United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - Transferring Delta SkyMiles to UAL

I know this has been a thread in the past, but I'm looking for help on moving ~300K dormant SkyMiles into MileagePlus. I have no real way to utilize this quantity of miles, and I am planning some big mileage spends with MileagePlus, for which this would be a huge benefit.

Any and all options would be considered - I am Denver-based, HHonors member... Thanks gang!

I know this has been a thread in the past, but I'm looking for help on moving ~300K dormant SkyMiles into MileagePlus. I have no real way to utilize this quantity of miles, and I am planning some big mileage spends with MileagePlus, for which this would be a huge benefit.

Any and all options would be considered - I am Denver-based, HHonors member... Thanks gang!

Good luck . . . but even if you could convert, it is probably at a terrible conversion rate.

If it was anywhere near 1 for 1, every DL medallion would trade every sky peso they had for the greatly more valuable UA miles.

I have 160k DL miles to put my money where my mouth is. Would trade them straight up for UA miles in a heartbeat.

where do you want to go on UA that DL cant take you?

if you have status on DL you can use some of the miles for hotel or car rentals on your trip(s).

where do you want to go on UA that DL cant take you?

It's not so much the desire to go somewhere on DL's route map but the inability to find award space without having to pay exorbitant rates.

It's so much easier to find award space on UA compared to DL. And the one way awards are so much more flexible than just round trips.

Billy

It's so much easier to find award space on UA compared to DL. And the one way awards are so much more flexible than just round trips. Which is why UA miles are more valuable, and you can't easily trade SkyPesos for them.

It's not so much the desire to go somewhere on DL's route map but the inability to find award space without having to pay exorbitant rates.

It's so much easier to find award space on UA compared to DL. And the one way awards are so much more flexible than just round trips.

Billy

after you would do any type of a transfer you wont be left with enough UA miles to go anywhere. Your best bet might be to cash out using ST at whatever you can get for it

believe Delta's program is the same as UA's program, miles can not be transferred out. Nicknamed -- blackhole programs.

i was doing some award booking research for my folks who still have a ton of miles on DL for a month long trip to Asia in Y (HKG + SIN) with rates like 140 miles per pax, and 2 stop routings. then i went to UA and found better routings for 65K per pax.

i have about 70K+ DL miles that i don't plan on using any time soon. i thought about going down to ATL to see some friends and realized i would burn nearly all of those miles on one RT with DL in Y whereas I could theoretically get 3x RT in Y with UA for a similar amount of UA miles.

Just to clarify, I am 1K on United and have ZERO status on DL.

It is not so much the choice of destinations between UA & DL; with my UA 1K, I have zero fees and complete ability to change/redeposit miles, etc as I see fit.

I know this has been a thread in the past, but I'm looking for help on moving ~300K dormant SkyMiles into MileagePlus....

You won't like the answer.;)

The only way is via www.points.com. Exchange rates is variable. Current rate is DL 2K to UA 1K with $50 fee. Your DL 300K will become UA 150K with fee of $7,500.:eek:

Some airlines, not DL and UA, allow transfer via hotel or credit card programs without fee. However, you usually end up with 5-20% of miles.:eek: For example, if you have AA 300K, you can transfer them to UA via Diners and Marriott at AA 50K to UA 10K. Your AA 300K will become UA 60K miles.

... The only way is via www.points.com. ...besides a terrible exchange rate, this method is not authorized by the airlines.

besides a terrible exchange rate, this method is not authorized by the airlines.

The exchange rate isn't the problem IMO.... it's the fees that go along with the maneuver.

I can see 150K UA having significantly more benefit than 300K DL.

besides a terrible exchange rate, this method is not authorized by the airlines.
Where did you hear that www.points.com exchanges are not authorized by the airlines? That's news to me. Why would the airlines enable points.com to execute unathorized exchanges?

There isn't going to be a good way of turning DL pts into UA pts, but I would say the best value you can get out of your 300k Skymiles is 3 J tickets to Europe. If your flexible it's not that hard to find some destinations to Europe with low award availability. For Asia you can try CZ's new LAX-CAN route and KE during non-blackout days. In general finding Asia awards on DL metal is not easy.

It's not so much the desire to go somewhere on DL's route map but the inability to find award space without having to pay exorbitant rates.

Billy


BINGO!!! I am in the same exact boat... was Diamond on DL a few years ago so I have 200k+ left over.... stopped flying because I relocated for work. I mess around with award tickets every now and then... they want something like 200,000 miles for IAH-MSP-NRT in biz or 150,000 miles to go to hawaii from IAH.

Im not a fool.... there is no way i'd waste the miles on that!

DL carries miles on their books at around 0.5 cents. UA carries them at around 1.4 cents. IMHO and based on my experience, that's a pretty accurate indication of the relative value of miles on the two programs.

Im not a fool.... there is no way i'd waste the miles on that!

Well, if the alternative is they just sit in your skymiles account, then yes, you are a fool - not redeeming them at all is lower value than whatever inflated price DL charges you!

To OP, you're screwed. There is no way to transfer skymiles out of DL to another airline that will get you better value than just booking on DL, even at DL's inflated rates.

Fortunately, like me, you can vote with your feet - I switched to UA, stopped using my Amex cards, and now accrue miles actually worth something.

I've been VERY SLOWLY burning off DL miles on domestic mileage tickets for others. Even that is still a challenge.

besides a terrible exchange rate, this method is not authorized by the airlines.

This reminds me of signs I see that note "authorized personnel only".
People go in and out anyway if they think they should be
authorized, and nobody has ever been specifically "authorized".

Your best bet is to research on the DL forum thread here on FT. There is a thread (I think it's a sticky now) on how to search for a lower tier business award, for example. Other useful info on award searches, too. DeltaPoints blogger on Boardingarea.com is devoted to DL matters and has helpful posts on award issues.

It does take a lot more searching - manually searching by segment - to make SkyPesos work. And UA miles are much easier to use and more valuable than DL. But it's certainly not impossible to make them work.

Another consideration, if you have or get a DL Amex card, is you can "pay with miles". Now this generally isn't the best usage of even SkyPesos - it's a fixed cent per mile and only works on DL metal, etc. BUt, if you're truly striking out after researching the above, and if the alternative is either going to waste or converting at a confiscatory trade rate - it's something to consider. There are drawbacks to pay with miles, but again, just something to look into if you have no other option than the miles wasting away to nothing in Margaritaville!:)