredibly easy.
The number of SkyMiles required to redeem a free flight varies based on your destination and the time of the year you want to travel. But as an example, we found flights from New York-JFK to San Juan (SJU) for as few as 7,600 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes one-way with the TakeOff 15 discount.
Plus, we found flights from Boston (BOS) to Grand Cayman (GCM) via Atlanta (ATL) for as few as 8,500 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes and fees with the TakeOff 15 discount.
Heading to the beach — all on SkyMiles — might be the perfect opportunity to relax. And with the SkyMiles earned from the welcome offer, it’s easy to fly you and a friend or a spouse to the Caribbean and back for a much-needed vacation in the sun.
Flights to Canada present another great SkyMiles redemption opportunity. You can fly on Delta or its partner WestJet, and flights can often be booked for as few as 8,000 SkyMiles one way.
If you’re looking to fly to Montréal or Toronto from the East Coast, you might be able to score a flight for minimal miles in Basic Economy. For example, New York (LGA) to Toronto (YYZ) is just 8,000 SkyMiles plus taxes after the TakeOff 15 discount.
Meanwhile, you’ll find that cross-border flights on WestJet almost always cost 12,500 SkyMiles in Main Cabin, including this flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Calgary (YYC). However, this flight is not eligible for the TakeOff 15 discount, as it’s operated by a partner airline.
See more of Europe with Air France and KLM
If you’re planning a tour of Europe, consider redeeming SkyMiles for flights around the region. Intra-Europe flights start at 10,000 SkyMiles on Air France, KLM and other European SkyTeam partners. This can be useful during peak travel times when flights within Europe are expensive.
For example, this flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Prague (PRG) costs just 10,000 SkyMiles plus $79.31 in taxes and fees. Meanwhile, a standard economy ticket costs $208.60 on the same date. Again, this flight is not eligible for TakeOff 15 since it’s operated by KLM.
You can also find extremely cheap intra-Europe flights on budget carriers like Ryanair and EasyJet. Make sure to compare intra-Europe award tickets with these fares, as it might be a better idea to save your SkyMiles for a more lucrative redemption.
If you look in the right places — and at the right routes — you can find true value in redeeming Delta SkyMiles for nearly free flights. And with the current Delta credit card offers, you might be able to turn a single welcome bonus into thousands of dollars’ worth of airfare for your next trip.
The following FAQs have been answered by CNN Underscored travel editor and credit card expert Kyle Olsen.
How much are 100,000 Delta SkyMiles worth?
How many Delta miles does it cost for a free round-trip flight to Europe?
Can I use Delta SkyMiles on Amazon?
Can I use Delta SkyMiles for anything other than flights?
As with all CNN Underscored articles, our travel and points pieces are grounded in independent, objective reporting backed by real-world travel experience. As a Delta Gold Medallion member and seasoned travel editor, Kyle Olsen brings his firsthand knowledge of the SkyMiles program to ensure recommendations are both accurate and actionable for travelers looking to get the most out of their miles.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Blue Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Gold Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Gold Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Platinum Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Platinum Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Reserve Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Reserve Amex.
Opinions expressed here are the 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.
